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The Daily Bucket: A Barbados to Brazil Travelogue, Part 3. Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil [1]
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Date: 2025-01-24
The final part of our trip takes us to Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil (and across the equator).
The capital of Suriname is Paramaribo.
We spent a day touring the city and boating to a former plantation on the Commewijne River.
Paramaribo, on the Suriname River
Fork-tailed Palm Swift nest in town — see the forked tail sticking out of the nest at the bottom?
Boat ride across the Commewijne River
We visited Frederiksdorp Plantation for lunch and bird watching. Frederiksdorp is a former 18th century coffee and cocoa plantation, now a resort and nature reserve.
Caribbean Martin
Wing-barred Seedeater
Yellow-chinned Spinetail
Smooth-billed Ani (a Cuckoo)
Hibiscus schizopetalus, my favorite species of Hibiscus
Little Blue Heron — we spotted these throughout the trip, but this is my best picture.
Striated Heron
Awesome carved snake seat
Sunrise on the Suriname River from our cabin.
Back in Paramaribo the next day, Mr M and I managed to visit the Maroon Market or “Witches Market”. The Maroon people are descended from escaped slaves.
“Witch’s Market” -- People from the interior sell Amazonian products here.
In the morning we visited Peperpot Nature Reserve. Peperpot is one of the oldest plantations in Suriname (from the 17th century). It’s now co-managed by the World Wildlife Fund.
Trail at Peperpot Reserve
Oropendola
Blood-colored Woodpecker
It turns out that there are lots of trees with thorny/spiny bark, so I couldn’t identify this one.
Squirrel Monkey
Green-tailed Jacamar
Laughing Falcon
Giant Ameiva near the visitor’s center — maybe about 18 inches long.
The following day we visited the Salvation Islands, part of French Guiana. The Salvation Islands were a French penal colony from 1852 to 1953. Devil’s Island housed Alfred Dreyfus, and Papillon was written by inmate Henri Charrière. The islands are now protected areas.
Dreyfus's hut on Devil’s Island. Tourists are not allowed on that island.
Hypolimnus misippus
Plumeria rubra
Petrea volubilis
Capuchin Monkey
Delonix regia
The buildings are being allowed to fall into ruin. The cells only had bars on the ceilings, so prisoners were exposed to rain and sun.
Saint-Joseph Island, where prisoners were held in solitary confinement.
Breadfruit
In the afternoon Mr M and I walked the path that circumnavigated Royale Island. We saw Green Sea Turtles and a Red-rumped Agouti, but neither posed nicely for us.
Orb Weaver Spider
Neat ferns on tree trunk
Clytostoma spp., now considered Bignonia. In the same family as our Catalpa tree.
Spotted Sandpiper
Volcanic Rocks
Ruddy Turnstones near the "Convict’s Swimming Pool”
Royal Terns
We arrived in mainland French Guiana overnight. French Guiana is a region of France, thus part of the European Union. We opted for a visit to the European Space Centre rather than touring the capital, Cayenne.
The Salvation Islands are in the direct path of launches, so they need to be evacuated each time there’s a launch.
Europe’s Spaceport covers 690 sq km in the northeast of South America in French Guiana and as a restricted area offers protection to a rare biodiversity of wildlife. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to leave the visitor’s areas.
Brown-chested Martins at the space centre
Tarantula at the space centre
The ubiquitous Great Kiskadee nesting at the European Space Station Visitor’s Center.
It took a day and a half of sailing to arrive in Belém, Brazil. Overnight we crossed the equator, and sailed about 100km up the Para River in the Amazon River delta. Belém is known as the City of Mango Trees. COP30 is set to take place in Belém in November 2025.
Historical Belém, vultures flying overhead
In the afternoon we took local boats to the Boa Vista do Acará community, which has been developed as a tourist destination to benefit the local population.
Typical house on the Amazon River Delta
Cacaui (Theobroma speciosum), a wild relative of domestic cacao (T. cacao). It’s used locally to make chocolate. We bought some. It’s good, with less cocoa butter content.
Mr M and I stayed an extra day to explore Belém.
There are always interesting products at the markets.
I bought some Andiroba Tree oil, which is an insect repellent (along with other healing claims), but I skipped the bottled sea creatures.
Murals in our hotel in Belém — one of the reasons we booked it!
Part 1 — Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago.
Part 2 — Guyana.
I wasn’t familiar with this area of South America before we visited. It wasn’t on my list of places to see, but when we saw a description of the trip we knew that it would be really interesting. The history and culture is fascinating, too. I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of it.
The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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