Kwamalasamutu Expedition

MAP: Kwamalasamutu region of Suriname

The Guiana Shield is a vast tropical wilderness covering over 2.2 million square kilometers and encompassing all or part of six South American countries, including Suriname. The numerous types of ecosystems of the Guiana Shield have led to exceptionally rich flora and fauna with many endemic species.

More than 20,000 species of vascular plants, 1,000 species of birds, and 1,100 species of freshwater fishes are known from the Guiana Shield.

Suriname is entirely contained within the Guiana Shield region and is mostly covered by lowland rainforest. The Kwamalasamutu region is within a vast forest interrupted only by the Sipaliwini savanna, approximately 80 km east of Kwamalasamutu.

The community of Kwamalasamutu is the political and cultural center for the Trio people of Suriname. Following establishment of the village in the mid-1970s, the population reached a maximum of over 2,000 people before slowly decreasing to its present size of approximately 800. Residents of Kwamalasamutu subsist primarily on fish, bushmeat, and a limited variety of food crops, especially cassava. Sources of income are few, and many supplies must be flown in from the coast.