Now with sound! (title=.AU and [R]=.WAV)

Suriname

Suriname is the middle one of the three Guyanas, situated on the South American continent, to the right of Venezuela. Map of Suriname / [R]. The three capitals Georgetown, Paramaribo and Cayenne are connected by a road, but there is no overland connection to either Brasil or Venezuela. So in this respect, Suriname is like part of an island. Also the cultural diversity of its population shows a similarity with the Caribbean region, rather than Latin America. The population is about equal parts Creole (African descendants) and Hindus. The Creoles live mainly in Paramaribo and the other towns, and most Hindus are small farmers. Then there are important minorities of Javanese, Chinese, American Indians and Maroons. The 'lingua franca' is the Creole language called Sranantongo (below referred to as "sr:"). It originated from a mixture of mainly (17th century) English and Dutch, but with lots of elements from all the other cultural groups in the country.

Most of the population lives in the coastral plain. This is an area of -originally- open swamps, with dunes running through them (nl: "zwampen en ritsen"). The towns are on these dunes, and the swamps are in part cultivated (rice, sugar cane, palm oil). Where they are not cultivated, it's a real wetland: no wonder the Dutch felt at home! Heliconia psittacorum / [R] (sr: Popokaytongo, "Parrot's Tongue") is a common weed here. This is one of the smallest members the Banana-family, and of it's genus too. Larger Heliconias are called (sr:) Palulu, and they are usually red-and-yellow colored, like this Heliconia bihai / [R]. It grows along creeks in the rainforest. Let's put up some music here: Crickets and Cycads / [R] (55 Kb) would be quite appropriate I'd say. OK, back to the coastral area again. The dunes are forested, and this forest accomodates an endemic species of Suriname: Bromelia alta / [R]. It is a very large (to a man's height) terrestrial Bromeliad. The inflorescence has about the size of a pineapple, and it attracts small flies as well as Hummingbirds (Arawak: Colibri). A red colour is always a sign that birds are involved: in temporate zones we know this from fruits, but in South America pollination through Hummingbirds is an important factor as well.

A different zone is the savanna, south of the coastral plain. The soil is mostly sandy there. It carries different vegetation types: savanna forest (often with 'Cola creeks': small streams with brown, though transparantly clear water), shrub savanna, and open savanna with dwarf shrubs and grasses. Here, as everywhere in the tropics, you have to watch your steps - litterally: just look who / [R] became a bit angry here... This is sr: Sapakarasneki ('Chickensnake', Spilotes pullatus). The way he blew up his neck reminded me of a very poisonous nephew of his !

Carib Indians

We could not go on to the rainforest, without mention of the original inhabitants of this coastral area: the Amerindians. There are two tribes in the coastral region: the Arowaks and the Caribs. The Arowaks are the oldest inhabitants of Suriname, and they invented agriculture there. Long before the Europeans, the Caribs arrived, and pushed the Arowaks from their best grounds. The strenghth of the Caribs was their invention of the sailing ship / [R]. Their largest settlement, capital if you want, is on the mouth of river Marowijne. This place is called Galibi: the word is actually the same word that Europeans later corrupted to "Carib". These proud and taciturn people live in spatial houses / [R], that stand in a long row along the river, with also much space between them. The Indians here are still let's say 75% self-supporting: producing their own food, cloths, tools, etc. Of course the influence of western culture is strong: they are catholics now, and their children go to school. Main occupation is fishing (on the ocean). They decided to do a bit of over-production here: a cooperation was formed, and they sell some fish in town. This way the Galibians hope to stay in control of their own future, and not become a touristic attraction. For themselves, they like their fish smoked / [R]. This goes nicely down with a 'beer', which they make from the (poisonous) sap of the Cassava root. A perfect combination - if you have the stomac for it... These people did invent the sail (and they roamed the Caribbean sea with it), but the wheel was unknown to them: they don't even use it for pot making / [R]. Anyway, they do make nice pots / [R], as you can see here, using different kinds of clay. There are regular agricultural fields (Cassava is a major crop), and between the houses are several useful plants, like this Papaya tree / [R]. This tree with its ornamental leaf-scars shows that not only Monocots like Palms have a patent on this habitus: longs stems with few branches and a whirl of large leaves in top. I was honoured with an invitation for a marriage festivity / [R] in Galibi. So here's some heavy dancing going on, the whole village attendend, and there were many guests. The picture shows a very stately row dance, on the rhythm of a large drum / [R] (85 Kb), whose sound could be heared for miles around.

