Suriname
November 22nd - 26th, 2025
After four days in Guyana we flew on a small propeller plane from Georgetown to Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname. Suriname, tucked between Guyana, French Guiana, and Brazil on South America’s northern Atlantic coast, is a small country of just over 600,000 people. It used to be first a British, then a Dutch colony and Dutch is still the official language of the country. In fact, the British traded the colony to the Dutch in a land swap, for which they received a much smaller unremarkable North-American island, then known as New Amsterdam, today better known as New York.
After checking into our hotel, the very nice Royal Torarica, we met our new local guide for a city tour of Paramaribo.
Paramaribo, a city of around 250,000 people, is located at the mouth of the huge Suriname River. It is a clean, lively but relaxed and very safe city. The historic city center of Paramaribo became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002, recognizing its value as an outstanding example of Dutch colonial city planning and architecture. The beautiful old town is full of old colonial buildings mostly from the 17th, 18th and early 19th century. Many of the historical buildings have been or are in the process of being restored.
Almost all the buildings are made entirely of wood, including the elegant wooden structure of the Catholic Basilica of Saint Peter and Paul, which was built in the late 19th century.
Suriname officially achieved independence from the Netherlands on Nov 25th, 1975, which means we happened to be in the country for its 50th birthday. And that was the reason that, during our city sightseeing tour, we ran into the president walking around with her husband and entourage inspecting the celebration venues. The lady in the middle is Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, the 10th president and the first female president of Suriname.
Paramaribo, a city of around 250,000 people, is located at the mouth of the huge Suriname River. It is a clean, lively but relaxed and very safe city. The historic city center of Paramaribo became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002, recognizing its value as an outstanding example of Dutch colonial city planning and architecture. The beautiful old town is full of old colonial buildings mostly from the 17th, 18th and early 19th century. Many of the historical buildings have been or are in the process of being restored.
Almost all the buildings are made entirely of wood, including the elegant wooden structure of the Catholic Basilica of Saint Peter and Paul, which was built in the late 19th century.
Suriname officially achieved independence from the Netherlands on Nov 25th, 1975, which means we happened to be in the country for its 50th birthday. And that was the reason that, during our city sightseeing tour, we ran into the president walking around with her husband and entourage inspecting the celebration venues. The lady in the middle is Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, the 10th president and the first female president of Suriname.
There were lots of independence celebrations going one throughout the week, including a big open-air concert with local artists in the main park of Paramaribo.
This is the Presidential Palace:
Due to its history Suriname is a remarkably diverse country with a vibrant culture blending Caribbean, Dutch, Indigenous, African, Indian, and Javanese influences. The country has a substantial population of ethnic South and South-East Asians, who arrived here as indentured workers in the 19th century. This is the Arya Dewaker Mandir Temple, the largest Hindu temple in Suriname.
Mosque Keizerstraat is the headquarters of the country's muslims, and it is located right next to Paramaribo's synagogue.
There is a large ship wreck in the middle of the harbor, which has an interesting story behind it. The Goslar was a German merchant ship which arrived here in 1939 right before the outbreak of World War II. When Germany invaded the Netherlands, the ship was seized by the local authorities, but instead of handing it over the crew intentionally sank the vessel, so it could not be used by its enemies. The wreck was never recovered and has become a permanent WWII memorial.
The next morning we left for what was going to be the highlight of the whole trip, a three-night stay in the middle of the jungle. Suriname prides itself as the most forested country on earth, as 93% of its land area is covered by pristine tropical rain forest. We left the small Paramaribo airport on two separate planes, since our group was too large to fit into one, for the one hour flight deep into the jungle. The flight took us over seemingly endless dense green rainforest.
After an hour of seeing nothing other than trees, we landed on this small grass airstrip.
Right next to the airstrip hidden among the trees were the main buildings of the beautiful Kabalebo Resort. There were several buildings hidden among the trees. The airstrip was originally built in order to explore the area for potential mining opportunities. When it turned out that there was nothing valuable to mine here, they didn't want to waste the nice airstrip and the decided to built a tourist resort instead.
