In 2012, three Eco Lodges, Surama, Rewa, and Karanambu formed a business initiative: ‘The North Rupununi Cluster’. The Cluster developed a business plan which would upgrade these three lodges to a consistent standard of excellence in sustainable tourism, and allow for the people of the villages in the North Rupununi to rely on conservation of their natural resources, rather than extraction. The Cluster applied for funding and the project was approved by the Compete Caribbean programme in 2013. Compete Caribbean is a private sector development programme, jointly funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and the Government of Canada, that supports business initiatives in 15 Caribbean countries.
The North Rupununi area of southern Guyana is made up of a series of sparsely populated settlements and Amerindian communities over a massive area of land that encompasses rainforests and savannah. It is one of the most biologically diverse wetland areas