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Post by jshuey on Jan 12, 2020 17:00:02 GMT
Quick Question. How do people from the US get to the country? I looked a few years ago, and it not simple.
John
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Post by nomihoudai on Jan 12, 2020 17:12:20 GMT
I also checked yesterday and there is only a few expensive flights out of Miami for $1000+. I don't understand why it is not well connected.
For that price it makes more sense to me to go to Central America and the countries around Colombia (all can be reached for as little as $350 round trip from Texas).
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Post by Paul K on Jan 12, 2020 17:19:52 GMT
I was in French Guyana in 2004 and flight ticket from Toronto to Cayenne cost $2000.00 then. The only airline was flying there was Air France and they had charged o lot coz of lack of competition. Nova days there are few more options via other countries in South America where the cost is much cheaper.
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Post by jmg on Jan 12, 2020 18:32:36 GMT
About the flight to Guyane, would be cheaper to fly from Miami to Belem (Brazil) and from there a second plane to Cayenne. Same, would be cheaper flying from Miami to Martinique or Guadeloupe, then to Cayenne. At least, I presume. Prices are high (but not from Paris), not because "a lack of competition" (two companies between France and Guyane) but more because a lack of travellers. From Paris, prices (economy class, go and back) are more or less as follow : - Air France : 600 euros - Air Caraïbes : 500 euros
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Post by jmg on Jan 12, 2020 18:34:29 GMT
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wolf
Aurelian
Posts: 132
Country: Norway
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Post by wolf on Jan 12, 2020 20:16:50 GMT
What months are best to go there for collecting butterflies?
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Post by jmg on Jan 13, 2020 0:18:32 GMT
"What months are best to go there for collecting butterflies?" In the past, the climate was presented as follows: - May to September: the rains - October to end of November: dry season - December to March: the rains - March and April: the "small dry season" The best times were therefore after the rains in October and March. Now, with global warming, this regular suction is greatly disturbed and things become more complicated. For example, to cite only one recent case: a week without the slightest rain in early January 2020! When he should have had cataracts. We can however agree that October-November and March-April remain favorable periods (they correspond moreover to the emergence of the Morpho). Photo 1 : On December 5, 2017, the Montagne de Kaw under the rain during five days without any sunny moment. Photo : JMG Photo 2 : On December 14, 2018, Hmong butterfly collector on the La Source trail, Cacao, by a sunny day. Photo : JMG Incidentally, it should be noted that the track from La Source to Cacao is a high place for collecting Morpho ( hecuba, telemachus, rhetenor, menelaus, helenor, achilles, deidamia and marcus). Each year, Hmong collectors capture thousands (of males). And these butterflies remain as numerous as ever. This tends to demonstrate, if necessary, that the capture of lepidoptera (with known exceptions) is not the factor of their rarefaction!
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Post by Adam Cotton on Jan 13, 2020 8:01:54 GMT
Hmong butterfly collector on the La Source trail Are these Hmong originally from Laos? Adam.
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Post by bobw on Jan 13, 2020 9:31:53 GMT
Hmong butterfly collector on the La Source trail Are these Hmong originally from Laos? Adam. Yeah, there's a big Laotian community around Cacao. I went collecting with a couple of them when I was there.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Jan 13, 2020 9:56:13 GMT
I had a feeling that they must have been from Laos. Many Hmong fled Laos in the 1970s and went to France, so it is logical that some moved from there to French Guyana. Ethnically the Hmong are different to the Lao people, and actually the war is technically still continuing with the last Hmong militants holed up high on Phou Bia, the highest mountain in Laos. This mountain is completely closed, even to locals, which is a pity because this mountain must have some interesting insects. It is over 2800 metres high and has a high plateau, so covers a large area. Similar habitat further north would probably have species such as Papilio krishna. This is the only place of its kind in Laos, hopefully people will be able to access it eventually.
Adam.