The Rain Forest

From Paramaribo, there is a road going south, basically up to Brokopondo and Afobakka, where there is a dam in the Suriname River. The economy of the Suriname consisted for a large (but decreasing) part of the export of aluminum ore (bauxite), and also the production of aluminum from it. This is a proces of electrolysis: hence the dam. The artificial lake behind it flooded not only a part of the forest (dead trees are still standing in it), but also a dozen villages of Maroons disappeared under its surface. These people were moved to two 'transmigration villages' - where they are still living now, in exile really... On the other hand, the damage done to the rainforest is very limited. This bauxite economy was probably the main reason that the rainforest in Suriname remained virtually in tact - until shortly.

At the moment (starting from early 1995), more and more alarming messages are coming thru. Due to the exhaustion of the bauxite ore and the political instability, the bauxite industry is retreating. The government is now selling logging concessions. Some large multinationals are attracted, and have already started logging. Surinam made very favourable conditions for them (some are not welcome anymore in other countries), and the government has no means to enforce (or even check on) the few regulations there are. Gold mining is a new rage too. The process to filter the gold from river sediment involves severe pollution of the environment. Again, no enforcement of the few rules there might be, many illegal miners and chaotic developments. There were already different clashes between loggers, miners and the local population. Notwithstanding earlier agreements, the population of the interior has not been involved in any decision making in this. Indians and Maroons have now united in the Gran Krutu, or 'the Highest Authority of the Interior', in an attempt to defend the regions where they live. More about this on the Bulletin Board.

Next to the artificial lake is Brownsberg, a 'mountain' in the rainforest, 500 m high. This area is a nature reservation now, with an encampment for the rangers and for visitors. This is where I did most of my research. To be honest, I found my first visit to the rainforest rather disappointing. When you walk around in it - well, you just see tree stems, and dead leaves on the ground, not much different from a forest in Holland. In general, the rainforest is not the 'jungle' or the 'green hell' as you see it in movies. In fact, it lookes quite tidy, nothing to obstruct your way. Only where sunlight can reach the ground, in a clearing, or along rivers, that's where you need your machete to hack yourself a way. Like anywhere else in nature, you need to be very observent, and patient, to see anything worthwhile. A very large tree, with plankroots / [R] will remind you where you are. The smaller trunk next to it, is probably not a tree, but the base of a giant liana (vine). And if you don't know, this bird the nl: Piha / [R] (19 Kb) (sr: Kwetkwetyaba, Lipaugus vociferans) will tell you where you are: his sound is characteristic for the Amazon forest. In a tropical rainforest, there are often 3 tree layers, and in Suriname it is mostly the second layer of trees that forms a closed canopy, at an altitude of plm. 35 meters above the forest froor. But there are quite a few giants that stick out above that, and from underneith you can only see their stems disappearing. The same goes for most lianas, and here's another one I've never seen the flowers of: Bauhinia guianensis / [R] (Caesalpiniaceae). The Maroons call it Sekrepatu Trapu, or 'Tortoise's ladder'. They tell innocent (white) visitors that whenever they hear a "thump" in the forest, this is a tortoise falling out the trees... Without flowers or fruit, just tree trunks, the foreign botanist is often at a loss, and depends on Maroon specialists to identify the trees for them. The State Forestry Department trains local people to become 'tree specialists': they can identify a tree by its bark, and can often tell you the Latin name as well. It's not often that you have a view, like through this hole in the canopy / [R]. You see a Philodendron climbing up the tree-stem here. The big rozette on the picture is from a related species: Anthrophyum / [R]. Clearly the Arum family (Araceae). Here's another view, this time on a (sr:) Walaba tree / [R]. Again a member of the Caesalpiniaceae. There are many Leguminous trees in the rainforest, and here you see the giant pods (a foot long or so) like hanging on threads. Perhaps this helps against monkeys eating them, but moreover, the flowers were hanging out the crown like this too, and that's an indication for a bat as pollinator. Talking about giant trees and monkeys: this is the realm of the Howler Monkey / [R] (181 Kb). They give their concerts from the top of a tree, and groups communicate this way spanning many miles - a carrying sound, like the one of the Piha, that goes well with a view of the forest from above / [R]. And that's also the best way to get an idea of the enormous diversity. On this picture you see a group of trees with yellow blossom in the lower right corner, and all kinds of different trees around them. In the Brownsberg region, there were at least 250 different tree species...

