French Guiana - Comité du Tourisme de la Guyane

excursions
& visits
excursions & visits . excursions & visits . excursions & visits . excursions & visits .
Nature sites
No one could imagine going to French Guiana
without seeing all the richness nature has to offer.
These are one of the big reasons the destination
is so original.
Kaw-Roura marshes
• 60 km from Cayenne.
• Bordering the Atlantic Ocean in the north, the river
Mahury in the south, a chain of woody hills (the Kaw
hills) on the west, and the river Approuague on the
east.
• This natural site is a vast green marshland covering
94,700 hectares, behind a large mud flat with
mangroves and swamp forest. The marshes are home
to the last remaining populations of South American
black caimans (protected species).
Thanks to the diversity of the wet environment, the
site proliferates with water birds.
For more information on what this natural site has
to offer, see the section on organised tours.
Kikivis
40
Luth turtle
egg-laying
The Amana nature reserve
• Awala Yalimapo (260 km from Cayenne).
• Situated between the Maroni and Mana estuaries,
the Hattes Beach is the biggest egg-laying site in
the world for the Luth turtle (measurements: 1 m 70,
600 kg, no scales, but covered in a dark blue
leather).
• Egg-laying season: April to July.
• Turtle hatching season: July to September.
Eggs are laid during the night, when the tide is high.
• The entirely protected site is accessible to all.
The Montjoly beach,
not far from Cayenne
• Luth turtles also come here to lay their eggs,
where a natural hatchery has been set up.
The Montjoly salt marshes
• Montjoly, on the Sainte-Rita road (9 km from Cayenne).
• The salt marshes form a 1,900 m-long lagoon on
the edge of the ocean. There is a 1.2 km discovery
trail along this wet zone.
The salt marshes offer a diversity of ecological
environments that you can easily identify along the
way: herbaceous vegetation, forest adapted to dryness
on the dune ridge, mangrove, etc.
Red caiman