FRENCH GUIANA

French Guiana is an overseas department of France. You pay in Euros and the prices are at European level. Anyone who does not have a passport from a country in the European Union must apply for a visa.

The department borders the Atlantic Ocean, to the west Suriname and to the south and east Brazil. The population lives in the coastal plain and on the border rivers. The Maroni (Marowijne) is the border river with Suriname and the Oiapoque forms the border with Brazil. The coastal towns Iracoubo, Kourou and Cayenne are located at river mouths. There is a reservoir at Petit Saut. Off the coast lie the Iles du Salut.

The area has been inhabited by indigenous peoples for thousands of years. The Kalinha (Caribbeans) live along the coast. They build seaworthy boats with which they visited Caribbean islands before the arrival of the Europeans. The indigenous people lived from hunting, fishing and gathering forest products. The men cleared agricultural plots, built houses and boats and the women cared for the children, planted the crops, harvested and processed cassava into cassava bread, which can be stored for a long time.

Indigenous people still live at the mouth of the Maroni, both on the Surinamese side (Galibi) and on the French side (Awala-Yalimapo). Nowadays they are Christians, go to school, speak French, have mobile phones and outboard motors, but the traditional way of life still exists. It is becoming increasingly difficult to transfer indigenous knowledge to young people, because they prefer to do Western things. They do participate in music and dance groups and wear native clothing on holidays.

The Amaná nature reserve is located at the mouth of the Mana River. Sea turtles come to lay their eggs on the beaches. It is not a very safe place because the beaches are accessible by road and the nests are robbed by people and dogs. The nature reserve is also home to macaws, flamingos and capybaras.

In 1500, the Spanish visited the Guyanese coast and left again. In 1604, there was a small French settlement and the area was conquered and lost by the Dutch several times. The French Revolution (1794) led to the abolition of slavery. Since then, French Guiana has been used as a penal colony called ‘guillotine sèche’ (dry guillotine) because the prisoners did not live long. There were plantations with both native slaves and forced laborers from France.

In 1852, French Guiana was officially designated as a penal colony and Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni was founded, where political prisoners and convicted criminals were put to forced labor. They built the prison (bagno) and the houses for the prison staff and officials. The road from Saint Laurent to Cayenne was built through marshes, which cost the lives of thousands of prisoners. After World War II (1946), the bagno was closed. The prison can be visited by tourists.

A famous political prisoner was Captain Dreyfus, who was convicted in 1894 and imprisoned on Devil’s Island from 1895 to 1899. Under pressure from public opinion in France, he was released and rehabilitated in 1906.
Devil’s Island (Ile du Diable) can be visited by boat from Kourou. The prison walls are still there, as are outbuildings, prison staff houses and stone houses. And of course there is a cemetery… The island is covered in forest and the monkeys and agoutis are tame because hunting is prohibited. Escape was not easy due to dangerous sea currents and sharks.
A book (published in 1969, more than 30 million copies sold) and film (1973) about Papillon give a good impression of the conditions in the penal camps. Henri Charrière (nickname Papillon, butterfly) was convicted of murder in France and was sentenced to life imprisonment in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni. Because of escape attempts, he was transferred to Devil’s Island, from where he managed to escape after 13 years. He ended up in Venezuela, where he lived for years and eventually returned to France. The book and the film are based on his life story, probably supplemented with experiences of other prisoners.

Saint Laurent-du-Maroni has a lively market. Natives from Galibi come to sell fish and souvenirs and Maroon women sell Surinamese rice and cheap food and clothing bought in Suriname.

There are few roads in French Guyana and almost exclusively from east to west. Around Cayenne and other places the road network is somewhat more extensive. Goods are transported by sea (containers), by river (barrels of fuel and gas bottles) and by air. There is a road to Apatou and Maripasoula. Thousands of illegal gold prospectors operate inland. The Foreign Legion regularly destroys pontoons (skalians) and gold mining camps by setting them on fire.

