One of the perks of living in the Amazonian region is that even though you live in one of French Guiana's cities, you can spot a large number of animals by comfortably sitting in your garden's patio. Also one of the disadvantages of living in the Amazonian region is that some of the animals you'll see in your gardens are sometimes unwanted guests.
Before you start, yes there are thousands of different birds in French Guiana, and yes you'll have plenty of them in a kouroucien garden, but you won't find any in this post. But don't worry, I'm preparing a whole article dedicated to our flying fluffy friends. Stay tuned ! ;)
A practical guide to the animals you can see :
I'm starting the list with the less exotic animal you will see: the cat. Like any common city Kourou has its amount of stray cats (we adopted one). Unfortunately Kourou's refuge has been closed for some time now, so most of the cats are left living on the road, sometimes they are adopted or taken in charge by associations, but the numbers are still very high.
Tortoises, who doesn't like them right? They come and go so don't try to tame them, when It's their time they'll just leave and If your kids, or husband were attached to them It'll be hard. *speaking from experience*
Otherwise it's a nice surprise when they come back and you can give them your papaya's peel, they'll just love it !
Also loving papayas and maracudjas you can commonly see iguanas resting on your trees or eating your plants, even the ones they don't have to eat. So when you're trying to grow a tomato's garden in your backyard you may consider adopting a dog so that your plants aren't eaten right away. Although you won't see more iguanas.
If you get past your ophidiophobia, snakes are one of the guests you may have the chance to admire in your garden. The species you'll spot in the city aren't dangerous and when trespassing your terrain they are usually escaping from inundated areas. Be kind to them they are usually very scared and you won't see them for long.
If you have a cat or a dog, you may find sometimes a bizarre object in your garden looking like a snake, It may be an opossum's tail. These marsupials are among the unwanted of the list because they can carry diseases and they are also very aggressive, even though because of their size, they don't represent a danger for humans.
You can easily get rid of them with cage traps by placing them on your roof, just be careful to those tiny teeth they are really pointy.
I finish the list with my less favourite animals: mygale and babouk. Let me start by saying that I'm arachnophobic, so for me It's difficult even to type about them. But I must admit that thanks to them I overcame my fear of European spiders, they look so little in comparison to their South American cousins.
Both the mygale and babouk aren't aggressive they live in peace hidden in your garage or tool shed, and they eat unwelcome insects like cockroaches and bugs. So next time you see a spider, which is the size of your hand, you can ask yourself If you prefer to kill him or kill the cockroaches he can eat. I'll definately go with the first option! Sorry spiders!
Rare sights: We've met as well a Porcupine noun and a Tamandua. Be reassured, our house is very close to the forest, If you live inside the city you won't be bothered by many animals other than birds and insects and maybe a Saimiri (squirrel monkey).