Albina, Suriname - French Guyana Border GPS: 5 North 3.576; 54 West 58.435 Marowijne (or Maroni) River separates Suriname from French Guyana. Albina is the small town on the Suriname side. St. Laurent du Maroni is much larger town and appears to have quite a bit of commerce across the border. French Guyana is actually a part of France, one of its 26 overseas departments and uses the Euro as its currency. The reason for our visiting Albina was to go upriver to the habitat of the elusive Geophagus harreri. For those of you who have not seen a picture, imagine a surinamensoid crossed with a Guianacara. The species is restricted to Marowijne and its upper tributaries. Descendents of Southeast asian and Indian indentured laborers make up the majority along the coast The parents of these kids were very helpful while were stuck in Albina waiting for a boat to get upriver. They were artists and I purchased a few clay sculptures. Very cool bugs along the road. We had embarked on our journey from the Lelydorp to Albina (4 hour drive) bright and early, only to find out that gas stations were on strike. We had a half tank of gas. We were also warned not to get stuck around the town of Moengo. If we did not fill up, our truck would have run out of gas around Moengo. Nice. So we waited in line to get gas. Every minute in a foreign country is precious to me, so Spencer and I went wandering and found these bugs. The water around Albina was slightly brackish, yet we found this unidentified Pleco-type. In Albina with our friend Karel Kasanpawiro, wearing jeans. The habitat in and around Albina was very influenced by the ocean and the tides. I did not expect to find any cichlids here and we didnt. We could not find a single Geophagus harreri. Even after we rented a boat and went an hour upstream, the water was still slightly salty and there was not a Geophagus to be found. We were there in the dry season and had we been there during either of Suriname's rainy seasons, we would have found a very different scenario - Geophagus harreri, according to Fabien Naneix, a French school teacher and excellent aquarist/photographer, who lives in St. Laurent, can readily be found in Albina and even further downriver. Sigh! No Crenicichla multispinosa for me and no G. harreri for Jeff. We'll just have to go back another time. Loricariid with eggs. The eggs hatched within hours of capture. Serrasalmus cf. spilopleura. The river here was almost half mile wide. We tried collecting along both shores...and when we got caught in this storm, it dawned on me: we had snuck into French Guyana. Passports, smassports! We were in French Guyana and it was raining chats et chiens. "If you like Pina Coladas, And getting caught in the rain, If you're not into yoga If you have half a brain, If you'd like making love at midnight, In the dunes on the Cape Then I'm the love that you've looked for, Write to me and escape." PS: just kidding...I'm happily married...I don't want any dirty email from fish geeks! Species seen on Marowijne: Serrasalmus sp. Loricaria sp. Astyanax sp. All photos by J. Cardwell, S. Jack, J. Zaradka and V. Kutty Back to ==> Home http://geocities.datacellar.net/NapaValley/5491 Latest update: 6 April 2007 Comments on this page: email me at vin dot kutty at gmail dot com