The beaten track: Jodensavanna, Brownsberg and Tonka island       Click for the chartlet

The town's square in Domburg (where the boat is moored) is still a pleasant spot to rest in the shadow of the huge mahogany trees. PHOTO 1 The mahogany tree doesn't originate from Suriname. The trees are planted by queen Juliana, when Suriname was still a Dutch colony and she visited the country in 1965. These trees are quite big now and we always look at them with respect, as our boat's interior is also built from mahogany. Our friend Marjon spent a holiday week with us (far too short time) and this was a good opportunity to make a trip again into the bush bush. To Brownsberg and Tonka island via Jodensavanna and Blaka Watra. The beaten track, but that didn't matter and anyway we only met other tourists on the Brownsberg. We travelled with Mister Twist and his mini-van, only with the three of us and for a bargain price. On the first day we visited a rather primitive Marron village PHOTO 2 and the tourist beach and resort of Overbridge (quite a contrast) and  from there we drove on to Jodensavanna.	Jodensavanna is an important place in Surinamese history as the jewish colonists in the 17th century were the first people to exploit the country with the first plantations. This spot was very well chosen as the hill offered a great view over the plantations nearby. There were also two wells, and one of them was curative. A synagogue was built in 1685 and Jodensavanna became the centre of the jewish community, until it was burnt to ashes in 1832 and the jews migrated to Paramaribo. The ruins of the synagogue and the cemetary PHOTO 3 are still a tourist attraction. We brought some flour (we had 15 kg left from our ocean crossing), and Mister Twist used this to make the faded texts on the tomb stones readable. The nature park Brownsberg (6000 ha) is only 110 km away from Paramaribo. The name originates from the 19th century, when John Brown was active as a gold digger; not very succesful by the way.	After the goldrush, Suralco exploited the area for the winning of bauxite; again not very succesful. The area was handed over to Stinasu, the Surinamese organisation for nature preservation, and the area became a beautiful nature park with on the background the deafening noise of the howling monkeys. From the top of the mountain you have a panoramic view over the Prof. Dr. Ir. W.J. van Blommestein lake, also named “the storage reservoir”. Lately many names in Suriname have changed (very unpractical) and nowadays the lake is called Brokopondo lake. The storage reservoir was created in 1964. The 6.000 inhabitants of the area were evacuated to remigration villages and many animals were saved as well. But all the trees drowned and the atmosphere is quite surrealistic with al those dead trees rising from the water like tomb pillars, and the beach reminds you of a cemetary. Anyway it is a fascinating landscape and we were lucky  to have this former mountain top to ourselves, as Tonka island can be very crowded with tourists.  PHOTO 4  5  6

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