The Maroon River Villages

Along the rivers of Suriname's rainforest interior live the Maroons, the descendants of enslaved Africans who escaped the coastal plantations in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and fought for their freedom in the jungle, forming independent communities that endure to this day. Their villages along the Upper Suriname River preserve one of the most vibrant surviving African-rooted cultures in the Americas, rich in distinctive wood carving, drumming, dance and traditions. Visiting, reached by dugout canoe, offers a rare and moving encounter with this proud culture, staying in riverside eco-lodges amid the forest.

History

The villages of the Upper Suriname River belong mostly to the Saamaka, or Saramaka, one of Suriname's six Maroon peoples. Their ancestors were Africans - Akan, Bakongo, Fon and others - sold to plantations in Suriname in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, who escaped into the rainforest alone, in small groups or in mass revolts and fought for almost a hundred years; late 18th-century maps show the colony's defences against their raids. In 1762, a full century before slavery was abolished in Suriname, they won their freedom by a treaty with the Dutch recognising their territory and trading rights, and lived almost as a state within a state until the mid-20th century. In 2007 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights upheld their rights to the lands they have long occupied (Wikipedia, Saramaka).

What's there

• The Maroon villages - the riverside communities and their culture.
• The wood carving - the distinctive Maroon art and craft.
• The drumming and dance - the vibrant African-rooted traditions.
• The river journey - the trip by dugout canoe through the jungle.

When to go

The drier periods, roughly February to April and August to November, are best for river travel; the villages are reached by road to a river port and then by dugout canoe, usually as part of an organised trip staying at riverside eco-lodges, which combines cultural encounters with rainforest activities.

Things to know

These are living communities, not a spectacle, so visits should be respectful, arranged through proper channels and eco-lodges that benefit the villages, and cultural performances, while genuine, are shared on the community's terms; access is by river and facilities are simple. As a rare, moving encounter with a proud culture forged in the struggle for freedom and one of the most intact African heritages in the Americas, though, it is deeply rewarding and unique.

Nearby

The rainforest interior, its rapids and the Brownsberg reserve are within reach.