The Mighty Marowijne River
and the not so shabby Lawa & Tapanahoni Rivers

Prolong; Even if I had the writing talent of Jack London or James Mitchner or even Pearl S. Buck, I don’t think I could do justice in words to… our Marowjne River trip…the beauty and sense of adventure I experienced is beyond my writing ability…but…I’ll do the best and hope that you’ll be able to feel the excitement that I had.

This trip was a long time coming…I’ve been looking forward to it for almost a year… it’s early Thursday morning… 5:15am to be exact… and Cromwell Crawford the Director of the IICA office in Suriname was waiting in the car as I locked up my front door. I looked up to sky before stepping into the 4 wheel drive Toyota…it had been raining everyday for the past two weeks and yesterday the streets of Paramaribo were flooded…the rain gear is packed…but the sky was clear of any heavy gray rain clouds…it was going to be a nice day. Three hours later we were in Albina…Suriname’s most eastern city and the gate way to French Guyana…our first stop was Suriname immigration office…a closet size office with a very large military police officer and his Colt 45…we all crowded in and the officer asked me to close the door…MY FIRST BLUNDER…I thought it was a good photo op…but when the flash went off…the MP’s stare said… your going to jail buddy…thank god for digital cameras…I showed him the picture and then erased it…he stamped my passport…the trip will continue…a 15 minute boat ride across the mouth of the Marowijne River…a little over a half of mile …and we were in France… the town of St. Laurent du Maroni…no problems at customs and the meeting with Sam…a young Frenchman who struggled with English as he explained the social, economic and agricultural situation in the country... went very well…the best thing about the meeting… the delicious real fresh brewed coffee and the chocolate croissants…(trust me…nothing like it available in Suriname)…and then just down the street…the local super market was stocked with all kinds of French goodies including a great wine collection…got a couple…loved the one we opened up the last night…a 2001 Bordeaux from the Chateau Bel Air Del L’Orme…don’t’ you love the name…4.15 Euro…no they don’t take SRD and they won’t take USD but they do take American Express…don’t leave home without it…we didn’t check out of country… we intend to visit interior villages in French Guyana…it’s back over to Suriname to pick up our boat and our boatsman…Morris…coolest dude on the river… Hawaiian shirt… light blue with white flowers… draped over pressed dark blue slacks and a neat pair of sandals. As Morris and Sarge…our cook…load up our bags , hammocks, mosquito nets,4 chests full of food… an assortment of cooking utensils and a propane tank…dam…if we don’t look like we’re going on a safari… finally…we are on the river…the Mighty Marowijne…that’s my name for it…within a half hour the river starts to narrow down…about 2 football fields wide…the long very wet rainy season put the water level very high on its banks ...it’s running very fast as huge volumes of water race to the ocean…the water level is right into the forest… giving the appearance of a green curtain dropping into the water. It’s not just green…it’s an intense splatter of every shade of green you can imagine… gigantic cumulus clouds fill the sky and as the sun moves in and out… the shades of green move along the river with us. We move under a large dark cloud and for a brief few minutes the rain runs down the back of my neck…then the sun is out and I’m dry. After 6 hours of pushing against the rushing river… in our dug out canoe…powered by an 85 horse power Evinrude motor… we reach the village of Apatou. A village on the French side….it was immediately apparent to all... that being a French colony has it’s advantages…we pulled into a docking area that had cement steps…not a flat mud spot… that brought us to the foot of the village…the building to our left sported a large sign that read…” Office du Tourisme” and under that… the sign of the co-tenant… “Boutique Artisanale”…up the path a side walk café caters to the drinking tourist… along the river a grassy mall separates the cement path we walk along from the river…at the far northern end a large communal barn like structure is where we hang our hammocks…and cover them with our misquote net… Diner was spaghetti and meat sauce…prepared by yours truly…with the help of our take along cook…Sarge…served with one of the bottles of wine…hey …we’re in France…after diner Andrew Baker…my coworker at IICA and fellow PCV… went to explore the village…it wasn’t hard to find the football field…soccer to you…under the large stadium lights… a very competitive inter-village game was being played…we started to talk to five young men…yes.. they spoke English…and French…and Dutch…and Sranan Tango… the only problem in the conversation was having them trying to understand me…we found out that the group was made up of a boatsman, an IT specialist and a couple of artists…we asked to see their work…and after a stop at a little bar on a very dark road…we found the studio…and as you would expect…it was short on furniture…long on paintings…and sweet smelling smoke filled the air… I negotiated for the purchase of 3 Tembe paintings…traditional Maroon art…hard to explain…you find it painted on the doors of some of the village huts… they tell a story…usually of the heart…or of the soul….I should mention here that the Maroon population doesn’t see the river as a border…it’s just a means of transportation from one bank to the other…many Suriname Maroons live and work on both sides...

