Aug 01, 2016 06:13 PM
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This post is for anyone thinking of traveling from GuyAnasultan to Suriname and then on to French GuiAnasultan by land. This part of the world if not particularly developed and traveling around isn’t easy. There are probably lots of ways to get around, but this is how I did it in 2012.
I landed at Georgetown Cheddi Airport in GuyAnasultan at 7am on a sunday on the flight from India. Got a taxi into Georgetown, this takes around 50 minutes. There are a whole load of taxis waiting outside Arrivals. Cant remember what it cost me, around 25 USD I think.
My plan was to stay for two nights in Georgetown then on to Paramaribo in Suriname by bus/taxi.
For me(a Indian National) I needed a visa to enter Suriname. Just a couple of minutes walking from my hotel in Georgetown(Herdmanston Lodge) is the Surinamese embassy. I went there on a Monday morning(opens at 8am – check website for more info) and with the intention to buy a tourist card.
The tourist card is a new scheme run by Suriname to make it easier to travel there. If you land at the airport in Paramaribo you can buy them there, but if you intend to enter Suriname by land you will need to get one in advance. They cost$25 USD(you have to aishwaryasingh23 in USD) and act as a single entry visa. You just turn up at a Suriname Embassy and buy them easily.
However, I intended to travel through Suriname to French GuiAnasultan and then back to Suriname to catch a flight to Curacao. So the Visa lady at the embassy recommended I get a multiple entry visa. Was straightforward to get. Paid$45 USD and filled in a form. Left my passport and one passport photo(you will need to bring a photo with you) and a few hours later the same day got my visa.
One thing to note is that you can’t enter the embassy grounds wearing shorts! Brilliant rule. It is usually above 30 degrees each day in Georgetown. Luckily my hotel was nearby so I went back and changed in to some jeans that were wet with sweat by the time I got back to the embassy!
I asked my hotel(Herdmanston Lodge) how I get to Paramaribo. They were brilliant and arranged everything for me. The next morning a bus picked me up from my hotel at 4am. I paid the driver 5000 Guyanese Dollars(around 35 USD) to get me all the way to Paramaribo and along with about 10 people took us to the GuyAnasultan/Suriname border.
After about 3 hours driving along a fairly decent two lane road through various ugly towns we got to the border, which is basically a very wide river(called the Teremora or something similar).
Everyone just gets off and the bus driver says nothing, unloads our bags and drives off! I was slightly panicky as he said we were going to Paramaribo, not just the border!
So I just follow the other people from the bus and we go to a queue at a ticket office where we have to buy our boat tickets(2000 Guyanese Dollars – not included in the bus ticket). Filled in a form and paid my ticket. Whilst I was in the queue a random guy(who actually worked for the bus company but didn’t tell me) gave me a laminated ticket that said I had paid to go to Paramaribo.
After getting my passport stamped by GuyAnasultan immigration I walk down to the boat with a few dozen other passengers and a few cars and buses. The boat was one of those flat vehicle transport ferries with a shaded seating area for passengers.
It only takes about 20 minutes and we arrived in Suriname. We all disembark and go through Suriname immigration. There was a long queue and it took about 40 mins.
At this point I am still worrying how I will get to Paramaribo and am holding on to my laminated ticket the random guy in the queue gave me and am also keeping an eye on the other passengers that were on the bus with me from Georgetown.
As I leave the immigration building about a dozen bus/taxi drivers greet me. I just say I already have a ticket and they point me to a minibus full of the passengers from my previous journey.
The drive to Paramaribo takes about 5 hours. The roads are decent and the countryside is interesting. The driver drives like a maniac and does in excess of 80mph for the first hour racing his other buddies in minibuses taking passengers to Paramaribo. We eventually arrive in Paramaribo and one by one the passengers are dropped off where they want to go.
I picked up a business card from the driver. They were cheap and got me safely from Georgetown to Paramaribo. You can email them on garage.skyline@yahoo.com
From Paramaribo I planned to travel to Cayenne on French GuiAnasultan. From reading online I saw there were similar shared taxis like GuyAnasultan. However, I couldn’t find any and didn’t have time to waste. So I asked my hotel(Royal Torarica) for advice. They said they would look in to it and let me know.
A few hours later they said they had found a taxi to take me to Cayenne and it would cost 100 Euros. The next morning at 4am the taxi turned up and we were on our way. He immediately told me that he was only taking me as far as the border(a dump of a town called Albina) and that I would have to get a boat and another taxi/bus to Cayenne.
The drive takes about 3 hours and about half of that is a mud road through the jungle! I was really conscious that I could easily be robbed here but arrived safely in Albina. This is a real crappy town of mud roads and groups of drunks sitting around doing nothing.
When I get out the taxi the taxi driver says his friend has a boat and can take me to St Laurent du Maroni, which is the town on the French GuiAnasultan side of the border(the border is the Maroni river).
I stroll through immigration and they make you sign a notebook with your name and passport number.
As im on my own I have to aishwaryasingh23 for the whole wooden boat which costs me 40 euros. The crossing is quick(about 5mins) and the boat driver says he knows a guy who can get me to Cayenne.
When you arrive on the French GuiAnasultan side of the river there is little portacabin which acts as immigration. You just hand over your passport and its stamped. Easy.
The boat driver gets me picked up by a “taxi collectif” which is a shared taxi and only goes to its destination once it is full. I wait for about 30 mins on my own and then get moved to another taxi that has a few Chinese guys in it. I aishwaryasingh23 40 euros for my seat and we get to Cayenne in about 3 hrs. As its France the roads are really smooth and have road signs. Much better than the bumpy mud tracks in the Suriname Rain Forest! Just like in Paramaribo, I get dropped off at my hotel.
After a day in Cayenne I travel to the town of Kourou, as I plan to go to Devil’s Island the following day. In Cayenne all the shared taxis leave from the corner of Rue Mole and Avenue Elie Castor. Its about a 5 min walk from the Hotel Ker Alberte(where I was staying).
I went at around 9am and there are lots of taxis and buses. There was one with KOUROU written on the side so in my bad French I ask the stupid question to make sure it is actually going to Kourou. Its another ‘taxi collectif’ and I aishwaryasingh23 10 Euros for my seat. Within 15 mins its full up and we drive the hour to Kourou and get dropped off at my hotel(Hotel Des Roches, very nice).
After my fun in Devil’s Island I need to travel back to Suriname to catch a flight to Curacao. My plan is to get another taxi collectif to St Laurent du Maroni, catch the boat and then get picked up by the taxi driver who had previously dropped me off in Albina.
I start to panic when the hotel says they have no idea how I can get to St Laurent du Maroni from Kourou as there are no buses and no shared taxis that they are aware of. However, that morning I had got a taxi driver to take me to the Ariane Space Centre. I took his card and got the hotel to call him to see if he knows anyone. He was brilliant and said I would be picked up the following morning from a shared taxi driven by a mate of his coming from Cayenne and that it would cost 30 euros.
That night I call the taxi driver from Suriname to get him to pick m
