INTERNeX Volunteer Project

- Wild West, Guyana -

Relive the days of old as a Cowboy (or girl) in beautiful Guyana!!! Milk the cows in the morning, lasso the small ones to separate them from mother so she can go graze, brand the year olds, castrate the unlucky ones, round up the cows on horseback and employing your bullwhip cracking skills to bring in the herd!

This is why:

10 day cowboy holidays learn and help out on a local remote cattle ranch
Learn to ride horses & round up cattle
Live on a rustic ranch & help real cowboys
Master the lasso and bullwhip in the dusty corral
Taste the freshest beef you'll ever eat
Test your new skills in your very own rodeo (optional at no extra cost)

The volunteer experience
The Ranch is located on the border of Brazil in the south savannah of Guyana. It is a 50 square miles (32000acres) family owned and ran cattle ranch. The family runs the ranch with a small number of vaqueros (cowboys), rounding up the cattle, branding the newborns, taking them to market 2/3 days ride away when required and taking care of all the daily needs of running a very remote ranch. The ranch consists of the main family house, a number of barracons (outbuildings) where the stores are kept and vaqueros live, a couple of guest cabins (where you will be staying) and the likes of old style corals and miles and miles of fencing creating a large paddock around the ranch base. It is situated 100m away from a beautiful fresh water creek where nearly every day people go to bathe, fish and have fun at the end of a hot and sweaty day on the savannahs. The cattle industry is a tough one in the Rupununi savannahs. Cattle are not allowed to be taken to the coast for sale because of Government restrictions and there is no market available in nearby Brazil, again because of restrictions laid down by the Brazilian authorities. This means the only market is in the local town of Lethem, which is small and which all the ranches of the savannahs try to sell to – limiting their ability to charge a decent price for their beef. This means everything on the ranch has to be self help and cash is in very short supply, so basic maintenance and the possibility of creating new business opportunities are difficult. This is a direct threat to the hundreds of years of traditional ranch life in the south savannahs of the Rupununi. By helping out on their ranch and getting a great experience you help the family and the ranch to keep continuing there centuries old family business and their way of life.

Task & Duties
Milk the cows in the morning, lasso the small ones to separate them from mother so she can go graze, brand the year olds, castrate the unlucky ones, round up the cows on horseback and employing your bullwhip cracking skills to bring in the herd!

Learn to ride horses & round up cattle
Live on a rustic ranch & help real cowboys
Master the lasso and bullwhip in the dusty corral
Taste the freshest beef you'll ever eat
Test your new skills in your very own rodeo (optional)

During your stay at the ranch they will teach you everything you need to know about being a cowboy or vaquero as
they are called here on a ranch in the savannahs of Guyana. It will help if you’ve ridden a little before, but the way the cowboys do it, is a little different to English technique, so if you’ve never ridden before, you will still be fine.

Each day there will be chance to have a go at some of the following:

Riding across the savannahs in search of cows to round up, Early morning rides looking for Giant Anteaters, Armadillos, or even Monkeys in the nearby forested mountains.
Learning to use a bullwhip, Indiana Jones style, making a gunshot type crack.
Use of the lasso to catch the cows whether in the corral or galloping full pelt across the plains.
Milking the cows
Fishing traditional style with bow and arrow, cast net or local rod.
Making leather craft, such as hobbles
Climbing and abseiling nearby rocks
Snorkelling in the local rivers
The ranch could be slaughtering a cow whilst you are there and if this is the case then there is the option to help out, gutting, salting the meat, stretching the skin for rawhide which is used to make lasso etc.