Day two started with John King, IICA’s Project Coordinator telling us to rise and shine… it was 6:30 AM and time to get a move on…the French gal in the hammock next to mine pleaded with him to…shoot op…outside a heavy fog hid the river…by the time we loaded up the fog turned to a gray mist that gave the river a beautiful eerie look…when the sun broke through... the river looked… once again… different…high hills loomed up on both sides and broke the horizon out in front of us…we were starting to climb up the river….the river was now filled with islands that ranged from 25 kilometers long to two trees bending in the current…we also cruised past large rigs that are dragging for gold while polluting the river with mercury…no the government does nothing about it…a large grove of thin 25 feet tall palm trees are seen along the banks…no fruit on them now…but soon they will be heavy with Podo Siri Berries (Acai)…a few more miles up river a thick patch of bamboo shields the rain forest beyond….every few miles you see a KanKanti…the largest tree in the rain forest... it rises up high abopve the canope...its large umbrella shape fascinates the eye ….the river broadens to about a mile wide… and a choppy fast running rapid extends in front of us from shore to shore…the Lawa and Tapanahoni Rivers are pouring into the Marowijne…it looks awesome …but who’s to worry …Morris is in control…wait a minute…the engine is missing a beat…we head for shore… after a couple of deep breaths… a quick change of a spark plug…we’re back into the middle of it…traversing up river like a skier going down a black diamond trail….when the day is done and we pull into Goliti Suriname…a Moravian Church village…where again we hang our hammocks and misquote nets up in a barn like structure…Sarge prepares a wonderful chicken and rice dinner...with plenty of seconds and thirds available…the days stops along both sides of the river stimulate a protracted eco-socio-political discussion… as we climbed into our hammocks the conversation turned to religion…I didn’t care who they were thanking… all I knew was that we were here and we are safe… and a sound sleep was in order…

Day 3 like the previous two...it started early…we would be going back down the Lawa river a ways and then we would make a sharp left turn up the Tapanahoni …we are heading for the village of Dritabiki the home of the Grandman (big chief) of the Aukaan Tribe. ..the plan was for us to pack light because there was a big rapid that a law forbids boatsmen from taking passengers through…we would portage and be picked up by a boat sent by the village…well…as things worked out…we were very late…the village boat went home….there was no way that Morris….not only our expert boatsman but the trip organizer…was going to disappoint the village organization that request IICA assistance…he found a young man whose job description would be….river pilot… by physical appearance…WBA middle weight champion …I positioned myself along the shore to watch the skillful run through the raging rapid…man against nature… SECOND BLUNDER when I turned around my cohorts were running off…I wasn’t sure why…so I just took my time …taking one more picture of a antique beer sign and then carefully tucking my camera away and casually walking to the canoe…Morris was no longer Mr.Cool …it didn’t take me long to realize why…the sun was going down fast and we had a few more rapids to navigate and rocks to get around…the Tapanahoni River is jet black in the bright sun…so you can imagine… you see almost nothing at night…thankfully the half moon was bright in a cloudless sky…eventually a bright electric light shown through the rainforest tress…solar energy…than you god of technology…. after a quick dinner of peanut butter sandwiches, Pringles and Coke…we sat down with the inviting organization…these guys had it together… Internet and all…the organization represents 26 villages of the Aukaan tribe and is governed by a council made up of a member from each village and an elected Board of Directors…their purpose is to bring development to the tribe and it looks like they are on the right track…their office building had two bed rooms…with real beds…a shower and a toilet…one problem…the water system wasn’t working…oh well…it’s Suriname…the river’s just outside the door… a very productive meeting went on late into the evening…one of the final request was directed at Andrew and me…could they get a Peace Corps Volunteer to work with them…we said we would talk to the country director…

