- Where
- Coppename River, Sipaliwini District
central Suriname - Coordinates
- 4.72° N
56.21° W - Reserve
- 1.6 million ha, about 10%
of Suriname (since 1998) - World Heritage
- 2000
- Voltzberg
- Granite dome, about 240 m
(245 m in one account) - Getting there
- Charter flight to Fungu Island
or road and boat - Best visited
- August to November (the long dry season)
- Advisory
- Suriname Level 1
Woke before light on an island in a wide river to a roaring in the trees that turned out to be monkeys, which was a relief. Later I climbed a bare dark dome of rock, warm as a stove, and sat on its crown with forest in every direction and not one road. The guide pointed out an orange bird. I bowed to it. It ignored me magnificently.
The short answer
Raleighvallen, the Raleigh Falls, is a chain of rapids and small falls around Fungu Island on the Coppename River, in the Sipaliwini District of central Suriname; the largest are the Moedervallen and the Anjoemaravallen, Dutch Wikipedia records. There is no road: the nearest, the southern East–West Link, crosses the river at the village of Witagron, more than 50 km downstream as the crow flies, and visitors come by dugout from there or from Boskamp, or by small plane to an airstrip on the island. A trail of about 6 km leads from the island to the Voltzberg, a granite inselberg about 240 metres high (Wikipedia’s English article on the reserve gives 245 m). Both lie in the Central Suriname Nature Reserve, created in 1998 by joining three older reserves and inscribed by UNESCO in 2000: 1.6 million hectares, about a tenth of Suriname.
Why it's worth knowing
The most forested country. Forest covered 94.4 per cent of Suriname’s land in 2023, by the World Bank’s figures from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, the highest share of any country in its data for 2022. The Central Suriname Nature Reserve protects a block of that forest, lowland and mountain, from the rapids of the Coppename to the Julianatop, at 1,230 metres the highest mountain in Suriname, and the flat-topped Tafelberg.
Domes of bare stone. Here and there across the reserve, granite domes rise high above the canopy, Wikipedia records. Their bare, dark rock bakes in the sun, so the plants on them are drought-adapted, some found nowhere else, a world apart from the wet forest at their feet. The Voltzberg is the best known. It is named after the German geologist Friedrich Voltz, who made several expeditions in Suriname between 1853 and 1855 and died in Paramaribo in August 1855, and its rock is the Wonotobo granite, Dutch Wikipedia records. It is steep on three sides; from the fourth, the climb takes a few hours. The dome appears on Suriname’s 20-dollar banknote.
Eight monkeys and an orange bird. All eight of Suriname’s monkey species live around the falls, with jaguars, giant armadillos, giant otters, tapirs, sloths and harpy eagles in the wider reserve, Dutch Wikipedia records; English Wikipedia counts more than 400 bird species on the Voltzberg. The one birders come for is the Guianan cock-of-the-rock, a bird of vivid orange.
The field notes
Named for a man who never saw it
The falls and the reserve around them are named after Sir Walter Raleigh, the English writer, spy and explorer, who was fascinated by the Guianas and led two expeditions to the region; on the second, his men attacked the Spanish settlement of San Thomé, which cost him his life, Dutch Wikipedia records. The Raleighvallen reserve was founded in 1961, at 780 km², before being merged into the larger reserve in 1998.
Destroyed and rebuilt
The Foundation for Nature Conservation in Suriname, STINASU, has run the island as a base for ecotourism and research since the reserve began, and until the 1980s thousands of visitors came each year. During Suriname’s Interior War of 1986 to 1992 the post on Fungu Island was destroyed; it was rebuilt in the 1990s, and at the end of 2007 its guest buildings were renovated with support from Conservation International, Dutch Wikipedia records. A research station stands at the foot of the Voltzberg.
The largest of the Raleigh Falls in 1901, as photographed on the Coppename expedition.
Photograph: Unknown photographer, Coppename expedition 1901 (Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen) · Public domain · cropped
The Coppename River between walls of forest, in the 1940s.
Photograph: Willem van de Poll, Nationaal Archief · CC0
- Travel with a guide who knows the river, and leave the timing of the climb to them.
- Start up the rock early, before the stone has warmed through, and sip before thirst arrives.
- Learn the voice of every monkey in the forest. (Several learned. Several more heard and never seen, and listed under their voices.)
