French Guiana - Guyana francese

French Guiana or French Guiana (in FrenchGuyane) is an overseas department of theSouth America bordering to the south and east col Brazil, to the west col Suriname and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean to the north.

To know

French Guiana is the largest of the French departments by extension, as well as the least densely populated and the one with the greatest forest cover (more than 96%).

The name derives from the term arawak Wayana, from the meaning of "land rich in water".

Although the official name of the department is "Guyana", with no other specifics, the use of the adjective "French" is often made necessary to avoid confusion with the state of the Guyana, Suriname (formerly known as Guyana Dutch) or the historical region of Guiana (Guiana in Gascon and Occitan).

Geographical notes

The Guianese territory can be divided into two distinct topographical areas:

• A narrow northern coastal strip, called terres basses, which extends in the north of the country for a few tens of km inland. It represents an alluvial plain of about 450000 hectares in extension, with an average altitude of less than 30 meters and mostly covered with savannahs and marshes;
• An inside said terres hautes, constituting more than 95% of the total surface, including a part of the Guiana massif and represented by rocks of ancient formation, with the presence of hills and modest reliefs (average height 100-200 m) especially in the south of the country (Tumuk Humak mountains );

The highest elevation in French Guiana is represented by Mount Bellevue de Inini (851 m), in the municipality of Maripasoula: other peaks are the Sommet Tabulaire (830 m), the Mitaraka Massif (690 m) and Mount Saint-Marcel (635 m).

A short distance from the coast there are some small, mostly uninhabited islands, distinguished in the Îles du Salut group, in the Îles du Connétable group, in the Îlets de Rémire group and in some other smaller islands.

French Guiana is very rich in rivers, streams and marshy areas. The major rivers are the Maroni (520 km long, which delimits the western border with Suriname), the Oyapock (which delimits the eastern border with Brazil), the Approuague and the Mana, which for centuries represented the only ways of penetration towards the interior of the country.

The largest lake is the Petit-Saut reservoir, with an extension of 350 square km.

When to go

The position practically straddling the Equator and the access to the sea mean that French Guiana has a very stable humid equatorial type climate. The average annual temperature is about 26 ° C, with differences between the averages of the hottest and coldest months of less than 2 ° C.

Four seasons can be distinguished in French Guiana:

• a "great" rainy season, which runs from the end of April to mid-August. The peak of the rains generally falls between May and June;
• a "great" dry season, which runs from mid-August to November;
• a "small" rainy season, from the end of November to February;
• a "small" dry season (also called petit été de mars, "little summer of March"), during the month of March.

Background

The first French settlement appeared in 1604. French Guiana was a notorious penal colony, commonly known until 1951 as "Devil's Island".

It is the only territory ofSouth America still ruled by a foreign nation.

Spoken languages

Being a French department, Guiana adopts as the only official language French, which is the predominant language in communication, in the media and is known by the vast majority of the population.

In addition to French, a Creole language is also spoken in the territory, the Creole of French Guiana, rather similar to the Antillean Creole and used mainly by the Creoles. There are also six Native American languages, spoken by the Amerindians according to their group of belonging (Arawak , palikur, caribe, wayana, wayampi and emerillon), as well as four Cimarroni dialects (saramaccano, paramaccano, aluku, ndyuka). The various immigrant communities tend to speak their native language in a familiar environment.

Culture and traditions

French Guiana represents a cultural mosaic between the French settlers, the Amerindian and Cimarroni communities and the baggage of cultures and traditions brought by the numerous ethnic groups that have come to the territory.

In French Guiana thealéké, similar to salsa and merengue; aléké is of Cimarronian origin, as well as other minor genres (awasa, songhé). Other local genres are the bigi pokoe, kasse-co, grajé, béliya, débot, kamougué, lérol: very popular locally are Brazilian music and the kaseko Surinamese.

Territories and tourist destinations

Urban centers

Other destinations

How to get

Entry requirements

Regarding immigration, French Guiana has different laws. First of all, French Guiana is not part of theSchengen area and your passport or identity card is verified upon arrival even if you are coming from the mainland or from French Antilles. The ward is however governed by the Freedom of Movement Directive so that EU citizens have the right to remain indefinitely. From some neighboring countries (eg Brazil, Suriname) it is easier to go to Paris rather than reach Cayenne.

