Thick old growth rainforest crowds the bank of one of many islands that repeatedly divide the main flow of the mighty Marowijne River. A mountain ridge in French Guiana is visible rising on the far, eastern bank of the river. The deep interior of Suriname and French Guiana still harbor one of the largest pristine tropical rainforests in the world, but an immediate threat is posed by ?garimpeiros? Brazilian gold miners and from Asian trans-national logging corporations who, having depleted their own tropical forests, find these mostly untouched forests irresistible.