Kourou Warnings or Dangers
Kourou travel tips posted by real travelers and Kourou locals.
Local Time 4:11 pm Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Kourou Map
Kourou Map
on February 9, 2006There is a risk of getting mugged here, even in broad daylight but especially at night. Guns are readily available and if you make yourself an obvious target you will be mugged. Local youths hang around town centres at night and provide a risk of assault. If you are going out, drive, don't walk. Although drinking and driving is illegal here, the gendarme turn a blind eye to it as long as you don't take the *** and cause an accident. In their eyes its better than dealing with muggings and rapes the whole time.
WOMEN: There is a cultural mentality here that women are here to be ***ed, especially if you are white. The local men will pass comment on you in the street and if you're in a bar on your own then expect to be fair game. If you are travelling with a boyfriend, here then you are husband and wife, otherwise someone will try and take you. There have been reported cases of kidnap and rape, so stay away from bars you don't know or like the look of too much, you might think it OK to try but you are putting your security at risk.
Update Feb 2006
There has been a gang operating in Kourou from (Formerly British) Guyana, although the gang leader was recently detained, he escaped and as far as I'm aware, is still at large. This gang has been known to hold children (as young as 6) to ransom at gunpoint in their own backyards in order to get money from their parents, although this is mostly a threat to people living here, travellers should be aware that the threat exists.
