Amazone Nature Lodge

[jmg]

Amazone Nature Lodge is located on Kaw Mountain in French Guyane between two other lodges, Camp Caïmans and Relais Patawa, all in the middle of the forest. Near these three sites, many trails allow the privacy of the forest and many animal and lepidopteric encounters. Amazone Nature Lodge and Relais Patawa are mainly dedicated to entomology. But we often meet other naturalists (especially ornithologists and herpetologists) or botanists and animal photographers there.

 

On the page "Memories of containment in Guyane", the photo of the fer de lance (Bothrops atrox) was taken near a path of Amazon Nature Lodge. Likewise, in the video, the sequences devoted to the pond and small fish come from the same place.

collector-secret.proboards.com/thread/3323/containment-journal-french-guyane

collector-secret.proboards.com/thread/3314/memories-containment-guyane 

[Paul K]

I only visited Amazon Nature Lodge in French Guiana.
I highly recommend this place. I’m not sure if owners are same when I stayed there in 2004 but Fred was a nice guy who was taking care of all your needs. Food was good, free beer, freezer to keep specimens, the lodge was very comfortable and most of all great moth collecting. Butterflies were not so abundant as I was there in begin of February ( rain season ).
I wish to go back there one more time for butterflies season.

Paul

[jmg]

February is not the best time for butterflies in French Guyane. Better October / November and after March. As far as I know, Amazone Nature Lodge is still run by the same owners. As for Fred, if it is Frédéric (entomologist, specialist in Saturniidae and Castniidae), he no longer lives in ANL but not very far, around forty kilometers and I meet him every time I go to French Guyane.

I myself stayed at ANL in November 2011.

[Paul K]

I’m pretty sure must be same Fred, Frederic.
He was running ANL that time and I was sure he is the owner of ANL, isn’t he?

[jmg]

I got the information! In fact, formerly and before 2004, two Fred (Frédéric) at ANL. One of them is still the owner and manager of the site. The other, the entomologist, now lives elsewhere in the same region.

[Paul K]

What a coincident, two Freds at ANL! 😜
I suppose Fred I met is the owner.

[az]

I was there in Nov 2020 at the height of the COVID lockdowns.

The place is absolutely great, and I mean it: I think this is the first time in my life that I am leaving feedback for a place I stayed at. The forest is outstanding quality and there are long tracks through the woods that are ideal for setting up bait traps and for collecting with the net. November is a bit late in the season, so some butterflies were not as abundant as I hoped. Other ones were there in plenty. I stopped taking Agrias narcissus after I got 5 A+ specimens in just two days. Similar story with Panacea procilla bleuzeni, M. deidamea, menelaus, etc. Night collecting was absolutely a blast. Double my take compared to my last experience with a serious mercury-vapor light trap in Peru a few years ago. Most of the stuff is still in the freezer, but it seems that I covered it all: Rothschildia, Copiopteryx, Arsenura/Dysdaemonia (including  the giants) and more sphinges than I can count.

I am sure there are other places one could stay at in that fantastic forest. What made this lodge so good for me was the friendly, helpful and engaged staff and a nice atmosphere. I received a lot of advice on collecting and all the help I needed with bait, traps and logistics. But very simply they are nice people, and that makes all the difference. My trip had to be postponed several times due to COVID. The owner was very accommodating and helped me find a solution that ultimately worked. Unfortunately he was away when I was visiting, but I was constantly in touch with him before during and after the trip. From experience I know that a place like that is never run well unless the owner himself/herself is engaged. Here he definitely is.

I am definitely going back again. Perhaps earlier in the season, to settle my scores with M. hecuba which I saw only once on this trip. This too I don't say lightly: I hardly ever go back to the same location again, for collecting or even just for vacation.

My one regret is that I decided against renting a car. The "big" road leading to the lodge and beyond (paved but just a notch above a dirt track really) is very long with many interesting locations. The lodge staff was helpful chauffeuring me around, but being totally independent would have had its advantages. 

[Paul K]

When I stayed in Amazon Nature Lodge the owner ( Fred ) was kind to borough us his car on couple of occasions so I and the other guy ( Karl ) who stayed there at the same time could drive along the paved road and collect here and there. The road ends at Kaw river.
Also once Fred dropped me at the ocean side and Cayenne city to explore and sightseeing.
Ocean beach was empty and the water had a colour of coffee with cream due to discharge of muddy waters from Amazon, Oyapok and few smaller rivers.

[jmg]

I hope that, despite the pandemic, I could stay there next March (good time for butterflies and not too much rains). I settle in at Relais Patawa, about ten kilometers further than Amazon Nature Lodge, because the owners of Patawa are friends. A car is essential because there are lots of good sites along this route. And also, from time to time, to get to where we pick up the telephone and the internet. First spot where we get the network: the junction of the track for the Fourgassier waterfalls (this track is also favorable to lepidoptera encounters - last April, I also met a jaguarundi on the said track!).

At the start of the small track that leads to Amazone Nature Lodge (actually the clearing where the track starts from the road), good spot for Morpho rhetenor and Morpho hecuba (November or March-April). We can also meet some papilionidae (torquatus, Parides sp.) foraging on the flowers on the sides of the road.



That said, in my own experience (many stays in this region), the best lepidopteran sites are the two tracks that start on the left of the road, 1.5 and 2 kilometers after the Relais Patawa ("layon" 1 and "layon" 2). The first is easily visited for more than 5 km, the second is quite overgrown with many downed trees (better to have a machete!). Note that the Relais Patawa is also equipped for night collecting.

If we look at the Google Earth map at the top of this page, the two paths in question are where there is the word "Kaw" in red.

These videos were made mainly on this first path after Patawa:

collector-secret.proboards.com/thread/3444/panacea-bleuzeni

collector-secret.proboards.com/thread/3314/memories-containment-guyane 

[mothian]

Hey guys,

I am planning a 1-week insect collecting trip to French Guiana for sometime between October 2022 and January 2023. My work schedule only makes it possible for me to travel in that timeframe. My biggest interests are moths (Saturniids/Sphingids), beetles, and Morphos, but I know their flight seasons do not necessarily overlap. In my timeframe, when do you think I would have the most success at collecting these 3 groups? Or if more practical, when would be the most opportune time in my travel window for collecting each of these groups individually? I will plan around a new moon to help my chances with moths and beetles, but if I go at the start of the rainy season, I’ll miss the best time for Morphos. What do you think makes the most sense if trying to maximize my chances of finding good insect diversity? I welcome any and all advice. Thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Ian