French Guyana, Suriname Guyana - info anyone?
 

it´s been hard to get info on the 3 guyanas. I´ll be in Belem tomorrow do some maintanance work on the bike then ship Macapa ride to Oiapoc (sp?) and cross into F.G. i´ve heard that most of the road from Macapa tp Oiapoc is mostly dirt and in bad conditions. probably now is all mud with the rains - can it be done with a fully loaded F650GSD? How long is the ride? i´ve heard is 12-18 hours by bus...

After entering French Guyana i´m getting conflicting info about the roads some say they are paved other said they are dirt??? ALso the road from George Town Guyana to Boa Vista Brasil is dirt or paved? i heard is 600 km with no gas stations?

any information is greatly appreciated. :thumbup1:

also if you have contacts that can provide support/info in those countries it would help alot!

Here is a report from another traveller who travelled this route. Maybe this will answer your question.

Central and South America 2006/7.

Geoff..

excellent link thank you!!! it has a lot of good info:thumbup1:

now i need to find out the condition of the road since is rainy season and when they drove by was october/dry. it had confirm my fears that ferries might be hard to find but worst that is is extremely expensive to cross those countries.. now i´m considering skeeping them ince i´m low on cash:(

IIRC, Suriname requires a visa for US citizens.

thank you for the info lone rider... but

I´m NOT a US citizen :nono:

but it does requires a visa for Italians/Nicaraguenses as well :cool4:
(i have dual citizenship italy/Nicaragua)

Northern South America - how was it?
 

I'm curious to know how that part of your trip went? Did you get through Suriname well? I am planning on doing the same next year!

Cheers!
BK

Hi BK, by the time I reached Brasil the rainy season had started and road to French Guiana was close. I would be very interested to hear about anyone that has done it recently or if you make it up there. These three countries are still in my to do list :scooter:

As I said on another thread, inserting "Suriname," "Guiana," or "Guyana" into the search box will yield plenty of information, some of it current and some of it mine. And FWIW the road from Macapa does not close during the rains; however, it gets very messy.

Mark

I'm in southern Brasil planning my trip through the Guianas. Although there is not much to plan as there is only one road that goes all the way through. I'm just going to figure it out as I go. Its always easier that way anyway.

I might be a little late, and given the amount of rain I am seeing in Brasil at the moment it looks like its going to be a big nasty mudfest when I get past Macapá. Should be interesting to say the least. I'm always up for a miserable time. :stormy:

Crashmaster, rain in southern Brazil doesn't predict rain north of the Amazon; entirely different weather patterns. This doesn't mean you'll be fine--it just means you don't yet know. FWIW, your timing is far better than mine.

Don't miss touring around in Minas Gerais. Brazil in general consists of a lot of open space between interesting places, but Minas Gerais has good roads and plenty to see.

enjoy,

Mark

Thanks for the advice Mark. I am trying to do some route planning through Brazil right now. Did you go from Rio up north through Minas Gerias then to Brasilia - Belem? The coastal route looks to be about 5000 kms and the direct north route about 3000 kms. With my limited time I cannot do both so I am leaning toward the route directly north of Rio.

What would you recommend?

Vince, I wasn't following anything resembling a rational path through Brazil. I rode from Iguacu through Paraguay up to the Pantanal, messed around some places, then over to Brasilia and down to Minas Gerais, along the coast to Salvador then inland and up to Belem (by a roundabout route). Aside: can't figure out why I missed the dry season and got to Macapa during the rains....

IMHO both Minas Gerais and Bahia are worth visiting. If you can't do both, at least do one or the other. There are a lot of miles of scrubby landscape between Rio and Belem, and you might as well spend a bit of time somewhere identifiably Brazilian and unique. The only thing I'm clear I'd do differently next time around is not go long distances out of my way to visit Brazilian parks written up in Lonely Planet guides for their amazing rock formations, since none of the ones I went to great trouble to get to were particularly worthwhile. But then, my point of comparison is the American southwest, so there again take it all with a large grain of salt.

