Into the Rainforest, Onto the Stone: Hiking Up ‘Oh My God’ Mountain

A steep 2-kilometre hike from the Potaro River to the Kaieteur Plateau reveals Guyana’s untouched rainforest in all its richness — and ends on a surreal landscape of ancient stone.

You begin at Tukeit Guesthouse, a modest wooden rest stop nestled on the banks of the Potaro River. From here, the only way is up.

Locals call it “Oh My God” Mountain, and the name doesn’t exaggerate. The ascent is short but relentless — a sharp 300-metre elevation gain in under 2 kilometres — carved not by machinery but by rain, roots, and footsteps. It’s less a formal trail than a living path, where every turn and step is shaped by forest and time.

And this forest is no ordinary forest.

Virtual Field Trip: Hiking Up “Oh My God” Mountain

This virtual tour traces your journey through ten panoramic moments along the trail — from the lowland rainforest surrounding the Potaro to the sandstone rim of the Kaieteur Plateau.

The trail begins gently at first, winding along the river. You pass groves of giant mora trees (Mora excelsa), their towering trunks wrapped in vines and moss. The air is thick with humidity and the scent of leaf litter, orchids, and wet earth. Blue morpho butterflies flash past in streaks of electric colour. Overhead, you might catch the raucous call of a white-throated toucan or the rustle of a monkey moving just out of sight.

As you climb, the trail steepens sharply. Natural buttress roots and tangled lianas become handholds and footholds. The ground is slick with moss and shaded in a dim green light. Bromeliads perch on every branch. You pass leafcutter ant highways, fallen logs coated in fungi, and epiphytes that gather mist like sponges.

Insects hum from unseen corners. Tiny frogs chirp from beneath broad leaves. It’s a vertical ecosystem, alive in every direction.

And then—suddenly—the forest ends.

The final panorama opens onto a barren stone plateau, where the dense jungle abruptly gives way to a wind-swept slab of sandstone. The vegetation here is sparse: a few low bromeliads, patches of lichen tucked into cracks in the rock. The change is disorienting, almost lunar. You’ve left the rainforest behind.

This is the Kaieteur Plateau. You’ve reached the top.

Guyana’s Rainforest: Unspoiled and Unmatched

This climb takes you through one of the least disturbed rainforests in the world.

Guyana’s interior is part of the Guiana Shield, a geological formation so ancient that its bedrock predates complex life on Earth. Unlike the more populous and deforested stretches of the Amazon, the Guianan rainforest remains over 85% intact, making it a living archive of evolution.

This forest isn’t just green — it’s gold for biodiversity researchers. It’s home to over:

8,000 plant species, including hundreds found nowhere else
1,100 vertebrate species, including jaguars, giant river otters, harpy eagles, and the tiny golden rocket frog (which you’ll meet later on this plateau)
900 bird species, including the elusive Guianan cock-of-the-rock, sometimes seen in fruiting trees along this very trail

The trail up “Oh My God” Mountain passes through what’s known as mature lowland rainforest, a closed-canopy system with trees reaching over 40 metres high, punctuated by emergent giants that tower above the rest.

The Forest in Layers: What’s Around You as You Climb

The rainforest here is vertically layered, and as you move up, you pass through each level like chapters in a living book:

Canopy (25–40 m): Where toucans, parrots, and monkeys roam. You might glimpse a red howler monkey or hear its call, which can echo for kilometres.
Midstory (10–25 m): Tangled with climbing vines, flowering orchids, and bromeliads that hold water and shelter tree frogs, beetles, and even small snakes.
Understory (up to 10 m): Dim and humid, where shade-loving plants like ferns, mosses, and fungi dominate. Leafcutter ants parade across the forest floor.
Forest Floor: Sparse sunlight but rich in decay and nutrients. Look for termite mounds, army ant trails, and camouflaged insects. If you’re lucky, you might spot jaguar prints in soft mud.

Every metre you climb reveals a different ecological story, stitched together in sound, scent, and texture.

Where the Forest Ends: The Kaieteur Plateau

At the summit, everything changes. The forest ends not gradually, but suddenly. One moment you are surrounded by green. The next, you’re on bare rock, staring out across open sky.

The Kaieteur Plateau is made of hard, ancient sandstone, shaped by 2 billion years of rain and erosion. The stone here is flat but uneven — split by runoff into pools and rivulets where life persists despite the harshness.

Here you’ll find:

Sundews and Brocchinia bromeliads: carnivorous plants adapted to low-nutrient soils
Mosses and liverworts clinging to moisture-retaining cracks
Highland grasses and ferns that catch mist and anchor themselves in shallow soil pockets

The plateau marks the beginning of the Kaieteur ecosystem, where every living thing has adapted to wind, water, and stone.

A Protected Legacy: The Role of Kaieteur National Park

The forest and plateau you’ve just climbed are part of Kaieteur National Park, established in 1929 — one of South America’s oldest national parks. It protects over 600 square kilometres of rainforest, savannah, and escarpment.

This region is also home to the Patamona people, who have long held spiritual and cultural connections to the land. Their knowledge, traditions, and respect for the forest form part of the reason it has remained so pristine.

This is not just conservation. It’s coexistence.

Final Reflection: Forest, Stone, and the Space Between

Climbing “Oh My God” Mountain is not just a physical journey — it’s a journey across time, life, and landscape.

You’ve climbed through millions of years of evolution in a matter of hours.
You’ve walked beneath canopies where the light barely reaches the ground.
You’ve emerged onto stone older than the Andes, kissed by mist from a waterfall you haven’t yet seen.

In the quiet at the top, surrounded by wind and lichen and sky, the rainforest behind you feels like a different world.
And yet, it’s still there — alive, vast, breathing below the stone.