Staying Healthy in the Guianas

Staying healthy in the Guianas means planning for three countries, not one: Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana each set their own entry rules. Vaccines for Guyana are only the start if your trip crosses all three, as our Three Guianas route does. The US CDC advises seeing your doctor or a travel clinic at least a month before your trip. Our Destination Consultants are travel specialists, not medical professionals, and cannot give medical advice, but we can tell you exactly where an itinerary goes.

Yellow fever: three countries, three entry rules

Two questions matter: whether a country asks for a certificate at the border, and where the CDC recommends the vaccine. WHO lists all three Guianas as countries with a risk of yellow fever transmission, and the CDC recommends the vaccine for all travelers aged 9 months and older in each. The CDC’s pages for Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana carry the full lists.

On the Three Guianas Adventure Tour that adds up. You fly from Georgetown to Paramaribo, arriving in Suriname from a country WHO lists as a risk country, then cross the Maroni River by canoe into French Guiana, which asks every traveler. Plan on showing the certificate at two borders. According to WHO, one dose gives lifelong protection and a person is considered protected about 10 days after vaccination, so leave time.

Other vaccines on the CDC’s lists

For all three countries the CDC lists routine vaccines including measles, hepatitis A for unvaccinated travelers aged one and older, and hepatitis B (under 60 in Guyana and Suriname, all ages in French Guiana). It recommends typhoid for most travelers to Guyana and suggests considering it for the other two where sanitation is poor or for stays of a month or more. The CDC notes rabies in bats in all three and suggests discussing pre-exposure vaccination with your doctor.

As of November 2026, the CDC has a Level 2 travel health notice for chikungunya in French Guiana, recommends chikungunya vaccination for travelers visiting an outbreak area, and advises pregnant travelers to reconsider travel to affected areas, particularly close to delivery. Check the CDC’s notice for the live status.

Malaria along our routes

The CDC recommends prescription malaria prevention medicine for all of Guyana except Georgetown and New Amsterdam. That covers the interior on both our trips: Surama, the Rupununi and Kaieteur Falls, and on Wild Guyana also Rewa, Iwokrama and Karanambu. Ask your doctor which medicine suits you and when to start it. For Suriname the CDC page is not consistent: it reports no locally acquired cases since 2021 and lists bite precautions only, but its summary still recommends prevention medicine for certain areas, so ask your doctor about the Upper Suriname River leg. In French Guiana the CDC includes Kourou, where the Three Guianas tour spends a night. The tour ends in Belém, Brazil, where the CDC lists malaria as rare in the city; our Brazil health page covers that side.

Mosquitoes and bites

Dengue and Zika are spread by mosquitoes in all three countries, according to the CDC, which notes that Zika can pass from a pregnant woman to her baby and that mosquitoes bite indoors, by day and by night.

The CDC’s bite-prevention guidance is an EPA-registered repellent with DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, PMD or 2-undecanone, applied after sunscreen, plus long sleeves, long pants and permethrin-treated clothing. Where a room has no air conditioning or window screens, it advises a mosquito net, ideally permethrin-treated. That matters here: both tours use lodges their itineraries describe as simple but comfortable, and the Wild Guyana night at Kaieteur is in a guesthouse with hammocks, the only place to stay at the falls.

Food, water and rivers

The US CDC’s general advice for travelers is to choose factory-sealed drinks wherever tap water might be contaminated, and to skip ice where clean water is a concern. Our Guianas food and drink guide covers what to try in each country.

River days are part of these trips, from a paddle on the Burro Burro to a motorized canoe up the Upper Suriname River. The CDC lists leptospirosis in Guyana and Suriname and schistosomiasis in Suriname, and advises against swimming in fresh, unchlorinated water. If a river swim appeals, raise it with your doctor.

Remote lodges, small planes and insurance

The Three Guianas tour flies to the Rupununi airstrip and charters to Kaieteur, then in Suriname drives about 120 miles (190 km) to Atjoni and continues by motorized canoe through rapids to a remote rainforest lodge. The UK government’s travel advice says medical facilities in Guyana are very limited, even in Georgetown, and extremely limited in remote areas, and advises insurance for local treatment and medical evacuation. See Guianas travel insurance, or start from our Guianas page.

Frequently asked questions

What vaccines do I need for Guyana?

According to the CDC and WHO, Guyana asks for a yellow fever certificate only from travelers aged 1 and older arriving from a risk country. The CDC recommends the yellow fever vaccine for all travelers aged 9 months and older, plus routine vaccines, hepatitis A for unvaccinated travelers, hepatitis B for unvaccinated travelers under 60, and typhoid for most travelers.

Do I need a yellow fever certificate for French Guiana?

Yes. The CDC, WHO and France’s public health agency list it as required for every arriving traveler aged 1 and older.

Is there malaria in Guyana?

The CDC lists malaria in all areas, rare in Georgetown and New Amsterdam, and recommends prevention medicine everywhere except those two cities.

Can you drink the water in the Guianas?

The US CDC’s general advice for travelers is to choose factory-sealed drinks wherever tap water might be contaminated, and to skip ice where clean water is a concern.

❗ A note from our team: we plan trips, we are not doctors. This page sums up what official health bodies such as the US CDC say about travel here. It is not medical advice, and official advice changes, so please check with your doctor or a travel clinic, ideally at least a month before you go.