Useful information

Increasingly more information about the organisation of the conference will be available on this website in due time.

To remain imformed without delay by e-mail in addition to general information available on the website, we strongly invite you to register if you did not yet do so.

The registration fee is fixed at 100€ for the workshop; this fee includes the social programme (cf below). Detailed information on how to proceed to the payment are available on the page "Register".

The social program

includes a free visit of the French Guiana Space Center (base for launching of Ariane) and a cocktail; click here for more information.

The place :

The workshop will take place in Kourou (Hôtel des Roches), French Guiana. Click here for more information about this place.
Hotel: Participants are invited to reserve as soon as possible a room at "Hôtel des Roches": please click here to read the instructions about hotel reservation.

Transportation: We suggest you to rent a car, and negociated special tariffs with "Service Auto Location" - see the page on Transportation for more information.
Persons without sufficient ressources (students...) can contact us to find another solution.

More about French Guiana

Read more about French Guiana here, in particular:
- please make sure whether you might be required to have a visa,
- vaccination agains yellow fever is mandatory - you must have done it 10 days before your arrival, else it will be completely impossible for you enter the country : you will be unable to pass the customs and be forced to buy a return ticket and to get back into an airplane!

Please tell us if you miss on the pages listed below any additional information on a precise topic.

Social program

The social program includes a free visit of the French Guiana Space Center (base for launching of Ariane) for the participants of the workshop having completed the registration procedure. It will be organized on Tuesday, October 30.

A cocktail will be organised on October 31, the reception will take place jointly with the meeting of the Academy of Technology held at the same time in French Guiana.

Persons interested in other excursions before October 29 or after October 31 are invited to contact us as soon as possible.

Housing

Participants are invited to reserve as soon as possible a room at
"Hôtel des Roches"

avenue des Roches
97310 KOUROU
Guyane française.

This is the official hotel of the workshop, where most of the working sessions will take place (except for Tuesday morning, at the Space Center).
You are kindly requested to make your reservation on-line on the web site http://www.hoteldesroches.com/. By notifying about your participation in meta2007, you will be able to benefit from the specially negociated fare:

  • single room: 73 EUR including breakfast
  • double room: 89 EUR incl. breakfast.

To be sure to get a room in this hotel, you are requested to reserve before October 3. Beyond that date, we cannot guarantee the availability any more. Any individual request must be addressed to accueil@hoteldesroches.com, or via the web site http://www.hoteldesroches.com/.

Transportation

Distances can be important in French Guiana, and public transportation is not well developped. We strongly suggest to rent a car. Persons without sufficiant ressources (students...) can contact us to find another solution.

Only some local transportation will be covered by the registration fee and the workshop organisation.

Our partner for car rental is

"Service Auto Location" (Soguloc),

8-10 rue des frères Amet,
ZA Cabalou,
97310 Kourou.

The proposed tariffs are as follows (see also the attached file "CarRental.xls"):

  • Cat. A (Peugeot 107 or similar) at 37 € / day (deposit: 790 €) ;

  • Cat. B (Citroën C3 or similar) at 40 € / day (deposit: 890 €);
  • Cat. C (Ford Focus or similar) at 49 € /day (deposit: 990 €).

All cars have A/C. Insurance TP (theft), PAI (passengers) and CDW (collision) are included, as well as assistance 24/24, 7/7.
Reservations (to be made as soon as possible) must be addressed to reservations@soguloc.fr.
The cars will await you at the airport Cayenne Rochambeau (http://www.guyane.cci.fr/port_aeroport/activite_aeroportuaire.shtml).

French Guiana

The workshop will take place in Kourou, French Guiana.

Below you can find some more detailed information about this place.

Geography

You may have a look on the google (satelite) map to get an idea where this is and how it looks like.
The conferences wil be held at the French Guiana Space Center (http://www.cnes.fr/web/3838-le-centre-spatial-guyanais-ariane-5-soyouz-v... ) and at "Hôtel des Roches" (http://www.hoteldesroches.com/).
(Please check out the instructions concerning hotel reservation.)

Politics

Guiana is a French overseas department, so it has in principle nearly the same legal and administrative status than any other department of ("metropolitan") France:
- language: French
- currency: Euros (convert to your currency on http://www.xe.com)
- according to your origin, you might be required to have a visa, please make sure whether this might apply for you or not. Information can be found at http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/france_829/venir-france_4062/entrer-fra...

Climate

essentially, warm & humid, see http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/FGXX0001.html (if the given temperature is above 80°, then it's not Celcius...)

Health

IMPORTANT : vaccination agains yellow fever is mandatory - you must have done it 10 days before entering the country, else it will be completely impossible for you enter the country : you will be unable to pass the customs and be forced to buy a return ticket and to get back into an airplane !

As to the rest, it is in principle a civilized country without major dangers for health, if you keep outside the jungle ... although it may be recommended to drink water only from bottles and not from any tap.

Other

You may consult the following websites about Guyana:

- http://www.cr-guyane.fr/?rub=1 : information by Conseil régional - region's council

- http://www.tourisme-guyane.com/ : tourist information

- http://www.outremer.com/GF/Guyindex.htm : more...

- http://www.guyane.pref.gouv.fr/index_int.htm

Please tell us if you miss here any additional information on a precise topic.