- Pass the river villages quietly, wave back, and lower the lens unless somebody says yes.
- Lie still in a hammock at dusk while the forest finishes its sentence.
The Voltzberg. A dome of bare, dark granite about 240 metres high, rising out of the rainforest a few kilometres from the falls: an inselberg, an island of rock in a sea of trees. Its sun-baked surface carries drought-adapted plants unlike those of the forest below. It is steep on three sides; from the fourth a path climbs to the top, where the forest runs unbroken to the horizon. It is named after Friedrich Voltz, a German geologist who explored Suriname in the 1850s.
Tally, in the marginBare stone, warm all the way through, with the forest lapping at its sides like a green sea. I sat up there until I was surely the driest thing for miles, and was not in the least sorry.
Getting there
How to get there. Almost everyone comes on a guided trip of several days. By air: charter flights from Zorg en Hoop, Paramaribo’s domestic airfield, land on the Raleigh airstrip, a grass runway of about 500 metres on Fungu Island (Wikipedia, as indexed; the airlines named there are Blue Wing, Gum Air and Hi-Jet). By road and river: about four hours by four-wheel-drive vehicle to Witagron, then about three hours upriver by boat to the island (tour operators’ itineraries, as indexed). Visitors stay in the lodges on Fungu Island.
When to go. The long dry season, from August to November, is the easiest time on the river and the trail; Suriname has a second, shorter dry season from February to April, with wet seasons from May to July and from November to January, by the World Bank’s Climate Knowledge Portal (as indexed). The Voltzberg trail is about 6 km each way; with the climb, Lonely Planet (as indexed) gives about three hours each way.
What to arrange ahead. The trip itself: flights, boats and lodges are arranged through STINASU or tour operators in Paramaribo. Ask what is included. Water and sun protection for the climb, which is on bare rock.
Safety. The State Department has Suriname at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, its lowest level, and calls it generally a safe destination (advisory dated 8 September 2026 in its feed, read 7 October 2026). The risk here is distance: the reserve has no road, so help is a boat ride or a flight away. Climb the dome in dry weather, when the granite is not slick, and with the guide.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is Raleighvallen?
Raleighvallen, the Raleigh Falls, is a chain of rapids around Fungu Island on the Coppename River in Sipaliwini District, central Suriname, inside the Central Suriname Nature Reserve. No road reaches it; the nearest crosses the river at Witagron, more than 50 km downstream.
How do you get to Raleighvallen?
Raleighvallen is reached by charter flight from Paramaribo’s Zorg en Hoop airfield to a grass airstrip on Fungu Island, or by about four hours of road to Witagron and three hours upriver by boat. Most visitors book a guided trip of several days with STINASU or a tour operator.
How high is the Voltzberg?
The Voltzberg, a granite dome in Suriname’s Central Suriname Nature Reserve, is about 240 metres high by Dutch Wikipedia and its English article on the mountain; the English article on the reserve gives 245 metres. A trail of about 6 km leads to it from Fungu Island.
How big is the Central Suriname Nature Reserve?
The Central Suriname Nature Reserve covers 1.6 million hectares, or 16,000 square kilometres, about a tenth of Suriname. It was created in 1998 from three older reserves, Raleighvallen, Tafelberg and Eilerts de Haan, and became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000.
Is Suriname the most forested country in the world?
By the World Bank’s figures from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, forest covered 94.4 per cent of Suriname’s land in 2023, and in 2022 Suriname had the highest forest share of any country in that data.
What animals live at Raleighvallen?
All eight of Suriname’s monkey species live around Raleighvallen, and the wider Central Suriname Nature Reserve holds jaguars, giant armadillos, giant otters, tapirs, sloths and harpy eagles. The Voltzberg is known for the Guianan cock-of-the-rock among more than 400 bird species.
Why is it called Raleighvallen?
Raleighvallen, Dutch for the Raleigh Falls, is named after Sir Walter Raleigh, the English explorer who led two expeditions to the Guianas and was executed after the second, on which his men attacked the Spanish settlement of San Thomé.
When is the best time to visit Raleighvallen?
The long dry season, from mid-August to about November, is the easiest time to visit Raleighvallen and climb the Voltzberg, by the World Bank’s climate portal. Suriname also has a short dry season from February to April, between wet seasons in May to July and November to January.