Brownsberg
I love nature and am blessed to live in a country that has plenty of it. In this blog and the following, I will try to showcase, what my country has to offer for those seeking adventure.
"In every walk with nature, one receives more than they seek"
-John Muir
One of the most well-know and "easily" accessible nature reserves is the Brownsberg Nature Park. Located about 130 kilometers South from Paramaribo (Capital city). The word berg meaning mountain in dutch, was named after John Brown, who was a gold miner at the end of the 19th century. Since 1969 the mountain and the surrounding area of approximately 120 square kilometers have been converted to a nature reserve managed by the STINASU foundation.
Sadly that isn't real gold, just the light hitting a wet rock
The nature park receives around 25000 visitors each year, who can stay in lodges or hammock camps on the mountain plateau. The plateau or base camp is well equipped with a restaurant and a small clinic. Guided tours are available or you can go explore the mountain yourself, signs are placed to and from different trails.
The high humidity coupled with high temperatures in the day will make you sweat like you`re in a sauna and at night when the temperature drops it'll feel like you're freezing.
One of the many waterfalls
The park has been extensively studied by ecologists and zoologists for its high biodiversity of flora and fauna. The park has an estimate of at least 2018 species of vascular plants and 1104 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles according to figures from the World Conservation Monitoring Center.
Like all good, there is always an evil. The nature reserve has been plagued by small-scale gold mining. Due to the higher gold prices, an increase of mining activity has been seen over the last few years. The government has pledged to preserve the park but more is said than done. Numerous waterfalls and secluded creeks have already been destroyed in the search for gold. This topic has been addressed by multiple NGO's and local activists but none have had any success. I Am hopeful and have faith that they will succeed! And if any of my readers have any experience to prevent\stop or at least an idea that would help, don't hesitate to comment.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
-Edmund Burke
My personal experiences on the mountain have always been great, discovering new paths, waterfalls and creeks. As I've said before the amount of flora and fauna is abundant, that you'll regularly meet wildlife on the trails, with some luck you might even spot a (black) jaguar or ocelot. I have some photo`s from my last few trips to the mountain and have a very recent one where I actually ran up the mountain plateau. It was a Run2theTOP 10K run. It was an experience to say the least, running when dry is already a challenge with 45 degree steep hills but that day the heavens opened up like a flood. With a lot of effort and cursing, I managed to finish. Sadly I don't have any pictures of the climb, because I left my phone in the car. But I am already planning my next hike, so stay tuned for those photo's.
One of the many walkways to different waterfalls and creeks
Tired and beaten but never broken
Thanks for reading and all the support!!
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All photographs are of my own work unless noted under the picture in question.