10-Day Three Guianas Tour with Kaieteur Falls and Space Centre

You are met at Cheddi Jagan International Airport and driven the hour into Georgetown, Guyana's Atlantic capital, where wooden colonial architecture is bleached silver by the tropical sun and a seawall is the only thing between the streets and a sea sitting above the level of most of the city. The rest of the day is at leisure to rest and settle in. The expedition opens on a Friday for a reason: the scheduled flights to Kaieteur run at weekends only, so the falls come first thing tomorrow.

A scenic flight from Ogle Airport takes you out over unbroken rainforest, with nothing below but canopy and river, to a grass airstrip near the rim of the Potaro Gorge. Kaieteur drops 226 metres in a single plunge - the largest single-drop waterfall on Earth by volume - with spray rising back up in permanent mist. There are no guardrails at the viewpoints and rarely more than a handful of other visitors. After time at the rim and a snack box on the flight, you return to Georgetown by the afternoon, with the evening free.

An early start brings a private transfer east across the coastal plain to the Courantyne River, which forms the border with Suriname and is crossed by ferry. The road then continues to Paramaribo, where the streetscape along the Waterkant looks like Amsterdam transported to the tropics. In the afternoon, enjoy a walking tour of the UNESCO-listed old city, including Saint Peter and Paul Cathedral, one of the largest wooden buildings in the Western Hemisphere; Fort Zeelandia on the river; and the Central Market, where Javanese, Creole, Maroon, Chinese and Hindustani vendors sell from adjacent stalls.

You drive south out of Paramaribo, leaving the coastal plain behind and heading into the forest as far as the road goes - Atjoni - where the river takes over. From there, continue by motor canoe up the Upper Suriname River, deep into Saamaka Maroon territory, to a rainforest lodge on the bank. After settling in, the evening brings the first night trip on the water, with caimans' eyes reflecting red in the torch beam just above the waterline.

A guided walk to a Saamaka Maroon village introduces daily life along the river. These are the descendants of escaped enslaved Africans who established autonomous communities in the interior centuries ago and have held on to their own language, religious practice and craft traditions ever since. Forest trails introduce the plants used for food and medicine, and there is time on the water by canoe as well as swimming in the rapids. After dark, head out for a second caiman-spotting trip.

Travel downriver by canoe - faster with the current than the way up - and then continue by road back to Paramaribo, arriving by early afternoon. The rest of the day is free: you might visit the Numismatic Museum for its wide range of currencies that have circulated through Suriname, head to the Javanese neighbourhood of Kwatta for some of the best food in the country, or simply relax on the hotel terrace with a Parbo beer while river traffic goes by.

An early crossing of the Maroni River brings you into Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni and French Guiana - the euro, the European Union, and a tour of the old penal transportation camp through which convicts bound for the islands were processed. The road continues to Cayenne for a city tour taking in the Place des Palmistes and the central market, then carries on to Kourou for a two-night stay.

A catamaran runs from Kourou out to the Iles du Salut, the Salvation Islands, where France ran its most notorious penal colony until the 1950s. You land on Ile Royale to walk the prison ruins among coconut palms and macaws, and see Devil's Island across the channel, where Alfred Dreyfus was held. Lunch is served on the crossing, and you are back in Kourou by late afternoon.

A morning tour of the Guiana Space Centre introduces Europe's working spaceport, including mission control, the assembly buildings and the launch pads. The site is located here because a launch from five degrees north of the equator gets a free push from the Earth's rotation. After lunch in Kourou, the overland return begins, recrossing the Maroni into Suriname and reaching Paramaribo in the evening for the last night.

Breakfast is followed by a transfer to Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport for your onward flight. Paramaribo connects north through the Caribbean and the Americas and east to Europe, so you can route home whichever way suits you. Extra nights in Paramaribo, or a stopover on the way home, can be arranged for anyone who wants more time.