Clearings
When a tree dies of old age, and falls over in a storm, it takes a lot of other trees with him too: like a domino effect, and because they were connected by lianas. Such open spaces will rapidly be filled with fast growing trees, vines, prickly shrubs: in fact dozens of plant species are specialised in this kind of environment, and were just waiting for this to happen. An example is the "Bush Papaya" / [R], (l: Cecropia) who is actually family of our Stinging Nettle (Urtica). Cecropia does not sting itself, but it hires someone else for that: ants live in the hollow trunks, and food is provided by the brown glands underneith the leafbases. Another who likes these sunny spots in the forest is Costus / [R] (sr: Sangrafu, nl: Wenteltrap or 'Winding Staircase' - due to the positioning of the leaves). It belongs to the Ginger family. A beauty you will find here too, is Passiflora / [R]. A red flower again, and yes, it works closely together with a Hummingbird, the bird doing the pollination, and the flower producing nectar. I don't have Hummingbirds for you, but the sr: Gonge / [R] (13 Kb) (Procnias alba) is also quite characteristic for this forest. A peculiar thing of these clearings is, that they must not become too big. Above a certain critical size, the forest will not regenerate, and the clearing becomes more like a savanna, the forest rising up like a wall along its edges. Perhaps this is due to a climatic change long ago, and the rainforest is now hanging on to the microclimate it maintains for itself ?

On the forest floor
I mentioned the 'tidy' impression the forest floor made. This is partly due to plants like this Astrocaryum / [R] (sr: Bugrumaka), a stemless minipalm, that really behaves like a trash can. You see how it collects dead leaves: of course the palm is interested in the nutrients contained in them. We know this feature from epiphytes (plants that grow in the trees), but also on the forest floor there is a competition going on for nutrients and humus, and it results in a very efficient recycling. Actually the soil of the rainforest is quite poor: most of the nutrients are locked in the living biomass. Another scarce item in the lower strata of the forest is light. It's dark down there. Most plant species solved this problem by moving higher up. Growing tall, climbing, or just grow on trees. But there are some (not many) who stayed behind and adapted to low-light conditions. Yes, we're talking about ferns here, like this Adiantum / [R] (?), a Maidenhair (nl: Venushaar) with a remarkable resemblance to certain Carboniferous fossils I find. Also a plant like Vriesea splendens / [R] grows on, or in this case near the ground. Notice the trashcan principle again. And then, there are those who don't need light at all, like these magnificent orange mushrooms / [R]. This tiny flowering plant also chose the solution of a saprofytic / [R] life.

There are many frogs / [R] (41 Kb) in the forest, as you can hear in the evening when they give their concerts / [R] (33 Kb). This last one has an intreguing allmost human voice. When you close in on the sound they suddenly stop, and it's very difficult to find them. This little green froglet here doesn't bother hiding though, because everybody knows he's poisonous. It is Epipedobates trivittatus / [R], a member of the Dendrobatus family, used by the Indians for arrow poison. The same rule holds for snakes they say: bright color is dangerous, but this brown little Vine snake / [R] (Leptophis ahaetulla ?) is the exception then, it eats lizards and is mildly mildly venomous. Most animals use mimicry: also this Anolis chrysolepis / [R]. His larger nephew, the sr: 'Agama' Plica plica / [R] lives more on the vertical tree-trunks. When disturbed he hides on the other side of the trunk, but it's a curious animal, and after a short while it'll come look around again. A beautiful and characteristic butterfly of the rainforest is Heliconius / [R] (almost the same name as Heliconia - but that's a plant). There are many species of this genus, identifyable by the spots or stripes on the rear wing. They fly in groups, and when there is a shower of rain, they shelter / [R] all together in the same shrub. The next picture shows an inhabitant of the forest that -luckily- won't cross your way so often: a Tarantula / [R] and this is the biggest of them all (Teraphusa leblondi).