In addition, a yellow fever vaccination certificate is mandatory regardless of citizenship or where you have recently been. The certificate must be shown before boarding a plane to French Guiana or at the border if arriving by land.

By plane

French Guiana is served by Cayenne-Rochambeau (IATA: CAY), located in Matoury.

From the airport there are two daily direct flights to Paris (Paris Orly Airport, for an average flight duration of about 8 hours from Guyana to the capital and 9 hours for the reverse route), offered by Air France and Air Caraïbes, as well as other flights to Fort-de-France (Martinique), Pointe-à-Pitre (Guadeloupe), Port-au-Prince (Haiti), You love me (USA) is Belém (Brazil): the regional airline Air Guyane Express also offers daily flights to Maripasoula is Saül, as well as more sporadic flights (essentially related to postal deliveries) for Saint-Georges-de-l'Oyapock is Camopi.

By car

From the Brazil you can take a private barge across the Oiapoque River. Its owner can be contacted in Saint-Georges-de-l'Oyapock or in Oiapoque. From the Suriname, there is a ferry to cross the Maroni river.

On boat

To enter French Guiana by land from Brazil and Suriname, it involves a 15-minute boat crossing across the Oyapoque (Brazil) or Le Maroni (Suriname) River. It is not very expensive, unless you want to bring a car, in which case you have to bargain.

The main port of French Guiana is the port of Dégrad des Cannes, located at the mouth of the Mahury River, in the municipality of Remire-Montjoly, a southeastern suburb of Cayenne.

On the train

It is not possible to reach French Guiana by train.

By bus

From Macapá (Brazil) e Paramaribo (Suriname) you can get to the border by minibus, but in both cases it is necessary to cross the river by boat and take another bus once you reach the other side.

How to get around

The Guianese transport system appears rather backward and inefficient, concentrating in the coastal area of ​​the territory, while the municipalities of the hinterland appear poorly connected and are often difficult to reach. One of the few effective ways of getting around is by hiring a car at La Cayenne airport or at agencies in Kourou and a few other centers.

By plane

There are also numerous airstrips in the department, located in Camopi, Maripasoula, Ouanary, Saint-Georges-de-l'Oyapock, Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni is Saül, for a total of 11 centers (4 asphalted and 7 dirt roads).

By car

In French Guiana there are over 2000 km of roads, which are divided into:

• National roads (about 450 km): marked with the abbreviation RN. The main ones are: RN1, RN2, RN3 and RN4.
• Departmental roads (over 400 km): marked with the abbreviation RD. The main ones are: RD1, RD5, RD6, RD8, RD9 and RD22.
• Municipal roads or forest tracks (over 1300 km): In most cases closed to common traffic and reserved for the passage of authorized personnel.

On boat

Boat transport is quite common in French Guiana: among the most important ports are included Dégrad des Cannes, located at the mouth of the Mahury River on the municipality of Rémire-Montjoly, through which most of the goods that are imported or exported from the territory transit and in which the local branch of the Marine nationale, and the port of Larivot, located at Matoury, in which the Guyanese fishing fleet is concentrated.

The rivers of the interior are intensely crossed by pirogues and other small boats, which connect the villages on the Maroni, Oyapock and Approuague rivers, often not reachable in any other way; the lake created by the Petit-Saut dam is also frequently crossed, although the crossing of the body of water is officially forbidden.

On the train

French Guiana currently lacks a railway system.

