French Guiana is known mainly for its jungle and hiking. Yet, when Googling “how to get to the Rorotá trailhead,” I could not find an actual address. My map put a pin on a street with “Rorota” in the name that looked like it was at least in the right area, but we still weren’t 100% sure. SPOILER ALERT : it was definitely the trailhead.
Getting There
From Montabo, Cayenne (where our Airbnb was) it gave us an ETE of about 2 hours and 40 minutes walking. The driving ETE is less than 40 minutes. So, Michael and I started walking and crossing our fingers that we could hitch a ride. About an hour in, an older gentleman pulled over to us and said he could take us closer. His English was pretty good for using it 50 years ago, and even though he didn’t know exactly where we were headed, he seemed to have an idea. As we drove, he even pulled over to ask someone directions!
We got closer and eventually passed the street that my gps told me to go to. I looked at Michael, showed him the map, and mentioned it to the guy. He said we were definitely on the right path. I won’t bore you with details, but a few phone calls in French and a U-turn later, we were headed back toward the pin. Our new friend even had someone find us to lead us to the entrance and we made it!
Jk, not it.
The guy was excited we made it, and kept telling us to “pay attention.” This entrance was on the side of the road with a water spigot. As we soon found out, he was warning us because it is a VERY broken trail that was extremely frustrating to find / navigate. This particular entrance had no signage, no directions, and no markers. After a little climbing around and not seeming to find what was supposed to be an easy trail, we retreated. The original pin I had was a 30 minute walk from our location, so we decided to try it out.
The Trailhead
Violá! The mysterious pin had lead us straight to the Rorotá trail parking lot, with signs and everything. The crazy part is that on the main road, someone ran over the sign that literally says “Sentier du Rorotá” and has a little hiker dude. We found it laying on the ground and realized why we couldn’t see it when we drove by (facepalm). In case you want coordinates instead of guessing : LAT 4.8875 LON -52.2625. Or simply google / type into your gps “Sentier du Rorotá” and it should get you there.
The Rorotá Trail
I kid you not, less than five minutes into this hike, we saw a wild sloth within arms reach! This was the only reason I even wanted to do this hike, so I was stoked. It was cute, and awesome, and took every ounce of self control I have not to touch it. After getting a million pictures, we kept walking up the trail until we reached a T.
Right or Left?
Since the trail is a loop, it doesn’t really matter which direction you start in. However, when we reached the end, I was glad we started to the left. It starts off nice and easy with a pretty flat, low-grade incline. As you walk around, it gives a nice view of the ocean and then starts to turn into more jungle-y terrain before returning back to the start. I also noticed that the majority of people seemed to take the left as we all walked the same direction.
The Trail
There are incredible amounts of diverse insects, animals, and plant life to be admired here, but be careful if you decide to hike after it rains. A lot of the Rorotá trail consists of this clay-like dirt that becomes incredibly muddy and slippery when wet. I wore my famous hiking sandals and was perfectly fine for about 98% of the trail. Listen to me when I say though, this trail can get very muddy and stick to your shoes pretty well. This causes it to become slippery, so be prepared. We were also warned of falling trees, rock slides, and snakes, but did not encounter any during our time there. Including stopping to admire nature and snap some photos, it took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete the Rorotá Trail.
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What was your experience with this trail? Hopefully not as hard to find as ours… But hopefully just as enjoyable!
If you’re looking for more of my hiking experiences, click here!
Wow…incredible! Glad you did not run into any snake or falling trees. Love hearing about your adventures!
We were very happy not to as well! Thanks for the support!