Introduction to French Guiana
French Guiana is situated on the north-east side of South America, 4 degrees north of the equator. The climate is tropical and humid, we call it Amazonian. It is 90,000 [km.sup.2], bordered in the south and south-east by Brazil, the west by Suriname, and the north by the Atlantic Ocean.
Due to the small human population of approximately 250,000 (most in the coastal area) and the absence of economic activities, 90% of the surface is still covered with tropical rainforest. There are only roads on the coastal area. The interior is accessible only by boat, bush plane or helicopter. If you have enough time, it is also accessible by foot--the way Brazilian gold diggers have explored the region.
The far north eastern part of French Guiana belongs ecologically to the Amazonian ecosystem. This is presented by different Amazonian animal and plant species. The Amazonian ecosystem has a higher biodiversity than the Guyana[n] ecosystem. Also, the north east of French Guiana has a high annual rain fall--to 6000 mm (240 inches) per year.
A special inselberg
Interesting bromeliad habitats in the rainforest areas of the Guianas are rocky outcrops, popularly known as inselbergs. Inselbergs are found in many parts of the world. They are generally defined as isolated, steep-sided hills rising above a relatively flat surrounding landscape.
In French Guiana, inselbergs are mostly hidden in the interior, with no road or river connection to the human world. Just by chance, one interesting inselberg could be reached by us in the 1990"s. It took a full day driving and boating to get near, and 2 hours of hiking on the second day to reach the areas of bare rock. This place is known as Savane Roche la Virgenie. It is decribed in the Journal of the Bromeliad Society in 2002. (Volume 52, Issue 1 (Jan-Feb), starting page 25.)
Apart of the main inselberg, there are the two additional areas of sparsely vegetated rock with large patches of rock plates, known as satellite 1 and satellite 2.
Satellite 2 is home to three natural Aechmea hybrids (Aechmea SAT #04, A. SAT #05 and A. SAT #06) that are only found on this plateau !
In 2003 a road was opened to Brazil that passed near the base of this inselberg, making the site accessable with just one hour of hiking. Since then, an increasing number of visitors has visited the barren areas near the summit.
The inselberg summit is 134 meters (400 ft) above sea level. The higher section of bare granite slopes down, finally leveling out to form a platform. Seen from the air, the largest area of bare rock has roughly the form of a boot. The bare granite can be very hot, to 55 C, in the dry season. It is amazing that several plant species, and even one frog (!) have adapted to this harsh environment.
Some vegetation types associated with Savana Roche la Virgenie and the bromeliads growing there
Surrounding the inselberg is a...