Going down from Brownsberg, there are different types of forest. In the valley of a creek you might find something like a flood-forest / [R]. This is not a swamp forest, because those are more muddy and have lots of Palm trees. The rainforest has very few large Palms. There is a very small palm here though, more of a herb. It's about a foot high, has only two leaves that are split at he top. Quite common, also in running water. Anybody ? Looking down a creek valley, you can see a bright blue butterfly following the river: Morpho menaelaus / [R]. It is almost as big as your hand. This was the butterfly 'Papillon' had to catch with his fellow inmates, in French Guyana (book and film). The butterflies were used to make a blue dye, and this dye was indispensable for the production of dollar bills - if I am not mistaken.

Epiphytes

Most of the forest life is concentrated in the upper strata, where there is more light. Epiphytes are quite common there: plants that grow on trees, without contact to the ground, and without being parasitic. They just sit there. In temporate zones we have only epiphytic Mosses and Lichens, but in the tropics there are also many vascular plants who chose this way of life. When you look up from the forest floor, there's a good chance you see this fern: Elaphoglossum laminarioides / [R]. Often in much bigger tufts than here (but this one has a fertile leaf), and much higher up: just below the canopy, in the first forks of the crown. At the same hight, but rather in the smaller trees of the lowest tree layer, you will find Guzmania ligulata / [R]. Yes, related to the houseplant. Here it grows on the ground, but this is a piece of forest with smaller trees, so they have same light conditions as in their normal 'niche'. A third epiphyte from the lower regions is this beautiful Orchid called Bollea / [R]. With these 3 examples, we also have the main groups of epiphytes: ferns, Bromeliads and Orchids. But there are also many more outside these groups: even Cacti, although I did not see them in Suriname (Rhipsalis et al., like the Easter Cactus). Succulency is quite normal with epiphytes: life in the trees creates a water problem, even when it rains a lot. The Orchids often have succulent roots, and Peperomia has succulent leaves. Bromeliads developped an other solution: catching the water between their leaves. This rozette-shape has also another purpose: collecting dead leaves, and create a small private compost heap. These Bromeliads can absorb nutrients through their leafbases. Some ferns have special roots that grow upward to reach the compost in the leaf-rozette. And also the Bollea above is like stretching out its hand, not just for light, but also for water and nutrients. Another solution to these problems is miniaturisation: when you're small you don't need much, and you can root directly in the moss layer. Like this Masdevallia / [R], or even smaller: look at this representative of the Pleurothallis / [R] genus. It could fit into a matchbox, and there are many more Orchids even smaller than this. To get an idea of the exuberant life in the canopy, lust look at this branch with epiphytes / [R] that fell down. There are 2 Tillandsia species on it, a Peperomia, a Polypodium, a Pleurothallis (red flowers, you can hardly see it), and a Ficus seedling. This Ficus would have grown to become a 'tree-strangler': sending roots down to the ground, that would then fuse together and form a stem for the Ficus, strangling the original host in the process. Compared to the miniature plants mentioned above, this enormous Aechmea tocantina / [R] is the other extreme. My knife is also in the picture as a measure: the plant is about as tall as a man. Finally, I could not deprive you of these two beautiful specimen: Aechmea mertensii / [R] and Paphinia spec. / [R]. No words needed. A sound perhaps, like this strange gargling bird / [R] (15 Kb)

The Bromeliads are a favorate resting place for many frogs, like this beautiful Phyllomedusa hypochondrialis / [R], seen here on a table. I think (!) the next sounds are also frogs / [R] (33 Kb). Another one that fell down from the canopy is Polychrus marmoratus / [R], an 'Agama'. And of course there are the less pleasant encounters of a certain kind: Corallus caninus / [R], (Emerald Tree Boa) here in attack position, but blinded by the light. Ain't she pretty ?