By bus

There is a public bus transport service that currently covers only the municipality of Cayenne, is managed by the RCT (Régie Communautaire des Transports) and consists of seven lines:

• Line 1: CHATENAY, HORTH, GRANT, COULEE D'OR, JARDIN DE ZEPHIR, BOURDA, COLIBRI, ZEPHIR;
• Line 2: RESIDENCE UNIVERSITAIRE, STANILAS, PASTEUR, RESIDENCE DE BADUEL;
• Line 3: MANGUIER, THEMIRE, MANGO, BONHOMME, NOVA PARC, VENDÔME, CHEMIN TARZAN, MONT-LUCAS;
• Line 4: RENOVATION URBAINE, EAU LISETTE, URANUS, ROSERAIE, MORTIN, ZENITH (on the town of Matoury);
• Line 5: LES ALIZES, ANATOLE, BRUTUS, CESAIRE, EAU LISETTE, BONHOMME, CABASSOU;
• PC line (petite ceinture)1: PETIT LUCAS, SAINT MARTIN, BOKRIS, MEDAN, COLLERY, GALMOT, MONTJOLY 2, C.C. KATOURY;
• PC line (petite ceinture)2: serves the same areas as the PC 1 line, but in the opposite direction;

For connections between the cities of the coast (except Montsinéry-Tonnegrande), the method of "collective taxis" (Taxis Co), minibus with a capacity of about ten people that leave as soon as a certain number of users on board have been reached. In 2010, the general council reached an agreement with some operators of this service to make it at least partially public under the name of TIG (Transport Interurbain de la Guyane), with fixed departure times and predefined stops.

On the major rivers (Maroni and Oyapock) there are pirogue transport services (called pirogues taxi), directed both towards the centers of the interior and beyond the border (such as Albina in Suriname or Oiapoque in Brazil).

What see

• Guiana Space center near Kourou. A free tour is available twice a day. For a few euros you can visit a museum. Check the dates in which missiles are launched to enjoy a special experience.
• Museums and colonial architecture of the capital.
• Islands of Salut is Kourou once used as a penal colony, colloquially known as "Devil's Island" (although this is actually the name of only one of the islands). From Kourou it is possible to visit the islands by boat, but Devil's Island is not open to visitors.

What to do

• Guided tour of the hinterland of rain forest.
• As in many other Catholic countries, the carnival it is celebrated in the first months of the year. In French Guiana, the celebrations take place between the first Sunday in January and Ash Wednesday. During the carnival people wear traditional masks and dresses and dance in the streets every Sunday Cayenne, Kourou is Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni. Visitors are also welcome to dress up and participate in the parades. During the carnival, the celebrations continue throughout the night in the bars and discos.

Currency and purchases

The national currency is the EUR (EUR) Here are the links to find out the current exchange rate with the main world currencies:

(EN) With Google Finance:	AUDCADCHFGBPHKDJPYUSD
With Yahoo! Finance:	AUDCADCHFGBPHKDJPYUSD
(EN) With XE.com:	AUDCADCHFGBPHKDJPYUSD
(EN) With OANDA.com:	AUDCADCHFGBPHKDJPYUSD

For daily shopping, there is a mall outside Cayenne similar to the hypermarkets of the France underground. Small and unavailable grocery stores in town, where you can buy food and other small things you might need like insect repellent, toothpaste, and other hygiene items.

Electronic devices and their accessories are very expensive. However, rum and local wood carvings are great souvenirs and relatively affordable.

At the table

Guyanese cuisine is influenced by Amerindian, Oriental, Brazilian and Caribbean: it is characterized by the wide use of cassava (in the form of couac or cassava), spices (such as cayenne pepper), fish and chicken and pork, often smoked.

The Creole dish par excellence is the bouillon d'awara, a stew of meat, vegetables and fruits of Astrocaryum vulgare cooked for 36 hours and generally accompanied with white rice: traditionally served on Easter Sunday, according to legend it was prepared for the first time by an Amerindian princess whose love for a young settler was opposed by her parents, with whom she agreed that, if the beloved had liked a dish in which all the typical ingredients of his land had been found, then he could have married him. A local proverb says: si tu manges du Bouillon d'Awara, En Guyane tu reviendras ("if you eat the bouillon d'awara, you will return to Guiana ").

During the carnival period, however, the Galette Des Rois.

