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SURINAME
Birdquest's Suriname birding tour explores a country that is one of South America's best-kept birdwatching secrets. Our Suriname tour achieves comprehensive coverage of this bird-rich but small country and records numerous great birds, including Rufous Crab-Hawk, Blood-colored Woodpecker, Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock and Guianan Red-Cotinga.
Saturday 19th January -
Saturday 2nd February 2013
(15 days)
Leader:
Mark Van Beirs
Group Size Limit: 8
Tour Category: Easy to Moderate
The delightful country of Suriname (sometimes spelt Surinam) is the smallest sovereign state in terms of area and population in South America. It had a turbulent history of colonization and immigration and is ethnically, linguistically, culturally and religiously extremely diverse. Hindus (shipped in from India as workers), Creoles, Javanese, Maroons (descendants of escaped West African slaves) and Chinese form the bulk of the population and there is a distinctive Dutch heritage, which results in a very characteristic and unique flavour.
Suriname does not form part of South America’s Latin cultural and language heritage and exudes a more Caribbean essence. The official language is Dutch, but the inimitable Sranantongo is the lingua franca. Most of the inhabitants live along the Atlantic coast and in the easy-going capital Paramaribo, where old Dutch-style wooden buildings beg for paint.
Suriname lies on the Guyanese shield, just north of the equator, between the Amazon and the Orinoco rivers and is wedged in between the small countries of Guyana and French Guiana. More than three quarters of the country is occupied by forests, which are still mainly untouched by humans, so the evocative calls of Howlers and Spider Monkeys still reverberate through the jungle. The country has several splendid nature reserves and national parks including the fabulous Central Suriname Nature Reserve (where the Raleigh Falls and the Voltzberg are situated) and the Brownsberg Nature Park.
This small country incorporates a variety of habitats including grassy savannas, freshwater marshes, coastal mangrove swamps, tropical lowland jungle and scrub-covered granite outcrops, resulting in a rich flora and fauna. The birdlist tallies just over 700 species, but the main attraction for the international birder is the occurrence of a handful of birds that are rarely recorded elsewhere like Rufous Crab-Hawk, Green-throated Mango, Fiery-tailed Awlbill, Blood-coloured Woodpecker, Guianan Piculet, Black-throated and Band-tailed Antshrikes, the diminutive Dusky Purpletuft, the rare Crimson Fruitcrow, the glorious Guianan Red-Cotinga, White-fronted Manakin, White-throated Pewee, Boat-billed Tody-Tyrant, the ultra smart Blue-backed Tanager, Finsch's Euphonia and Red-and-black Grosbeak.
Tiny Suriname is also a great place for magic encounters with the highly prized Grey-winged Trumpeter, flocks of which can still regularly be encountered in its pristine forests. Accessible leks of bizarre, growling Capuchinbirds and of exhilarating Guianan Cocks-of-the-Rock will help to produce a totally out of this world birding experience.
We will start our travels in sleepy Paramaribo, from where a day trip will take us to an extensive area of mangrove, which is home to the striking Rufous Crab-Hawk. We will also search for the restricted range Blood-colored Woodpecker, Guianan Piculet and Crimson-hooded Manakin in coastal swamp forest, while nearby marshes hold beauties like Scarlet Ibis and Black-collared Hawk. A visit to a couple of different savanna biomes should give us Green-tailed Goldenthroat, Black Manakin, Rufous-crowned Elaenia, the unobtrusive Pale-bellied Mourner and Finsch’s Euphonia.
Further inland lies the large Central Suriname Nature Reserve, which is mainly inaccessible, but luckily the Raleigh Falls-Voltzberg core area provides easy entry into fabulous lowland rainforest. Jungle edges along the Coppename River should produce wing-rattling Marail Guans, mind-boggling Red-fan Parrots and gorgeous Spangled Cotingas. The Voltzberg is a barren granite outcrop with a height of about 460ft (140m) that offers spectacular vistas over the surrounding endless jungle.
The amazing spectacle of lekking Guianan Cocks-of-the-Rock will be one of the climaxes of the tour, as seeing these improbably-adorned birds dance and display is a truly riveting experience. Patient stalking along the forest trails may yield goodies like Rusty-breasted Nunlet, Band-tailed Antshrike, Spotted Antpitta, Tiny Tyrant-Manakin and the obscure Boat-billed Tody-Tyrant. The evocative roars of Black Spider Monkeys and Red Howlers will greet the dawn, while at night we will listen for the quiet trills of the Roraima Screech-Owl.
Further south we will spend several days working the narrow paths of the magnificent forests surrounding the remote Palumeu Lodge, situated near the convergence of the Tapanahony and Palumeu rivers. We will visit a lek of bizarre Capuchinbirds and hope for a fabulous encounter with a group of much-wanted Grey-winged Trumpeters. The extraordinary Crimson Topaz is not uncommon and shy Guianan Red-Cotingas can sometimes be found in the canopy. By diligent scanning from a rocky outcrop, we stand a fair chance of finding the rarely-seen Crimson Fruitcrow.
Our last venue of the tour will be the large Brownsberg Nature Park, which is a forested laterite plateau situated about 70 miles (115 kilometres) south of the capital. Gold mining activities in the beginning of the 20th century have created some high waterfalls, which form a great attraction for visitors. The diverse forest types hold a different selection of species, and include marvels like Black Curassow, the restricted range White-fronted Manakin, Glossy-backed Becard, the rarely-encountered White-throated Pewee, the tremendous Blue-backed Tanager and Red-and-black Grosbeak. Monkeys are well represented here and we may well encounter the delightful White-faced (or Guianan) Saki.
(Note: The above is a summary of the tour. For more information please download the detailed, day-by-day itinerary. The button is at the top right of the page.)
Accommodation & Road Transport: The hotel in Paramaribo and the lodge at Palumeu are of normal Birdquest standard. Elsewhere accommodation is fairly simple but pleasant, with shared bathroom facilities (and there will sometimes be more than two people per room). Road transport is by small coach and roads are reasonably good.
Walking: The walking effort is easy to moderate.
Climate: Mostly hot, dry and sunny, but it is sometimes overcast and it may rain at times. It is often very humid.
Bird Photography: Opportunities are worthwhile.
Tour Price: (provisional): $4940 Paramaribo/Paramaribo. Price includes all transportation (including all flights inside Suriname), all accommodations, all meals, bottled water, some drinks, all excursions, all entrance fees, all tips for local drivers/guides and for accommodations/restaurants, leader services.
Single Room Supplement: (provisional): $448 (four nights at Paramaribo and three nights at Palumeu only).
Deposit: 10% of the tour price (excluding any single supplement).
Air Travel To & From The Tour: Our in-house IATA ticket agency can arrange your air travel in connection with the tour from a departure point anywhere in the world, or you may arrange your own air travel if you prefer. We can tailor-make your itinerary to your personal requirements, so if you would like to travel in advance of the tour (and spend a night in an hotel so you will feel fresh when the tour starts), or return later than the end of the tour, or make a side trip to some other destination, or travel business class rather than economy, we will be happy to assist. Please contact us about your air travel requirements.
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Ph: 512-343-1700, Fax: 512-343-1701
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