From Suriname's Capital of Paramaribo, it takes a bushplane, a short hike, and a dougout canoe to reach kumalu, in the heart of this South American country. The simple resort of eight thatch-and-wood huts, reminiscent of native village dwellings, occupies a small Island in the Piking Rio, a tributary of the Suriname River - and the historic homeland of the Saramaccans, also known as maroons or bush negroes. Kumalu is the brainchild of Pappie Hooglied, who grew up along the river. He deliberately built in his resort on the formerly uninhabited island, he explains, because it would allow privacy to both visitors and and his fellow villagers. The ressort provides guests with electricity, beds, and toilets - as well as the chance to learn about the bush negroes whose rustics villages line the opposite riverbank. The bush negroes still live a fairly traditional live, with stick taboos and protocol. Descendents of escaped slaves, they speak their own language (a mix of african and the Portuguese of their ancestors' former owners) and continue a simple lifestyle that has allways depended on trade.