Other typical dishes of Creole cuisine are:

• accras de morue (cod fritters);
• boudin créole (black pudding);
• colombo (meat sauce, legumes and curry);
• foufou (taro puree);
• giraumonade (pumpkin puree of "Turkish turban" quality);
• kalawang (still green mango salad);
• pimentade (tomato sauce, spices and fish);

Drinks

Among the drinks, rum stands out, in particular that of the local brand Saint-Maurice, also flavored with various types of fruit and spices (in this case it is defined rum arrangé) or in the form of Ti'punch.

The tafia it is a strong local liqueur that is widely consumed and also used for medical purposes. It can be drunk with lime juice or with salt and is used in a drink called Planter, excellent.

Tourist infrastructure

Hotels are quite expensive in French Guiana; in many hotels you will have to spend over € 100 per night. For those looking for cheaper accommodation, you can turn to the few hostels that do not have web pages.

The cheapest accommodation is undoubtedly also the most adventurous. For a few euros you can sleep in a hammock in a traditional one carbet, a refuge without walls. This is the only type of accommodation available in the rainforest.

Events and parties

The carnival is very popular in French Guiana, which is celebrated with events and costume parades, similar to what happens in Brazil during the carnival of Rio de Janeiro.

The Guianese carnival lasts from the Epiphany to Ash Wednesday, but its climax is between the Friday and the Monday before the latter, when the awards ceremony of the groups, orchestras, floats and costumes take place.

Safety

In 2013, it emerged from some reports that the rate of common delinquency (violence, hooliganism) in French Guiana is the highest in the whole France, with a homicide rate comparable to that of other countries such as Brazil is Guyana and a number of economic / financial crimes second only to Corsica.

You are advised to be extremely careful not to lose your passport - there are very few consulates in French Guiana, such services are provided by consulates in Paris, so you will have to go to Paris in case for example you need to reprint your passport, if you are not a citizen of the European Union.

Parts of the department are patrolled by the French Foreign Legion, including the space center of Kourou and areas where illegal gold mining has occurred.

Health situation

Due to the equatorial position of French Guiana, diseases typical of humid and tropical climates are frequent in the department, such as malaria, dengue, yellow fever (for which the vaccine is required by aspiring visitors) and tuberculosis.

The difficulties in accessing sources of treated drinking water by numerous communities, with the consequent supply of river waters, are also the basis of periodic increases in the incidence of enteric diseases.

Perinatal, maternal and infant mortality rates still remain very high, comparable to those observed in some developing countries.

French Guiana also boasts the sad record of the department with the highest incidence of AIDS, which here is almost ten times the French national average.

Respect the customs

How to keep in touch

Telephony

The telephone network is also present and widespread at a domestic level in the coastal area, while in the inland areas we rely on telephone booths (absent from Montsinéry-Tonnegrande is Saül, as well as in the Amerindian and Cimarroni communities) and satellite telephony, the presence of which is mandatory in schools.

For cheaper local calls and calls to France continental it is advisable to purchase a local prepaid SIM card. France Telecom's Alizé cards offer 13 hours of communication for € 15.

There are three GSM operators: Arancio Caraïbe, Digicel and Solo.

Internet

The coastal area has internet access via ADSL line: currently, internet access is being planned for all the municipalities of the department, thanks to the use of satellites and wi-fi points.

Keep informed

In the radio-television sector, the presence of is very strong Guyane 1ère, local branch of France Télévisions: there are also TV channels typical of metropolitan France (France 2, France 3 Toutes Régions, France 4, France 5, France 24, France Ô, art), also adapted to the local time zone (Canal Guyane), as well as other local independent channels (KTV Guyane, CanalSat Caraïbes, until 2010 also Antenne Créole Guyane) and some foreign channels (such as the Brazilian network programs Globe).

As for the radio, in addition to the aforementioned Guyane 1ère they are also present NRJ Guyane is Trace.FM.

As for the press, the main local newspaper is France-Guyane, while La semaine guyanaise, a weekly that also gives a lot of space to TV programming and announcements. There is also a bimonthly information on the requests of the Amerindian community, called OKRA.MAG.

Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning French Guiana
• Commons contains images or other files on French Guiana
• Wikinews contains current news on French Guiana
  

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