TREKKING to Kaieteur National Park will be made easier with the start of a project to clear the more than seven-mile nature trail from Tukeit to the top of Kaieteur Falls.

The project is expected to significantly improve overland travel to the world-famous site.

It has been initiated by gold miners, Mr. Aluizo Barros Ribeiro and Mr. Danny Ramchurejee as a gesture for Tourism Awareness Month being observed this month.

Both miners operate within the Kaieteur-Potaro area and would be spending a total of $500,000 on the project, which was launched Thursday at the Ministry of Tourism, Commerce and Industry in Georgetown.

Ramchurejee said the work, scheduled to begin Monday, will entail removing logs that fell across the trail and clearing it about six feet wide where ever possible.

He said a crew of seven, including five labourers using cutlasses, a chain saw operator and a cook, will be taken into the area.

During the launching, Minister of Tourism, Commerce and Industry, Mr. Manzoor Nadir said particular attention will be paid to Kaieteur this month and the ministry will be throwing in its lot to complement the efforts of the miners.

"The project comes at an opportune time because we are also launching an overland expedition to Kaieteur as part of Tourism Awareness Month," he said.

President of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana, Captain Gerry Gouveia is coordinating the six-day trip beginning November 16.

Nadir also said that in March next year about 20 persons from the British Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) organisation would be doing an overland trip to Kaieteur and rafting down the Potaro River. He said each individual coming to Guyana will be spending 3,000 Pounds Sterling.

The minister noted that it would be the kind of "big money tourism we have been talking about for Guyana".

Nadir said he is heartened by the input that would be made by the miners and noted that they are offering tangible returns to the area from where they have been conducting their business and earning a living.

He said the gesture is also preparing the groundwork for a significant boost in tourism and hopes that it will encourage more local people to visit Kaieteur overland.

Director of Tourism, Ms. Tessa Fraser said that the ministry, which is represented on the Kaieteur National Park board, allocated $1.5M in this year's budget to rehabilitate some of the infrastructure at the park.

The work will include cleaning other trails and putting up signboards, making the park more visitor-friendly.

"We are also working closely with the National Parks Commission to develop a small brochure that could provide information on some of the flora and fauna at Kaieteur", Fraser explained. - (JAIME HALL)