Dadanawa Ranch

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title: "Dadanawa Ranch" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["populated-places-in-upper-takutu-upper-essequibo", "ranches", "agriculture-in-guyana"] topic_path: "general/populated-places-in-upper-takutu-upper-essequibo" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dadanawa_Ranch" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
official_name	Dadanawa Ranch
native_name
settlement_type	Estate
dot_x
pushpin_map	Guyana
pushpin_label_position	bottom
pushpin_map_caption	Location in Guyana
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	[[Image:Flag of Guyana.svg
subdivision_type1	Region
subdivision_name1	Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo
leader_title1
established_title
established_title2
established_title3
unit_pref	Imperial
area_total_km2
area_land_km2
population_as_of	2012
population_footnotes
population_total	391
population_blank1_title	Ethnicities
population_blank2_title	Religions
coordinates
elevation_footnotes
postal_code_type
::

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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 and one of the most isolated cattle ranches in Guyana.

Location

Dadanawa Ranch is one of the most remote ranches in the world containing about 6,000 cattle. The ranch area is said to be 1700 sqmi. 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".

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

History

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.

Workers

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.

The ranch is now run by Duane de Freitas, his wife Sandie and son Justin along with his Irish partner, Erin Earl. They run an ecotourism business from the ranch and visitors from all over the world come to birdwatch or go on river trips in the savannahs and Amazon rainforest. Duane and Justin have set up the Rupununi Conservation Society to protect the highly endangered siskins and other bird and river turtle species.

Harry E Turner

Harry E Turner was an English ex-cavalry officer who said that he had ridden in the last British army cavalry charge in the Middle East during the First World War. He was the manager of Dadanawa up to 1965, and retired to England that year.

References

Bibliography

• The Rupununi Development Company Limited -The Early History, 1972, *Turner, Harry E.

References

1. "2012 Population by Village".
3. MacDonald, Katherine. (2014). "Impacts of the Cattle Industry and Road Development in the Rupununi, Guyana". Journal of Latin American Geography.
4. (January 2024). "Dadanawa".
5. "Dadanawa Ranch".
6. Robbins, Mark B.. (2004). "AVIFAUNA OF THE GUYANA SOUTHERN RUPUNUNI, WITH COMPARISONS TO OTHER SAVANNAS OF NORTHERN SOUTH AMERICA". ORNITOLOGíA NEOTROPICAL.
7. "The historical Rupununi Cattle Trail".

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