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26 September 2026

There is a city in South America where some of the most important old buildings are made of wood.

It is Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname.

Walk through its historic centre and the architecture tells a complicated story. Dutch influences meet local materials and craftsmanship, while African, Asian and Indigenous influences have also become part of the city’s cultural character.

UNESCO inscribed the Historic Inner City of Paramaribo as a World Heritage site in 2002, describing it as an exceptional example of the gradual fusion of European architecture with Indigenous South American materials and crafts.

But Suriname is much more than its capital.

Deep in the interior lies the Central Suriname Nature Reserve, an immense protected area of roughly 1.59 million hectares—about eleven percent of the country’s territory. Much of it remains covered by primary tropical forest. The reserve contains an extraordinary variety of wildlife, including jaguars, giant river otters, giant armadillos and hundreds of bird species.

Sometimes the most interesting places are the ones we have not yet learned to talk about enough.

Perhaps that is what makes Suriname so intriguing.

One part of the country carries the memory of centuries of human movement and cultural mixing.

Another remains overwhelmingly forest.

Between the two lies a country that is still not well known to much of the outside world.

#Suriname #Paramaribo #SouthAmerica #RajatChandraSarmah

Rajat Chandra Sarmah, Guwahati, Assam, India, Instagram @rajatchandrasarmah5, YouTube: conversewithasmile, email rajatchandrasarmah@gmail.com