Maripasoula is the largest commune in France by area and one of the most remote places you can reach with a French postcode. It sits far up the Maroni, on the Surinamese border, and there is no road: you fly in from Cayenne in about an hour, or take a pirogue up from Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, a journey of a day or two through rapids depending on the water.
The town is Aluku Maroon, with Wayana villages further upstream, and it lives off the river, administration and gold — legal and otherwise. There is not much to see in the town itself. What brings travellers is the river journey, the villages along it, and the fact that this is one of the gateways into the Guiana Amazonian Park.
Trips upriver must be arranged locally with boatmen, and the further reaches need permits. It is expensive and slow, and that is the nature of travel here.