Suriname

A previous Dutch colony that was also known as Dutch Guyana for a while. It’s been independent since 1975. But there is still plenty of Dutch influence noticeable. They speak Dutch, so very convenient for us 😉 There’s lots of Dutch food available, so we bought things like hagelslag, kokosbrood, frikandellen and speculaasjes. But the culture is mostly African. And most restaurants and shops are owned by Chinese people and they drive on the left side of the road like the British. In politics it is seems to be mainly the Indian descendants. So this might well be the most culturally diverse country in South America. This also shows in the different religions. Churches, mosques and hindu temples can be found here, all peacefully next to each other! 

It is also still quite poor; in many places and the infrastructure isn’t great. 93% of the country is forest with few or no roads, making this the most wooded country in the world. Indigenous people live in these remote areas that can only be reached by air or water.  The jungle is under constant threat from (gold)miners, agriculture and logging. But on the whole it is much better preserved than in Brazil and there was also a lot less trash. 

Paramaribo is the capital and this is pretty much the only real city. With 238.000 people, about half of Suriname’s population, living there, the city is pretty crowded and traffic is seriously congested most of the time. The main sources of income are agriculture and mining the mineral resources, mainly gold and bauxite. The currency is Surinam Dollar (SRD) and 100SRD is about EUR 2.71

Tourism isn’t huge in this country. A few tour operators and almost no facilities for overlanders. The only tourist info in Paramaribo is permanently closed. Just like in French Guyana they have carbets for camping, but very few campsites. There is almost no beach at the sea. Most of the land near the sea is mangrove or swamp and the ocean is muddy near the coast. If people want to go to the beach they go to a river.