French Guiana

Of the 3 tiny "Guyana's" tucked along the northeast coast of South America (of British, Dutch, & French origins), French Guiana is the most modern. That's because it's fully supported by France, largely because the ESA Space Launch facilities were built here. Being a space geek, I had to go. Two other reasons : the Amazon rainforest, and the Devils Island prison (for fans of the movie Papillon).

Kourou, French Guiana. French Guiana is Europe's Space Launch Center. It's kinda weird seeing a modern rocket processing and launch facility out in the tropical rainforest- it gives the place a "James Bond bad-guy" feel. But there's a reason it was built here: rockets launched from near the equator need less fuel to get into orbit.

Amazon Rainforest, French Guiana. If you look at a satellite photo of French Guiana it looks like the whole country is jungle. And it is. Except for spotty development along the coast, the interior areas are wild rainforest. No cities or roads go very far inland here and most of the country is untouched by humans. The only way to get deep into the jungle is to take riverboats to the more remote inland areas where some native tribes still exist. No need to go to such trouble though- it's deep forest right down to the beach, and that forest includes all the animals that live there. This pic of a squirrel monkey was taken on a hike just a few miles from the capital city of Cayenne.

Salvation Islands, French Guiana. These are the nasty French prison islands from the movie/book 'Papillon'. They've been abandoned for about 70 years and it's amazing how the jungle has reclaimed the buildings so quickly. At first glance it doesn't seem like such a bad place to be locked up: they're nice, quiet tropical islands with abundant exotic wildlife. But some of that wildlife will kill you: mainly the malaria-carrying mosquitos, but also poisonous spiders and snakes, and if you're thinking about swimming for the mainland, there are plenty of sharks that are very used to feeding on (dead) humans. Ug! Inset: the real 'Papillon'.

Salvation Islands, French Guiana. The Salvation Islands are 3 small rocky humps located about 8 miles off the coast of French Guiana. They include Devil's Island, Isle Royale, and Isle St. Joseph. These 2 pics are on Isle Royale, the busiest of the 3. In both photos are two different areas along the coast that were 'fenced in' with rocks to make safe bathing areas for the prisoners and guards. The rock walls were built mainly to keep the sharks out because the nearby prison meat-processing plant dumped the 'leftovers' straight into the ocean, much to the delight of the sharks. Prisoners could have never imagined 'bathers' like in the photo on the right!

Devil's Island, French Guiana. No visitors are allowed on Devil's Island. But you can see it clearly from the other 2 islands, especially the house of Alfred Dreyfus (pictured). Dreyfus was one of the main characters of the movie 'Papillon', played by Dustin Hoffman. The house in the movie looks exactly like this one.

St. Laurent du Maroni, French Guiana. The jungle rivers are the Interstate Highway system of the Guianas. These huge waterways can extend over a thousand miles inland and drain massive areas of the Amazon rainforest. They are the only way locals can move around in these impenetrable jungle areas.

Mana River, French Guiana. A local family out for a drive in the family station wagon. And of course texting while doing so. The dude on the right is just coming in from an all-night hunting trip, with a few caymans in the boat for breakfast.

Les Hattes, French Guiana. Don't come to French Guiana expecting lush beautiful beaches and clear tropical water. If you want nice French beaches go to Martinique, Guadeloupe, or Montserrat instead. Just like the other Guianas, the beaches in French Guiana are not very beautiful, and the ocean is just a muddy mess. That's because of all the huge rivers dumping jungle mud into the sea, all up and down this stretch of the South American coast.

French Guiana. One supercool thing about all 3 Guianas is the traffic. Specifically, the lack of it. Even the capitol cities are pretty mellow compared to U.S. driving, but once you're out in the country you mostly have the road all to yourself. I'd say that of the 3 Guianas the best driving conditions are in French Guiana because the roads are in really good shape here.

Cayenne, French Guiana. All 3 Guianas are packed with old-style colonial architecture left over from the European era. But French Guiana seems to take better care of their stuff than the other 2 Guianas. A great example is Les Palmistes, right on the main plaza in the heart of Cayenne. One "must-do" in most guide books is to have a nice cold beverage on the front porch here; it's a long-time favorite local hangout.