Maroons

Finally, I would like to give you a glimpse at these people of the forest I have mentioned above: the Bush Negro, or Maroons. They are the descendents of escaped slaves, who sought and found refuge above the first rapids (sr: sula), where the Dutch ships could not go. The elegant 'korjaal' / [R] of the Maroons is still a major means of transport in these regions. The different groups of escaped slaves regained their African tribal way of life, and founded villages along the rivers. Each village has its own oral history, and the people still know exactly from which plantation their forefathers came. Also the peace treaty of 1760, which gave them autonomy, is well remembered. Again, Cassava (Manioc, Tapioca) is a major part of the diet. Production of the flour from its roots is a delicate matter, because the sap of the plant is poisonous. First, the roots must be peeled, then grated / [R], and finally the pulp is done in this intrument, the matapi / [R]. This will be hung in a tree, with a stone tied to the lower end, and it will act as a press, squeezing the sap out.

Nowadays the Maroons are mostly christened, but I had the privilege to spend some time with those who proudly call themself 'Heathen'. Here's a central shrine / [R] in Tabiki (nl: Drietabbetje), the capital of the Aukaner tribe (Okanesi, also known as Ndyuka or Dyuka), at the Tapanahony river. And this is a fertility god / [R] of the Saramakaners, who live along the Suriname river. The fiery eyes of this god are the beans of this tree: Ormosia spec / [R] (sr: Kokriki). You'll find the tree in Maroon as well as Indian villages, the beans are also used for necklaces etc. Associated with this god is a ritual festivity to celebrate when a child becomes adult. Music / [R] (178 Kb) like this goes on all night then, some people go in trance and walk over hot ashes... Another festivity is the 'the day of the dead'. I do not know exactly what that is, but I do know that when someone dies, the burrial ceremony is not the last thing to do. It takes a year or longer before the soul actually leaves this earth, and this event must be accompanied with the appropriate rituals. Like the offering of tortoises / [R], the sr: Busisekrepatu or Geochelone denticulata to be exact. This is done here by the united 'Captains' (Kabiten) of the Aukaner tribe (these Captains are the heads of villages or clans). The meat will be eaten later - nothing is wasted. And then there was music. Lots of music. Drums / [R] of course!

The last picture I would like to show you has special meaning. It is Kwakoe / [R]. Freedom fighter of the slaves, and this little statue has a central place in Paramaribo. His day is 'Emancipation day', the first of July, celebrating the abolition of slavery (in 1863). But here you see him on November 25, 1975: the first day of Independence for Suriname. The Maroons also came to town to celebrate this day, and here is some of their party music / [R] (190 Kb). Somehow, it reminded me of New Orleans, VS...

Marco Bleeker visited Suriname in 1975-76, as a student biology at the University of Utrecht, doing a pre-doctorate subject on the epiphyte vegetation of the tropical rainforest.

Thanks folks !
This page has been on-line for well over a year now, and I did get quite some feedback, which has helped to further improve the text. To everybody who contributed: a sincere "thank you", also on behalf of the visitors of Chez Marco's. There are some people who I want mention in particular, great experts in their own field.  Eric J. Gouda helped me with most of the Bromeliad names. Without him, there would be many more "unknown species" on my list of image files. The same applies to the Orchids, where I was helped by  Carl Gustafson and  Cassio van den Berg. I also thank  Hugo Claessen, who knows about everything there is to know about the Surinamese herpetofauna. Just send them an e-mail message when you have a question related to their field of expertise. And when you have a question about another subject, you can of course always mail me, at  <[email protected]>. If I don't have a ready answer, perhaps I can forward your message to yet another expert. Finally: "Keep it coming please"! When you look at the list of plant image files, you'll see there are quite some plants yet to be identified...

List of Plant Image files

I have many more images on-line, than the ones I referred to in the above text. You'll find all of them on this page, the links that is, and you can also go directly to the FTP sites.

WWW-sites about the Rain Forest

in my list of botanical links

WWW-sites about Suriname

in my list of Travel links

Last update: 2 June, 1996