Day 4 started out a little later and a lot more relaxed…we wandered around the village awaiting the decision of the Grandman to receive us…he would…as you approach his house…and I mean a house not a big hut a big house…3 stories high…4 water tanks…large satellite dish…certainly befitting the Grandman of a major interior tribe….you walk through 2 arches of palm leaf so that evil sprits can be brushed from your shoulders…the Grandman sits in his throne…a fancy draped beach chair…I’m thinking they had it shipped in from Miami…Third BLUNDER…I’m so taken by the pictures and artifacts that decorate the meeting room... I start to look around…a loud whisper says…Bob get over here…right…there’s protocol…greet the Grandman before you go looking around…in fact… shake the Grandmans hands and then sit down…and shoot op and… don’t… look around… the Grandman got up and moved to the head of the table…he was a big man…with strong features and good tight skin…I thought he was around my age…then shocked to find out he was in his mid-nineties… …the village council people sat on one side of the table… IICA people on the other…it looked like a meeting at the United Nations minus the microphones and head sets. The council members did all the talking with responses by Mr. Crawford, IICA Director…. Leo Sampai did the interpreting…an undetected signal was given by someone… the meeting was to come to an end…the Grandman was to have the last word…he was happy that IICA came to his village and stated that he wanted development for his people … he knew that slash and burn was not the right agricultural practice and wanted IICA’s help to teach permanent non-shifting farming…but first he had two immediate problems…the heavy rains caused root rot in the Cassava… their major food crop… and he knew that the heavy rains would continue…he wanted IICA to bring the water resistant variety that is grown in Brazil to his people…Leo told him it may not taste the same…he asked…”do the Brazilians die from eating it”…naturally the answer was "no"…”then we will like it” he replied…then there was the ant problem…he wants a spray to get rid of them and we need to teach his people how to safely apply it….well…at least he understands global warming that’s more the idiots on Fox news understand…organic farming…well…that’ll take a little longer….around noon we were back on the river with some great rides through water soaking rapids…better then the log ride at Disneyland…with life vests on… John, Andrew and I sat up front…we laughed and woowed our way down the Tapanahoni. I haven’t had this much fun since my white water rafting trips down the Tuolumne River. ..by early afternoon we reached the Island of Dat Jaeu ...here is where Morris has started a small foundation.. it’s purpose is to develop income generation projects for the Maroon population on both side of the river….like the village of Dritabiki the island has a Foundation built multi use building…meeting room, kitchen, two bedrooms, gravity feed filtered water system with shower and toilet...No…there was no hot water…but it sure would have felt good if we had it… They also built a room they call a processing plant…outside of it there’s a rice milling machine…At the end of long meeting that went...once again... into the late hours of the evening IICA was challenged to put some practical ideas together for increasing employment and generating new income. …there will be some big time meetings back to Paramaribo….

Day 5 and we are heading back…running rapids… visiting villages, tourist camps and a gold miners recreational facility…yes…a whore house...probably the most successful commercial establishment on the river… the price of beer was reasonable…no I didn’t ask if they take American Express…the sun was out unencumbered by clouds…it was hot…we covered up the best we could…you might think that by now we ready for it to be over…but no…the Mighty Marowijne is just to glorious to want to leave….this was a trip of a life time….hope you enjoyed it.