Overview
The ideal tour for bird lovers.
We visit the west of Suriname with its open landscapes, beautiful salt lake pan, its rice fields and rich history.
Nickerie is known for its rice and bananas, also the main export products of Suriname, outside of gold and lumber.
It is also famous for Bigi Pan, a beautiful swampy nature reserve, where many birds live or spend the winter away from colder habitats.
Some of the famous birds that are seen here are the white and red ibis, the flamingo (during the winterseason) and many birds of prey.
The tour can also be described as a real food tour, you will taste the different delicacies of Suriname, from crab to Javanese noodles and fried rice.
With a long route with stops, there is a lot to be seen during this 2 day tour.
The standard version is by spending the night on Bigi Pan.
It is also possible on request to spend the night in Nickerie and make a day tour to Bigi Pan.
You can always contact us about the options.
Highlights
- Vast landscapes and beautiful rice fields in Nickerie.
- Bigi Pan Nature Reserve; true paradise for bird watchers.
- Groningen
- Wageningen, the old historic center of rice culture.
- Introduction to the second city of Suriname; New Nickerie.
Day 1
Paramaribo – New Nickerie
We leave the city westward following the coast line.
The first stop is in Groningen, the capital of the Saramacca district, located next to the river with the same name.
There used to be a fortress here and there was a leper colony across the river.
A famous part of its history is a group of Dutch farmers from the Groningen area (in the Netherlands) that tried to settle here and endured some hardship.
Via the coconut district Coronie with the waving palm trees along the road, the wooden houses and the small white churches, we drive further towards Nieuw Nickerie.
Here we take a ride through the town and also visit the Zeedijk, with the backtrack route to Guyana and the hindustani crematorium and temple just outside the city.
Please note that these activities also can take place on the second day depending on logistics and time.
After lunch we go to the landing place and board the small boat to go on the pan.
Our accommodation is a wooden lodge on poles in the middle of the pan.
Here we will spend the night (in beds), use dinner breakfast and lunch and from here we do the activities.
Day 2
After the activities on Bigi Pan have been finished we will go back again with the boat to the landing place.
During this trip back, again to the mangrove you will be able to spot the diversity of birds.
Many waders, herons, but also birds of prey and woodpeckers feel right at home here. With a bit of luck we will also come across red ibises that owe their color to eating crabs and shrimp. Small caimans are also regularly spotted.
After concluding this trip through the nature reserve it is time to return towards Paramaribo with a stop in Wageningen.
Stops we didn’t make on the first day due to lack of time or logistics we will make on our way.