Kabalebo Resort is a truly incredible place. I have hardly ever been anywhere this remote, as we are more than 200 kilometers from the nearest town or road, surrounded only by dense tropical rain forest full of amazing animal life. We didn't even have to leave the resort for some great animal sightings, as there were two scarlet macaws grooming each other in the tree above us
We checked into our cabins, and then went on our first forest walk with one of the local guides. We weren't allowed to walk in the forest alone, mainly to make sure we didn't get lost, but also to protect us from potential jaguar attacks. Jaguars are very hard to see, but our guides assured us they are there. Due to the dense foliage, animals are quite difficult to spot. Our guide carried a machete, which he used to lift up every branch and large leave to look if there are any snakes or scorpions hiding underneath it. And he was successful finding various small critters for us, like a highly poisonous tree frogs, scorpions and a small snake. And most exciting, I also saw my first tarantula.
Besides the forest walks, the other main activity in the resort were boat trips along the river. We took several trips floating slowly up and down the river, and looking for wildlife along the river banks and high up in the trees above.
A capybara, the world's largest rodent, swimming through the river, and Great Black Hawk hiding behind the branches but observing us intently.
We spotted many elegant herons and numerous kingfishers hunting for fish in the river.
A leaping squirrel monkey and a red howler monkey. The howler monkeys are very loud, we could hear their howls echoing through the forest every morning at sunrise.
Three woodpeckers lined up on a palm tree, and a small caiman sunning himself by the shore of the river.
Back at the resort I met my first tapir. Tapirs look a bit like big pigs, but are actually closer related to horses and rhinos. This friendly tapir came to visit the resort every day to enjoy the water melon left out for him.
The forest also has lots of fascinating plants and fungi. This for instance is a mushroom, that looks like it's covered in orange plastic net. And I also never knew that cashew nuts grow outside of their fruits.
On our last day we embarked on a short hike to a small waterfall on the other side of the river. There we saw two toucans, which are quite rare and difficult to spot. Even the guides were quite excited about this.
Most of the group stayed in one of the larger buildings close to the main lodge, while I was lucky to get one of the three river cabins, which were a bit further away right by the river. It was incredible waking up to the sounds of the forest and overlooking the Kabalebo River from my porch.
For me the best part of the Kabalebo experience came on the last night, when a small group of us (only four people had signed up for this) went on a night walk. We left at 8:00 pm with two of the local guides, and with flashlights in hand headed into the completely dark forest to look for night-time animals.
We saw this beautiful Pinktoe Tarantula sitting on a palm leave. (The guide wouldn't allow me to touch it.)
We actually saw more animals in the dark than we did during day time. The guide warned me to keep looking up, since there are sometimes large Boa Constrictors hanging in the trees above our heads. Unfortunately we didn't see one, and fortunately none of them saw us either. After getting back to my cabin after the night walk, I tried to get a long-exposure shot of the unbelievable night sky. Without any light polution you can see and an incredible number of stars here. This photo does not get close to capturing it.
We left the next morning on two small planes again, and flew back to Paramaribo. There we got on a bus for the 2 hour drive to the border with French Guiana.
This is the Presidential Palace:
Due to its history Suriname is a remarkably diverse country with a vibrant culture blending Caribbean, Dutch, Indigenous, African, Indian, and Javanese influences. The country has a substantial population of ethnic South and South-East Asians, who arrived here as indentured workers in the 19th century. This is the Arya Dewaker Mandir Temple, the largest Hindu temple in Suriname.
Mosque Keizerstraat is the headquarters of the country's muslims, and it is located right next to Paramaribo's synagogue.
There is a large ship wreck in the middle of the harbor, which has an interesting story behind it. The Goslar was a German merchant ship which arrived here in 1939 right before the outbreak of World War II. When Germany invaded the Netherlands, the ship was seized by the local authorities, but instead of handing it over the crew intentionally sank the vessel, so it could not be used by its enemies. The wreck was never recovered and has become a permanent WWII memorial.
