Lodge Kabalebo Eco Resort

Kabalebo Eco resort is settled deep in the jungle of Surinam. It is settled at the riverbanks of the Kabalebo River.

You can only reach this resort by airplane. We flew from Zand en Hoop airport, which is in Paramaribo city to this resort. The plane was small; only 12 people could fit inside. Behind the pilot was my seat. You fly low with these planes so you’ll have amazing views over the big tropical forest of Surinam.

Right before we arrived and the plane was about to land we figured it would be landing on the big grass airstrip which we could see from the sky. The grass was flying around us when we hit the ground. It had to break hard before we came to the end of the strip, but of course it was long enough.

We booked a 3 day 2 night tour which we arranged on forehand with a tour agent. Those tours are expensive, but they are included, food, accommodation, flights and tours.

The best rooms you’ll find at the river bank. It is actually bungalows set on wooden poles. They look really nice, but when we wanted to book them they were already fully booked.

We booked a stay in the main building. The rooms are simple, but complete.

The lodge has a refreshing swimming pool. And around the lodge there are about 30 kilometers of hiking paths. But you’ll need a guide for those.

We made a short hike close to the lodge when we arrived. Here they showed us a lot of different plants and trees. A plane crashed years ago and they never cleaned it. Now it is left to the nature, with plants and trees growing all over it.

With us about 8 other people arrived at the lodge. With the guides we made a tour plan every day. There where different activities to choose from, boat ride on a traditional boat, jungle walks, mountain trekking, leisure at the waterfalls. With the group we made the decisions each day what to do.

In the afternoon we went for a boat ride to a rapel. The boat is a traditional korjaal. It is made of the stem of the tree.
It was pleasant to just look around and trying to spot some animals. Most of them hide for us, except a turtle.

The rapel was a stream at the river with some really low waterfall. We could swim safely here, which was really refreshing.

Misty mountain

With the group we decided to climb Misty mountain. The mountain you can see from the lodge. We prepared for a good hike uphill. Halfway we could skip the last track to visit the waterfall, but we wanted to see the view. The hike up was a challenge for me. And of course I was the last one to arrive at the viewpoint. Somehow to me the viewpoint was a bit disappointing. We could see distance, but it was mainly treetops.

We didn’t see any animals. Timo and I walked at the back of the group, I’m a very slow hiker. And with the big group of 12 people we made just too much noise.
Back at the lodge we saw some birds and a birds nest.

On the way back we stopped at the Charlie waterfalls. Here we finally could relax and enjoy the streams and waterfalls.

If I look back at this hiking, I definitely would have skipped the viewpoint of Misty mountain. It was not worth the hike all the way up to see the view. Next time I’d rather take the shortcut and go straight to the Charlie waterfall.

Moi Moi waterfall

With the hiking to Misty waterfall in mind we choose for the short hiking track, which should be about 10 minutes walk.
From the boat we spotted a beautiful red snake and a crocodile. Wow!

With the korjaal boat we floated to the starting point of the hiking track.

After we were walking for about 10 minutes we asked if the waterfall was closely. The guide responded; ‘Aren’t you walking the long track?’ He thought we wanted a long hike so here we had to walk again for about an hour. This wasn’t too difficult with only a few hills to climb.

The Moimoi waterfalls can be crossed in dry season with a rope. Here we just swim and relaxed at the waterfalls. The scenery was beautiful!

Read more on my Berg en Dal resort blog or Surinam/Paramaribo blog.