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Surinam September 2015


Kai

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Last September I went on holiday with my wife and 3 year old daughter to Surinam. We got ourselves a nice little house at about 30 minutes drive from the city of Paramaribo for the coming weeks and rented a small toyota to get around. I was looking very much forward to 4 weeks of palmspotting and flyfishing some of the rivers. It all turned out a little different because my pregnant wife got very nauseous. But between caring for my wife and daughter I still I managed to get away a couple of times and drive into dense forests to spot some palms and fish a few creeks. Finally after 2 weeks, we decided to go home earlier so my wife could be nausious in the comfort of our own house.

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First time flying for Lucy. She slept almost the whole 8 hour flight.

When we arrived at the little house we were surprised to find a neat and well cared for house and a very friendly caretaker who also lived on the same land in a house maybe 50 meters away from ours. The patch of land was surrounded by small canals teaming with small fish and a few caimans. The driveway was lined with a number of coconut trees and many sprouting coconuts underneath them. The caretaker showed me how to chop them open without losing any fingers and our first drink on arrival was a coconut.

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The driveway seen from the hammock.

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For the first time Lucy could come with me fishing and she caught her first fish! I don't know who was more proud, me or her.

And now for some palms and plants in the garden around the house...

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Livistona?

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Roystonea?

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Coconuts just make everything seem right

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Some kind of Licuala clump or something?

 

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Heliconia something

This was a very large clump with many flowers and hummingbirds in it. Very cool!

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Somebody must have tossed a coconut in the field. I love the way it just stands there....

  • Upvote 2

www.facebook.com/#!/Totallycoconuts

Amsterdam,

The Netherlands

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We also got rain every once in a while... The photo doesn't do the rainfall justice!

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After four days of trying to find out what the big fish were stirring up the local river, I finally got a solid bite on a surface popping fly. The moment I set the hook the fish was airborne and seemed to be more out of the water than in. I caught my very first tarpon that day! The holy grail for many flyfishermen.

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Nobody around to take a picture though, so I had to do it myself (I didn't really trust the howler monkeys with my camera).

 

  • Upvote 2

www.facebook.com/#!/Totallycoconuts

Amsterdam,

The Netherlands

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Awarra, fruit of Astrocaryum vulgare is eaten regularly and the seeds are tossed on the ground. Many seedlings like these can be found all around populated area's.

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Awarra's are full of carotene and healthy, so the person must have thought he could smoke a cigarette afterwards...

I love these kind of seedlings though, spiny, tough leaves and very white leaf undersides. You should not step on these!

Many many Pritchardia's too. Lots of them planted along the roads. This one was in my father-in-law's garden:

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  • Upvote 2

www.facebook.com/#!/Totallycoconuts

Amsterdam,

The Netherlands

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So now for my first little trip to the forest area. I dropped off my wife and daughter at my father-in-law and started driving out of the city.

After driving for maybe an hour I took an exit and came onto a muddy road with dense forest all around me. I felt very humble and was wondering if it would be sensible to actually get out of the car and try to find a way into the forest. It turned out the explorer in me was stronger than my common sense and I found a spot with a very small creek and started walking along the sides of the creek to get a bit deeper into the forest. I will never forget this experience. It was both a bit scary and beautifull at the same time.

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A young, but very agressive "anjoemara" (Hoplias aimara) from the creek. I wanted to catch a bigger one of this species, but this is something I can't cross from my bucket list yet.

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Bactris?

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Geonoma?

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  • Upvote 3

www.facebook.com/#!/Totallycoconuts

Amsterdam,

The Netherlands

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I really enjoyed the trip! Thanks for posting your pictures.

Searle Brothers Nursery Inc.

and The Rainforest Collection.

Southwest Ranches,Fl.

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Thanks so much for the narrative and photos. I especially loved your daughter's smile.

I do hope your wife feels better soon though!

Cindy Adair

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Catch and release is okay, but be careful eating certain fish in Surinam, there is lots of mercury in the waterways from legal/illegal gold mines.

Great photos and captions, thank you for sharing this adventure with us!

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