The Rupununi Rodeo

Easter weekend annually in Guyana sees the hosting of the Rupununi Rodeo at Lethem, the Guyana-Brazil border town in vacquero country where competition for vacquero supremacy runs high among the various ranches of the Rupununi region.

Now a popular national event, the rodeo brings thousands by bus, SUVs, and even motorbikes thronging through the road corridor leading to Lethem, or by plane. From savannah country to jungle, the trip to the border community also promises to be a scenic treat.

The Rupununi Rodeo held each year over the Easter weekend in Guyana continues to generate regional and international acclaim, and is the most popular inland sporting festival in the country.

The fun kicks off on the Saturday before Easter and continues until Easter Monday, with daytime activities like wild bull riding, horse racing, wild cow milking, wild horse riding, a female barrel race, and steer roping, among other exhilarating events. In recent times a Miss Rupununi Rodeo Beauty Pageant has been added featuring beauties from the Region and neigbouring Brazil.

In an effort to harness the potential of this event, the Ministry of Tourism and the Guyana Tourism Authority have collaborated with several tour operators who offer tour packages for the Rupununi Rodeo and other events that fall within the Easter period, under the Re-Discover Home initiative.

This initiative was launched to provide the opportunity for citizens, businesses, organisations and tourists to discover Guyana’s tourism offerings.

The Rupununi Rodeo has its origins in the middle of the last century, when vacqueros competed against each other in various skills; it later grew from being a centralised event in the hinterland village of St. Ignatius before moving to Lethem in 1985.