Îles du Salut

Three small islands fifteen kilometres off Kourou held the worst part of the French penal colony from 1852 until 1953, and their name comes from an earlier settlement whose survivors fled here from fever on the mainland. Île Royale carries the ruins of the main camp under coconut palms, with the hospital, the chapel and the cells now half taken by the forest. Île Saint-Joseph held the solitary confinement blocks. Devil's Island, where Dreyfus was kept, cannot be landed on. Boats run daily from Kourou. The islands now belong to the space centre, which clears them before each launch.