Guyana: Fort Zeelandia on Fort Island

Cruising up the Essequibo River, you can get to the Fort Island. The island once served as the capital of the Dutch colony in South America known as Essequibo. First, the Dutch built a wooden fort here in 1687, which was replaced by a stone fort in 1744. The small fort is quite unique in structure and appearance, and looks a bit out of place on this tropical island with hardly a 100 residents – double defensive walls, small windows, guns, and ammo storage with amazing big-nosed bats hanging inside. Also on the island is the Court of Policy building, built by Dutch in 1752 to serve as the administrative center of the colony. This is the oldest non-military structure in Guyana (surprisingly looking better then most of the stuff British built, and most certainly better then anything built since the Guyanese independence).