travel.
Guiana Tourism - Attractions and Sites
Feature and photos by William Farrington except where noted or promotional flyers
Africasounds jumped at the opportunity to visit French Guiana, and leaving on short notice our destination was the Kayenn Jazz Festival. A quick websearch prior to traveling turned up suprisingly little information, in English anyway, about our destination so we left without particular preconceptions. To be introduced to a place by what interests your ear, we have found, is not a bad way to travel. Our Guiana trip had a bit of improvisation to it, we were stimulated the way good jazz can with its creative interaction.
Actually Guiana had been on our minds for several years, since meeting Chris Combette in a New York club where he shared a few CDs of Guianese music with us while promoting the Trans Amazonian Cultural Festival, and event which features traditional Amerindian, as well as contemporary music from artists such as the Energy Crew. Still we were drawing a blank visually about this destination and for this reason we hope our first impressions of French Guiana as a travel destination is both enjoyable and enlightening to our readers.
We were suprised (so much for traveling without preconceptions) by the rich tapestry of cultures found here. In hindsight the music of Chris Combette hinted at the multicultural diversity, but we only came to realize that by being there in person... strolling through the market, eating in the restaurants, exploring on the fringes of Amazonia, the vast rain forests accesible only by river and listening to the local artists.
A frontier sensibility, as a land of opportunity, permeates Guiana. As in major cities in the world, immigrants from every continent have established themselves here, bringing their culture to the predominant Creole cuture. Laotian Hmong, Chinese, French, Brazilian, African and Indigenious Amerindian communites share this narrow strip, 378 km of coastline between two vast bodies, the Atlantic Ocean and the Amazonian rain forest. It is the rain forest that shapes the uniqueness of this culture, the two entwined like a vine on a tree. Rivers like long fingers reach to the forest interior providing access via boat to its wonders.
A visit to the villages in the country's interior around St Laurent du Maroni uncannily recalled rural west Africa even in the languages spoken. What was once regarded by Europeans as a involuntary destination of no escape, served as refuge to Africans escaping the slave trade, and their descendents, known as the bushi nengue, live in villages along the river.
We had the opportunity to meet Prince Koloni and be introduced to Aleke, it is the traditional music -drumming, call and response vocals and dancing haded down generation to generation. More recently the Hmong people of Laos have established a thriving self sufficiant community nort far from Cayenne.
The Market |
Promotional flyer
Danser la ville festival 2007 - Photo by Anthony Bloud
Danser la ville festival 2007 - Photo by Anthony Bloud |
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The market in Cayenne, French Guiana, Friday October 5th where fresh fruits and vegetables, juices, spices, flavored rums, clothing and handicrafts are on sale daily.
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Creole plaid and floral patterned woman's wear in the inner market stalls, where all goods looked as if locally produced.
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Purchasing mangos at the market.
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Katea (left in Blue) and Sonie (right in Black) two very personable vendors selling a variety of freshly ground spices and other locally produced foods including chocolate and flavored liqueurs at the market in Cayenne.
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Local catch in fisherman's stall at the fish market in Centerville Cayenne, close to the produce market.
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Reetisha Seebalack, a translator and her daughter Nayanne Seebalack, 18 mos. who is enjoying a banana at the market in Cayenne.
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We found refreshment and good company at the Juice bar inside the market.
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Guillaume Jean Baptiste selling a variety of rums flavored with fruits, coffee, and coconut inside the market in Cayenne. |
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Local farmers including many from the Hmong community display their produce at the outdoor produce market in centreville Cayenne. Fresh fruits, root vegetables, and squashes were among the choices we noticed in early October.
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The rainforest vast unspoiled carpet of lowland tropical rain forest is now a destination not only for fortune seeking gold prospectors but adventurers more appreciative of its biological wealth. It is home to over a thousand species of birds, amphibians, mammals, and reptiles and 5500 species of plants. Its very remoteness has preseved not only the its vast forests but ancient Amerindian cultures. The European perception of Guiana as place of of no escape because of its history as a French penal colony from the 1850’s to 1930’s is changing now that Kourou is the home of the European Space Agency and former penal colonies Les Iles de Salut, accessible by catamaran from Kourou are destinations of choice for those seeking a unique getaway. All these cultures come together at the market place in Cayenne where tropical fruits, fresh fish, spices, and more can br found in plenty. adeloupe if you are traveling from the U.S.
We find that traveling to a festival is a good way to get to be introduced to a new place. Nature and culture, in French Guiana, complimenting each other like rum and fresh lime. Not only do you get the most creativity possible but its a good time to meet people. Festivals occur throughout the year, Carnival, Danser la Ville, and one hope’s the biennial Festival des Trans Amazoniennes will return after skipping a year. In a few short days we were here for the Jazz festival opened our eyes to this land of possibilities. As we were traveling west from the Jupiter Space Center in Kourou into the rain forest that has protected the ancient amerindian and african cultures, it occured to us that the great jazz musician Sun Ra must be looking down at this unique blend of modernity and ancient traditions with a smile. One would think that he would also appreciate the frontier-like character that permeates the capital, Cayenne. It's a city as diverse and multicultural as its great music. Our experience suggests that you are more likely to meet prospecters seeking thier dreams in the rainforest or someone who seeking to escape the striatjackets of the contemporary life than a tourist and this should be a cue to the experience that will greet travelers here. We look forward to previewing upcoming festivals and providing more complete travel information as a reference source.
 
