Suriname > Swimming in the Witi Creek

We woke up to an early alarm. We had been told wonderful stories about the sunrise over Brownsberg. Looking outside, however, we could see little of a possible sunrise—the lake was shrouded in mist. So we could comfortably turn over and relax a bit longer. After breakfast, we walked to the Witi Creek. This was supposed to be a two-hour walk each way through the jungle. The route was less steep than yesterday’s hike. Right away, the path disappeared into the jungle, and once again, it was beautiful walking among the towering trees. Our Rastafarian guide explained the trees along the way. Funny enough, all the guides seemed to say the same things about the same trees. The walk to Witi Creek was almost four kilometers.

Suriname - The Brokopondo reservoir

The path went up and down regularly, and we occasionally paused to catch our breath. Even in the morning, it was quite warm for walking. At times, the path made a steep descent, which promised to be a challenge on the way back. After a little over an hour and a half of walking, we reached Witi Creek—an open spot in the forest with clear water. We immediately jumped in. The water was a bit cold at first, but once we got through it, it was wonderful for swimming. The water wasn’t clear enough to fill our bottles, though. After this short break, we walked back the same way to our lodge. Some of the steep sections were tough to climb, but the surroundings made up for it. The last stretch of the hike was the hardest. My water bottle was empty, and everyone climbed the final few hundred meters at their own pace. Seeing the camp again was a pleasant feeling. Fortunately, lunch was ready, and we could sit down immediately. After lunch, we left Brownsberg again. We packed our things and got on the bus. Along the orange gravel road, we bumped our way back to the Suralco factory. There, we joined a long line of small vans transporting the factory workers home. As far as the eye could see, the little vans were driving, turning left and right to drop off workers on the way to Paramaribo. Guy had told us that the program for the coming days would be changed.

Suriname - A walk through the jungle

The previous Sawadee group had not been satisfied with the overnight stay in Galibi. The stay had been rebooked at another resort, but we couldn’t go there directly. So we were doing the jungle program in reverse order. Tomorrow we would take a domestic flight to Drietabbetje, travel upstream, and then downstream to Galibi. This also meant that only a limited amount of luggage could be taken on the plane, and my plan to leave some gear after the jungle trek wouldn’t work. To make matters worse, the maximum luggage weight wasn’t seven kilograms, but six. That required some careful planning. Back at the hotel, we packed only the essential items. At seven o’clock, we used a small scale to weigh our bags. I had already kept my camera outside the luggage and was wearing my hiking boots. Still, I was slightly over the limit. After a critical review and leaving unnecessary items behind, everyone finally made it under six kilograms. In the evening, we went into the city center with a taxi van. Along the way, we stopped to exchange money. We had meat pon at the same waterside terrace as a couple of days ago. Later in the evening, we took a taxi back to the hotel.