Bigi Pan
Trip Start
Aug 29, 2009
1
7
12
Trip End
Ongoing
Nieuw Nickerie,
Nickerie,
Suriname
Monday, October 12, 2009
We decided to leave further trips into the bush bush for Guyana as we particularly wanted to visit the Kaieteur falls there. So we took ourselves off to the bus station in search of a bus to Nieuw Nickerie, which lies at the very edge of Suriname on the Nickerie river opposite Guyana. There were lots of mini buses, all with shiny plastic covered seats and no space for luggage. We did not investigate whether any of these went westwards as we could not face sitting for many hours on plastic. When we ventured further into the depths of the station we found an old dilapidated 'National Vervoer Bedrijf" bus (National transport organisation) with battered but non-plastic seating and luggage space. Upon inquiry we were told that it goes to Nieuw Nickerie every day at 1pm, for the cost of only 12.5 Suriname dollars (about £4).
Heron in flight
So on Monday, 12th October we were off again. While waiting for the bus to arrive we met Lene, a tattooed but very pretty and very young German girl, together with her dog and French boyfriend. The two of them were travelling for as long as they had money and were mostly sleeping in their own hammocks. Oh to be young! It was getting close to one o 'clock, but there was no sign of a bus. Suddenly an Indian bloke jumped up and said 'this is the bus to Nieuw Nickerie!'. 'Are you sure?' I asked as although the bus certainly looked dilapidated, it had "Amir's Touring Cars" written on it rather than national Vervoer Bedrijf. Apparently it was the right bus, but there was nowhere for it to park so we had to somehow get on, together with our rucksacks, our day packs and a bag with food, in the middle of moving traffic! And then we were off as there was no time to waste, it being 1 o' clock! We really enjoyed the four hour journey, the road was good and went through mainly agricultural land with pretty villages consisting of old Dutch wooden houses, often on stilts – I guess in case of flooding during the rainy season. Closer to Nieuw Nickerie there were rice paddies and swamps: Paul Theroux did not call it 'Mosquito coast' for nothing. No sooner were we off the bus than we were both bitten, painfully, four times. What a welcome! We said cheerio to Lene and her boyfriend and walked to the guesthouse we had booked by phone. Because of the mosquitoes we were not keen to hang about, so sorted a trip to the Bigi Pan swamp for the next day. Stephanie, a young Javanese woman keen on birdwatching, picked us up at 9 am and drove us to the Nickerie river, where a boat was waiting for us, together with a pilot (we never did find out his name, he was always too busy). As we went along the river we noticed
Squirrel monkey
Squirrel monkeys in the trees and went to take a closer look. Suddenly Stephanie freaked, waved her arms wildly and shouted 'snaky, snaky!'. We looked up and saw a large black snake up in a tree more or less right above us! Stephanie told us later that it was a sapakarca.Bigi Pan is a lake in the middle of a swamp. In order to get to it we had to haul the boat out of the river, pull it over a muddy slipway and then push it into a canal before jumping in ourselves. Hard work, but it was good to feel useful.
All pull together!
The canal was dug a few decades ago to provide fishermen with access to the lake, which was stocked with Tilapia from South Africa. To date they appear to be the main fish there. 
Black-collared hawk
Stephanie belongs to a local nature club and certainly knows her birds. We saw many birds, including fish hawks, large and small herons, three kinds of kingfisher and red ibis.
Scarlet Ibis
The latter are unbelievably bright due to their diet of shrimps; born brownish they achieve their brightness after about three years. Bigi Pan itself is a large shallow lake, an Etang like the ones in southern France really, with brackish water.
Bigi Pan
We saw many dead fish which Stephanie said was probably due to the water getting too salty as the weather had been unusually dry and hot for weeks now. In the middle of the lake were a number of huts on stilts. On one of those it is possible to spend the night in a hammock. If you can cope with the mosquitoes you are apparently rewarded with a magnificent dawn over the lake.
Stilt house on Bigi Pan
What a shame that we had already booked a place on the 07.30 hrs bus to the ferry (not!). Once on the lake Stephanie went fishing. Together she and the boatman set nets, which is quite easy; you simply jump overboard and walk around, secure the net with the odd stick in the ground and wait for the fish to get stuck.
Setting a net
Soon there were enough for lunch. While eating Stephanie got a phone call. It turned out that she had recently been taken on full time by WWF and was wanted by a group of their representatives who were on a fact finding tour and currently also on Bigi Pan, stationed at one of the other stilt huts.
A fish for lunch
We all went over; the local press was there too, doing an article on WWF. It seems WWF is not without influence and can have an impact on what happens locally. I had a really interesting time as Stephanie was being interviewed by a woman from Guyana in English. Stephanie, like most Surinamers already speaks three languages: Dutch, Sranan Tongo and Javanese, but her English was not quite up to the job, so I acted us an interpreter. We had a great day on Bigi Pan and felt it to be a good end to our time in Suriname. By the way, I have discovered the Dutch equivalent of “innit”- it is 'toch' said in a questioning way. (For the non English blog readers, 'innit' is derived from 'isn't it' and used whether or not it is appropriate, particularly by British Asians).
Dus Suriname is een tof land, toch? (So Suriname is a great country, innit?)
Scarlet Ibis flying
Joint haiku:Birds, water, snakes, fish
Dry season sun burns the land
Red ibis at dusk
Comments
Hello!
I love that lake and the scarlet ibis! Great to keep reading your adventures!
What a fascinating time you are having. An adventure of a lifetime. I love the Haikus - so evocative of the places you have visited.