For additional travel info:
Comité du Tourisme de la Guyane
12, rue Lallouette - B.P. 801
Cayenne 97338
tel. 05 94 29 65 00
fax 05 94 29 65 01
email ctginfo@tourisme-guyane.gf
website www.tourisme-guyane.com
Travel tips, shots for yellow fever are required so bring documentation of your vacination history with your passport. Plan a layover in Martinique or Guadeloupe if you are traveling from the U.S. |
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| on the barge after lunch in the kaw. Guests can also overnight here in the heart of the wetlands. |
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The nature reserve marsh Kaw is one of four nature reserves created by the State in Guyana. This reserve is the second natural reserve of France because of its size (94,700 hectares) after the Nouragues. It was established by Decree on March 13, 1998. It straddles the towns of Roura and Regina and encompasses the small village of Kaw. Through its status as a nature reserve, fishing, hunting and other human activities are strictly supervised by the law, only the indigenous community are allowed to hunt and fish. The reserve consists mainly of a swamp, savannah floating watered by the creek and Angélique Kaw River.
Tours are given in two shifts, day, and overnight. We arrived on the riverbank early and soon a long narrow boat pulled up and let off a few guests who seemed very impressed by the night spent on a barge deep in the wetlands. One woman leaving was most impressed by “la melodie de la nuit”
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Birds flew up as we traveled up river and into the creek
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Searching shoreline for Caiman in the Kaw wetlands, where we saw but one young caiman caught by our guide.
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The stationary barge where we rested and had lunch. Overnight guests spent the night here.
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Children from a nearby school waiting to enter the Museum of the Jupiter Space Center, at the European Space Agency site in Kourou.
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Dioramas depicting space exploration at the Museum of the Jupiter Space Center, at the European Space Agency site in Kourou
this one of the American mission to the moon was accompanied by Doors song "Riders on the Storm" |
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St Laurent du Maroni
 
(Left): Water taxis buisly crisscross Maroni, moving upriver, downriver and across from Surinam, bustling markets with passengers can be found at the landings, otherwise the waterfront is fairly sleepy in St Laurent du Maroni. (Right): French border police stopping one of the many water taxis on the Maroni river which is the border of Surinam.
 
A shipwreck in the Maroni river overgrown by vegetation until it resembles an island in the Maroni river.
 
This gentleman traveled upriver to by this songbird which he planned to train and enter in contests, a popular pastime in Guiana.
 
A Martiniquan camera crew entering the gates of the former penal colony at St. Laurent du Maroni.
 
(Left:) A bike rests against a building inside the former penitentary, several of the buildings have been put to use by the city, this one looks as if it it has been untouched since it was abandoned. (Right:) A busload of tourists taking in the sites via a guided tour of St Laurent du Maroni, a recently introduced tourism feature.
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