Dadanawa Ranch

Dadanawa Ranch is located on the Rupununi River in the Rupununi savannah in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region of Guyana. It is the largest^[2] and one of the most isolated cattle ranches in Guyana.^[3]

Dadanawa Ranch is one of the most remote ranches in the world containing about 6,000 cattle. The ranch area is said to be 1,700 sq mi (4,400 km²; 1,100,000 acres).^[4] It is located on the Rupununi River in the South Rupununi savannahs, in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region of Guyana. The habitat of the area is diverse, "ranging from riparian forest/scrub along the Rupununi River to savanna with few scattered trees".^[5]

Tourists often stay at Dadanawa and use the ranch as a base for further journeys throughout the South Rupununi.

The name "Dadanawa" is a distortion of the local Wapishana Amerindian name of Dadinauwau, or "macaw spirit creek hill".

Dadanawa started out as a trading post by a man of the name DeRooie about 1865 and was sold with 300 head of cattle in the late 1880s to H.P.C. Melville, a gold prospector from Barbados who found himself lost and near-dead of malaria in the area several years before. The ranch was sold to investors and established as the Rupununi Development Company in 1919.^[6]

Ranch cowboys are called "vaqueros", most of whom are Wapishana Amerindians who operate barefoot and are responsible for managing ranch livestock. The ranch supports over 40 people in the main compound including the direct and extended families of the manager and staff, some of which extend for three generations.

Actualmente, el rancho está dirigido por Duane de Freitas, su esposa Sandie y su hijo Justin, junto con su socia irlandesa, Erin Earl. Gestionan un negocio de ecoturismo desde el rancho, y visitantes de todo el mundo vienen a observar aves o a realizar excursiones fluviales por las sabanas y la selva amazónica. Duane y Justin fundaron la Sociedad de Conservación Rupununi para proteger a los jilgueros, especies en grave peligro de extinción , así como a otras especies de aves y tortugas de río.

Harry E. Turner fue un exoficial de caballería inglés que afirmó haber participado en la última carga de caballería del ejército británico en Oriente Medio durante la Primera Guerra Mundial . Fue gerente de Dadanawa hasta 1965 y se retiró a Inglaterra ese mismo año.

• La Compañía de Desarrollo Rupununi Limitada - Historia temprana, 1972, *Turner, Harry E.