France has a rocket launch base (Centre Spacial Guyanais) in Kourou of the European Space Project . The base was built from 1964 to 1968, including roads, housing for technicians, a shopping center and government buildings. It was a huge economic boost for French Guiana. In 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope was launched. The rocket base can be visited by tourists. The Foreign Legion ensures the security of Kourou.

Today, about 300,000 people live in French Guiana. The number of illegal gold prospectors in the interior is unknown, as many do not have residence permits. The largest population group (60%) are Guyanese Creoles, about 14% civil servants from France. There are Chinese and Laotian (Hmong) minorities. Upstream along the Maroni live the Wayana indigenous people. Many bushinenge (maroons) live along the river and in Saint Laurent, descendants of slaves who fled from the plantations in Suriname during the colonial period. They have a monopoly on shipping over the difficult to navigate rapids in the Maroni. Both tourists and prospectors use their services.

The interior consists of tropical rainforest. The southern half of French Guiana, below an imaginary border from Maripasoula to Camopi, has been a prohibited area since 1971. In 2007, the Parc Amazonien de Guyane was created, with strict environmental regulations and protection of archaeological heritage. Tourism is only possible in villages outside the park, such as Maripasoula and Papaichton along the Maroni. There is a lot of illegal gold mining here.
The village of Saül, in the middle of the jungle, is a better option. It was founded around 1900 when gold was discovered there. It has about 300 inhabitants and has two-story wooden houses. Tourists can find shelter here and explore the rainforest. There is basic accommodation and there are hiking trails. The village can only be reached by plane. Camopi is located on the Brazilian border. Wayana (indigenous) habitat is not accessible to tourists.

Cayenne (over 70,000 inhabitants) is the capital of French Guiana and is home to many government buildings. The city is located on the ocean, but there is no nice walking boulevard. The coast is rocky, there is a fort on a hill by the sea and there is a small beach. In the center is the Place des Palmistes, a lawn with palm trees, where food trucks are located. It is a meeting place, as is the café-bar-restaurant on the square.

Fort Cépérou (1633) on the hill by the sea is named after the local Indian chief. The cathedral was built in 1823. After the abolition of slavery (1794), free craftsmen settled in Cayenne and after the ‘gold rush’ around 1855, most buildings were built in the center, which consists of a few streets. The suburbs were built after 1950.

Musée Franconie is well worth a visit. The 19th century building is located near Place des Palmistes. On the ground floor you can see stuffed animals from French Guyana and in an air-conditioned room there are chests of drawers with thousands of butterflies and insects. On the upper floor there are archaeological objects and an exhibition about Maroons (bushinenge) and indigenous people. Impressive are drawings made by François Lagrange, a prisoner at Saint Laurent, who recorded daily life in the bagno. He was convicted of forging banknotes and checks.

The 19th century covered market of Cayenne is open 3 days a week. Inside there are restaurants where you can have lunch and outside there are vendors with fruit and vegetables. The market closes early in the afternoon, when the long lunch break begins in French Guiana. After 4pm the shops open again. Minibuses are parked along the canal and leave when they are full. On the other side begins a rough working-class neighbourhood with sailors’ pubs and shelters for gold diggers.

The beach of Rémire-Montjoly is located on the outskirts of Cayenne and can be busy at weekends. The seawater is brown, like everywhere in French Guiana, but the temperature is pleasant! There are grinding grooves on the rocks. Natives sharpened their stone axes here by grinding them with sand and water on the rocks.

In the protected Trésor (Treasure) nature reserve near Cayenne, lodges are available for rent. With a guide, you can go animal spotting in the rainforest. The tropical vegetation is easier to see! The nature reserve is used for scientific research in collaboration with the State University of Utrecht.

The marshes and floating islands of Caux or Kaw-Roura in the east of the country are only accessible by boat. This nature reserve is home to protected animals such as the manatee, black caiman, giant otter, jaguar and matamata turtle. It is a wintering area for migratory birds from North America. There are boat trips where you can spend the night on the boat, to enjoy the surroundings and the animal world at sunrise and sunset.

Visit a relaxed and tropical department of France and experience the best of both worlds? That is possible in French Guiana, definitely worth discovering!