Oh, and Brasilia itself is likely to be of interest only if, like me, you grew up reading about this visionary experiment in urban planning and have always harbored a secret desire to see it up close. Otherwise: feh.

Of course my opinions are highly suspect, and of course wherever you go interesting things will transpire and life will continue to surprise, challenge and amaze.

Have fun and keep posting.

Mark

Thanks Mark. It looks like I will have to do a little exploring and hopefully not get stuck somewhere while the wet season in the north approaches. As I meet more and more friendly people in Brazil, my progress is slowing to a crawl. I need to get fidgety and start moving, but I'm not feeling it right now.

Maybe looking at more you tube videos of knee deep mud and stuck tractor trailers on the BR-156 will get me motivated.

the road to French Guyana is closed?

Keep reading after SalCar's post. The road does not "close." It merely gets messy.

Hey Vince, I saw a photo of you with Reginaldo. Hell of a nice guy...with an ever-increasing list of friends Stateside.

enjoy,

Mark

Good! Because we are heading that way right now...

inbox
 

Hello SalCar,
I just visited Georgetown Guyana last May and my daughter did the trip from GT to Lethem then over the bridge to BoaVista Brazil. She indicated that the road from Georgetown to the mining town of Linden is paved; from there on it is red sand / gravel and it is in good shape, dusty if it is dry but a little rain would hurt. There is frequent Mini bus, supply trucks traffic. I will ride that road on the 26 of March 2011 and will post an up to date condition report. I am also planning a ride from GT to BoaVista Brazil, then down to Manus where I am planning to put the bike on a ferry to Macapa. At Macapa, I will ride to the French Giuana, then Dutch Guiana and eventually back to Georgetown Guyana. If you know of anyone interestion in joining me in 2012 kindly pass the word on.
Regards
xxx

we just booked a boot from Belem to Macapá and are waiting in line to embark. The Land Cruiser, two people. 32 - 36 hours. We paid 1.000 R$ [600 USD]. Let us see what awaits us at the other side of the equator...

Adventurous greetings,
Coen

Br-156
 

I rode BR-156 from Macapá to Oiapoque 2 days ago. It had been raining solid for a week before my arrival and rained heavily the night before. When I rode it, the sun was out and things were quickly drying out.

Some people I met in Macapá warned me that the road was not passable and I would never make it. However, I found it to be quite fun and only slightly challenging in parts.

However there were about half a dozen mud pits ranging from roughly 50 to 100 meters long or maybe a bit more. The mud in places was about knee deep I reckon and some of the muddy sections were on fairly steep inclines with stuck trucks blocking the only decent line through.

On the dry sections I was able to move along quite well while dodging big water filled potholes at 60 mph. Some of those hole are deep, but when water filled you dont know how deep, so use a little caution.

I dropped the bike a couple of times when I picked the wrong line through the muck. Then in an effort to right the bike I found myself slipping and wallowing around falling on my arse while trying to get a decent footing to lift the bike. I'm sure it looked quite comical, but fortunately for me there were not any onlookers to enjoy the show.

All said, this road was not what I would call difficult in these conditions, just a little work and some comical moments picking up the bike. But bear in mind that this is not the wet season, so take that into consideration.

If you do this during the proper wet season I could see where it could be a complete nightmare of deep mud pits with most of the road being slicker than wet owl droppings.

When markharf did this road I am willing to bet that conditions were quite different and extremely challenging. Nicely done Mark!

I must agree with you fully. We just arrived in Oiapoque. The road gave us no problems. When you ask the locals, they all talk about how difficult that strech is, and how many bridges are broken. Best to get your info from the truck drivers. We got two streches where we ingaged 4x4 for about 50 meters. But it was raining very heavy for the last few days and we saw a lot of men working on the road so it was like driving a new road to us.

French Guiana here we come!
Adventurous greetings,
Coen

"a complete nightmare of deep mud pits with most of the road being slicker than wet owl droppings..."

Yup, it's almost like you were looking over my shoulder the whole time.