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Post by wollastoni on Jan 13, 2020 10:06:15 GMT
The populations of French Guyana is very interesting. So you will find : - few Amerindians, (Guyana has never been highly populated) - descendants of slaves (mainly black) - descendants of settlers (mainly white) - many French. - French Indochina populations sent to develop Guyana (Hmong, ...). They were very good merchants - Guyana was the French penal colony during 80 years, so you have many descendants of prisoners. The famous entomologist Eugene Le Moult had a job in the prison administration. - and now MANY immigrants from Surinam and Brazil (gold diggers...). It is a very interesting mix.
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Post by jmg on Jan 13, 2020 10:23:15 GMT
"Are these Hmong originally from Laos?" Adam. The Hmong arrived from Laos to Guyane in 1975 (for the political reasons you know). Generously, the French government offered them a few picks and shovels and bits of forest to clear in two or three localities, the best known being Cacao. Quickly, due to their energy, the Hmongs became the main growers and sellers of fruit and vegetables for all of Guyane, at the cost of intense work. In Cacao, every weekend there is a large fruit and vegetable market and also Laotian folk objects. It is also an opportunity for the inhabitants of Cayenne to come and eat Laotian cuisine (hmong) in the many small restaurants open on Saturday and Sunday. The Cacao hmong market is now one of the major tourist attractions in Guyane. Today, two restaurants are permanent and allow you to consume a good Asian meal. Some Hmongs specialize in butterflies (and beetles) which they collect with a net or a trap with great dexterity. And now live on the sale of insects. Some are very well known and, for example, many Japanese people come to Cacao to buy insects or to collect in the forest with a Hmong as a guide. Obviously, it is this activity which is notably targeted by the recent prefectural decree aiming to limit the outflow of insects from Guyane. Due to this intense entomological activity in Cacao, there is a museum (open on weekends) dedicated to insects and especially butterflies where you can see, among other things, a remarkable collection of Castniidae and Morpho gynandromorphs. Some pictures (all these photos are from your servant): 1. A Hmong butterfly seller in Cacao (with Morpho hecuba, Morpho helenor males and females, Morpho eugenia) 2. Some Morpho gynandromorph from the said Museum : M. telemachus, M. eugenia and M. menelaus ; the telemachus is very interesting : part male and part female, with the two colours (two forms in Guyane : M. telemachus telemachus (blue) and M. telemachus metellus (orange). 3. Hmong houses in Cacao. 4. Hmong women selling fruits and vegetables in the hmong market. 5. Hmong lady collecting Morpho (helped by her children!). 6. Hmong lure to collect M. hecuba and M. telemachus. They have a specific blue lure very efficient to catch M. rhetenor. Mine is working but not so well ! For a reason that is difficult to understand, my blue lure for rhetenor works well over the road but not over a track! The Hmongs' blue lure works everywhere! It is not simply blue, it is screened.
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Post by jmg on Jan 13, 2020 10:57:06 GMT
"So you will find : - few Amerindians, (Guyana has never been highly populated) - descendants of slaves (mainly black) - descendants of settlers (mainly white) - many French. - French Indochina populations sent to develop Guyana (Hmong, ...). They were very good merchants" Do not forget the Saramaca and Bushinengue! These descendants of brown slaves, initiated into forest life by the Amerindians, still live there, often in (political) conflict with the Creoles. Many of them work for the National Forestry Office because of their excellent knowledge of the forest, its flora and fauna. To learn more : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saramaka en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushinengue
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Post by jshuey on Jan 13, 2020 14:32:49 GMT
About the flight to Guyane, would be cheaper to fly from Miami to Belem (Brazil) and from there a second plane to Cayenne. Same, would be cheaper flying from Miami to Martinique or Guadeloupe, then to Cayenne. At least, I presume. Prices are high (but not from Paris), not because "a lack of competition" (two companies between France and Guyane) but more because a lack of travellers. From Paris, prices (economy class, go and back) are more or less as follow : - Air France : 600 euros - Air Caraïbes : 500 euros Flying through Brazil with a bunch of dead bugs sounds risky at best.... John
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Post by wollastoni on Jan 13, 2020 14:55:54 GMT
Flying through Brazil with a bunch of dead bugs sounds risky at best.... John Who said a trip to Guyana has to be safe ? It is also thanks to that that Amazonia, Papua and so on remain mythical destinations.
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