Remembered by most, from the book and film Papillion (starring Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen about 30 years ago), Devil’s Island was part of the notorious French penal colony (1852-1952). Iles Du Salut consists of 3 islands (including Devil’s Island) about 6 miles off the coast of French Guiana. We visited the largest island of Ile Royale, which now, in addition to the relicts of the prison cells etc, has a hotel!!A great many of the 80,000 prisoners, sent to the harsh and diseased ridden conditions, were never seen again, The sharks were kept well fed with over 10 prisoners dying every day.
We enjoyed a nice day, walking around the island for a few hours and exploring the remnants of the prison cells and buildings. It was interesting to see the ruins of the prisons – the solitary confinement cells were all still in tact and we actually went inside some of the cells - it gave us a real eerie insight as to how awful it must have been.
The history of the severe penal colony was fascinating and the scenery beautiful. The island was like a lush tropical resort! – but, no wonder it must have been hell for the poor prisoners – there was no beach! (see Devil's Island in background below):
We saw all different types of animals and a lot of people also saw monkeys.
We saw all different types of animals and a lot of people also saw monkeys.
It was nice to get back to a Caribbean type island and quite a novelty, in that it did not rain at all – we are no longer in the rainforest!!
The language was now French, and so we had to remember “merci” instead of “obrigarda”.