The next morning we left for what was going to be the highlight of the whole trip, a three-night stay in the middle of the jungle. Suriname prides itself as the most forested country on earth, as 93% of its land area is covered by pristine tropical rain forest. We left the small Paramaribo airport on two separate planes, since our group was too large to fit into one, for the one hour flight deep into the jungle. The flight took us over seemingly endless dense green rainforest.
After an hour of seeing nothing other than trees, we landed on this small grass airstrip.
Right next to the airstrip hidden among the trees were the main buildings of the beautiful Kabalebo Resort. There were several buildings hidden among the trees. The airstrip was originally built in order to explore the area for potential mining opportunities. When it turned out that there was nothing valuable to mine here, they didn't want to waste the nice airstrip and the decided to built a tourist resort instead.
Kabalebo Resort is a truly incredible place. I have hardly ever been anywhere this remote, as we are more than 200 kilometers from the nearest town or road, surrounded only by dense tropical rain forest full of amazing animal life. We didn't even have to leave the resort for some great animal sightings, as there were two scarlet macaws grooming each other in the tree above us
We checked into our cabins, and then went on our first forest walk with one of the local guides. We weren't allowed to walk in the forest alone, mainly to make sure we didn't get lost, but also to protect us from potential jaguar attacks. Jaguars are very hard to see, but our guides assured us they are there. Due to the dense foliage, animals are quite difficult to spot. Our guide carried a machete, which he used to lift up every branch and large leave to look if there are any snakes or scorpions hiding underneath it. And he was successful finding various small critters for us, like a highly poisonous tree frogs, scorpions and a small snake. And most exciting, I also saw my first tarantula.
Besides the forest walks, the other main activity in the resort were boat trips along the river. We took several trips floating slowly up and down the river, and looking for wildlife along the river banks and high up in the trees above.
A capybara, the world's largest rodent, swimming through the river, and Great Black Hawk hiding behind the branches but observing us intently.
We spotted many elegant herons and numerous kingfishers hunting for fish in the river.
A leaping squirrel monkey and a red howler monkey. The howler monkeys are very loud, we could hear their howls echoing through the forest every morning at sunrise.
Three woodpeckers lined up on a palm tree, and a small caiman sunning himself by the shore of the river.
Back at the resort I met my first tapir. Tapirs look a bit like big pigs, but are actually closer related to horses and rhinos. This friendly tapir came to visit the resort every day to enjoy the water melon left out for him.
The forest also has lots of fascinating plants and fungi. This for instance is a mushroom, that looks like it's covered in orange plastic net. And I also never knew that cashew nuts grow outside of their fruits.
On our last day we embarked on a short hike to a small waterfall on the other side of the river. There we saw two toucans, which are quite rare and difficult to spot. Even the guides were quite excited about this.
Most of the group stayed in one of the larger buildings close to the main lodge, while I was lucky to get one of the three river cabins, which were a bit further away right by the river. It was incredible waking up to the sounds of the forest and overlooking the Kabalebo River from my porch.
For me the best part of the Kabalebo experience came on the last night, when a small group of us (only four people had signed up for this) went on a night walk. We left at 8:00 pm with two of the local guides, and with flashlights in hand headed into the completely dark forest to look for night-time animals.
We saw this beautiful Pinktoe Tarantula sitting on a palm leave. (The guide wouldn't allow me to touch it.)
We actually saw more animals in the dark than we did during day time. The guide warned me to keep looking up, since there are sometimes large Boa Constrictors hanging in the trees above our heads. Unfortunately we didn't see one, and fortunately none of them saw us either. After getting back to my cabin after the night walk, I tried to get a long-exposure shot of the unbelievable night sky. Without any light polution you can see and an incredible number of stars here. This photo does not get close to capturing it.
We left the next morning on two small planes again, and flew back to Paramaribo. There we got on a bus for the 2 hour drive to the border with French Guiana.
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