Photos by Joanna Dhanraj
Adventure on the Essequibo Coast is still affiliated with the former ferry stelling. Just about everyone on the coast knows where the village is. And while many persons from villages before Adventure voice their gratitude for the stelling being relocated to Supenaam, Adventure residents say its removal has turned their once bright village into a sleeping one.
The village is said to have existed since the 1800s. It gained fame in 1954 with the publication of Gerald Durrell’s novel Three Singles to Adventure, which chronicled his expedition to what was then British Guiana, to find a living collection of birds, mammals, reptiles and fish.
No one seemed to have an idea of the average population. However, residents said that in Adventure there is another place called ‘Sand Top’ situated a few miles in, beyond the rice fields.
Sometime ago when the World Beyond Georgetown was visiting Good Hope, a very friendly Lorraine Persaud working at Good Hope Stelling made us promise to return sometime and visit Adventure.
Coincidentally, the first villager this reporter happened to meet was Lorraine’s mother, Sheila Callender.
She lives in the street called Stelling Road. She is the oldest person in her street and was the first female security guard to have worked at the Adventure Stelling.
The 70-year-old woman was born in Adventure and she said her mother was born there as well. Her grandmother, who came from India, lived there also.
“My grandmother used to work at the ‘bun heap’. They used to fetch mud in trays on their head and carry it to the bun heap; from the heap they build dams,” Callender said.