2073 FRANCE (French Guiana) - Kourou

Kourou: 1. ? 2. The Dreyfus Tower on
the Pointe des Roches; 3. Ariane 5.

Located at 60km northwest of Cayenne, at the mouth of the river with the same name and ringed by four hills, Kourou has three lakes within its limits, the riverbank and all points inland consisting mostly of mangrove and dense tropical rainforest. It was formerly the home of the Kourou Prison, which was one of the main prisons in French Guiana, and which was also a part of the notorious Devil's Island Prison System.

The three main islands off of Kourou's coast, the Salut island group (which included Devil's Island - remember Papillon?)  became prisons in 1852. These island held mostly political prisoners as well as some of France's toughest criminals. The Kourou Prison was shut down in 1946, and most of the buildings were demolished. However some vestiges of that period remained, the most notable being the Dreyfus Tower, used in pre-radio days to communicate with the islands via Semaphore.

Within the Kourou district lies the Centre Spatial Guyanais (France and the European Space Agency's main spaceport), founded in 1965 and operational since 1968. Kourou's economy is largely dominated by the CSG, from which the European Ariane rockets are launched, as well as the Russian Soyuz and the Italian Vega rockets. The CGS has about 1680 direct employees, but all the job generated by it reaches the number of 9,000, which means 15% of the employed Guyanese population.

About the stamps

The two stamps are parte of a series dedicated to the proverbs, sayings and other idiomatic expressions, issued on February 4, 2013. The series was named Sauter du coq à l'âne (literally "Jumping from rooster to donkey" - an expression describing a person who abruptly changes the subject without any forewarning or natural connection).
• Qui vole un oeuf vole un boeuf
• Etre serrés comme des sardines
• Etre heureux comme un poisson dans l'eau
• Pleurer des larmes de crocodile
• Quand les poules auront des dents - It's on the postcard 2073
• Avaler des couleuvres
• Le chat parti, les souris dansent
• Sauter du coq à l'âne
• Se regarder en chiens de faïence
• Ménager la chèvre et le chou - It's on the postcard 2073
• Cela ne se trouve pas sous le sabot d'un cheval
• Pratiquer la politique de l'autruche

Another series with the same theme was issued on August 31, 2015, under the name Prendre le taureau par les cornes:
• Un froid de canard - It's on the postcard 2347
• Rire comme une baleine
• Avoir un appétit d'oiseau
• Donner sa langue au chat - It's on the postcard 2138
• Comme un chien dans un jeu de quilles
• Prendre le taureau par les cornes
• Être le bouc émissaire
• Faire le pied de grue
• Fier comme un paon
• Donner de la confiture aux cochons - It's on the postcard 2084
• Araignée du soir espoir - It's on the postcard 2347
• Poser un lapin

References
Kourou, French Guiana - Wikipedia

Sender: Balwau Seneh
Sent from Cayenne (French Guiana), on 11.10.2014