A little jungle-covered country on the equator is beautiful, but it is mostly empty. Suriname is South America’s smallest country by both population and size. It is on the Atlantic Ocean and has Dutch as its official language.

It has a population density of 10 people per square mile, making it one of the emptiest in the world. Half of its population lives in its coastal capital city, Paramaribo. The country is around the same size as England but has a population 92 times smaller, just 612,000 people compared to England’s 56 million. Other countries that are similarly sparsely populated are Mongolia, Australia, Iceland, Libya, Canada and Mauritania.

As part of the Amazon, over 90% of Suriname’s territory is covered by rainforest, the highest proportion of forest cover in the world. They are sparsely populated by indigenous communities.

The country has been described by Lonely Planet as “a warm, dense convergence of rivers that thumps with the lively rhythm of ethnic diversity” due to its colonial past.

Suriname’s various indigenous peoples were colonised by the Netherlands in the late 17th Century. It was a lucrative source of sugar, which was grown and processed by African and Asian slaves. The country gained its independence in 1975.

The capital is made up of Dutch-made buildings such as Fort Zeelandia, Independence Square, the Presidential Palace, Fort Nieuw Amsterdam, and Saint Peter and Paul Basilica.

The main method of transportation is along the rivers through the rainforest, with towns and villages dotted along the waterways and boat trips available from the capital.

Visitors can explore several nature reserves, including Central Suriname (the largest), Brownsberg, Galibi, Bigi Pan, Peperpot, and Coppename. Around 30% of Suriname's total land area is protected by law as reserves.

There is also lots of wildlife to see in Suriname with river dolphins, turtles, monkeys, macaws, crocodiles and anacondas throughout the country’s coast and jungle.

Flights from the UK to Suriname leave from Birmingham, Bristol, London, Manchester and Leeds, all of which include at least one stopover. There are many places to stay in Paramaribo, such as hotels, bed and breakfasts, holiday lets and hostels.