|
Belém, the
capital of the of Amazonian state of Pará,
in the Northeast of Brazil, is strategically
located at the 250 km wide delta of the
Amazon river. Since its foundations in
1616, it is considered to be the historical
gateway to the Amazon region. Religious
and other edifications date back to the
colonial period and are maintained in
good shape. Obviously we had to visit
some of the highlights Belém offers
to tourist and locals alike. At the famous
market, the Mercado Ver-o-Peso (checking
the weight market), we marvel at the exotic
products displayed there. Enormous quantities
of all kinds of sea-and river fishes are
being offered and we wonder why there
are no flies on them despite of the tropical
heat all around us. There are also elixirs
made from poisonous snakes and all imaginable
and unimaginable kinds of medicinal herbs
and fruits from the Amazon region.
We also visited the
internationally renowned Goeldi Amazonian
research institute with its botanical-zoological
gardens representing exclusively species
of that region - a glimpse of the flora
and fauna that we were to discover in
the weeks to come...
We also took a trip
on the Guamá river where we enjoyed
typical food in one of the palm thatched
restaurants, surrounded by luxurious nature.
In the evening we went down to the harbour.
The old piers and warehouses have been
restored with shops, fancy bars and restaurants.
Cargo cranes moved platforms back and
forth under the ceiling, with artists
performing excellent music shows. While
we sat on the terrace in front of the
river, we enjoyed draft beers made in
the probably only in-house brewery of
the whole Amazon region. A last delight
before we should hit wilderness and suffering!
The following morning
we took a flight to Manaus, the capital
of the federal state of Amazonas. We had
made plans to try to observe the South
American jaguar Panthera onca at a spot
some 80kms away from Manaus. To our disappointment
we received information that, due to restrictions
imposed by IBAMA, we were not permitted
to enter the site. So we took the early
flight on the next day to São Gabriel
de Cachoeira where we arrived after two
hours of flying over the " Green
Hell " with its great and amazingly
intricate river systems.
We checked in our
modest hotel, to say the least, and walked
over to IBAMA, the Brazilian Institute
for the Environment to get permits for
our expedition. We repeated the procedure
at FUNAI, the Agency for the Protection
of the Brazilian Indians, because our
route leads across both the 2,200,000
hectares large national park of the Pico
da Neblina and the Indian reservation
area of the same name.
The village on the
upper Rio Negro was founded in the middle
of the 19th
century as a military settlement and a
Salesian mission. Today it consists of
not much more than a Portuguese fortress
with some dozen houses for soldiers and
officers. The centrepiece of the village
used to be the thatched church built in
1750, and which, since the beginning of
the 20th
century is the seat of the Salesian mission.
The Brazilian army and air force, supported
by the federal police keep their jungle
regiment here to safeguard the borders
with Venezuela and Columbia and to track
down on the intense drug and arms traffic
in the area. The population consist in
its majority of indigenous people of several
tribes of the upper Amazon region.
The following morning,
carrying all equipment, food and fuel
supply, we work our way up by jeep along
a treacherous jungle track to the mouth
of the Rio Ia-Mirim. Final balance of
the three-hour trip: stuck in the mud
for six times!
After we stuffed our
equipment and all our belongings into
an aluminium boat and were ready to depart,
the engine only whines out of pace and
despite of all efforts, refused to do
his job. Via satellite phone we ordered
an extra engine for replacement, which
postponed our departure for the following
morning.
We used the time to
visit the Indian settlement of the Tukano
tribe, only a short walk away. We were
shown how the main diet of all Indians
in Brazil, the Manioc roots, is being
prepared by using different handcrafted
tools. At the conviviality centre, the
tribe gathers to discuss important day-to-day
issues, as well as questions of social
and political importance. The children
receive bilingual education in their native
and Portuguese language. School activities
include both traditional cultural heritage
and preparation for a life within a modern
society. Apparently the kids had no problems
to absorb these contradictions as they
all looked happy and were very friendly
toward us. In short, we gained a very
interesting insight into the social organization
of the tribe.
Common to the different
tribes in the upper part of the Rio Negro
is the language called Inheengatu, also
known as General language which is spoken
together with Portuguese. The Indians
tribes of the upper and middle Rio Negro
comprehend 18 ethnical groups with a total
of about 35.000 Indians who live in 772
small villages. The largest and best known
tribe is that of the Yanomamis, who alone
live in a protected area of over 100.000
km2.
We walked back to
the Ia mirim river and prepared camp for
the night at the FUNAI support base, right
on the river banks. But before we could
hit our hammocks we decided to undergo
some serious testing of our skills as
jungle adventurers. Incited by our hosts
we took charge of some of the dugout canoes
that lay around, but all our attempts
resulted in total disaster. Those canoes
are so shallow and small that at the slightest
false movement they get filled with water,
sinking in no time while the Tukano Indians
on the shore shake with derisive laughter.
Little wonder, as only they knew that
in addition to our lack of awkwardness,
the canoes leaked like hell from a couple
of tiny holes that were invisible to us!
Anyway, one: nil to the Indians! While
recovering from our heroic efforts, Yanomami
Indians arrived in their motorized canoes
busily offloading ornamental fish of exotic
colours and forms. Very appreciated by
Ichthyologists the fish have been caught
on the upper tukano river and are being
exported to everywhere in the world.
As we were standing
there watching, one of us nearly stepped
on a huge and hairy spider, the size of
a palm. That nocturnal animal, scientifically
named Theraphosa leblondi is the biggest
spider in the world. Its life span may
reach up to 20 years and it lives mainly
in caverns of old tree trunks. Provoked
it would jump on you and its bite causes
terrible pain, but is not fatal.
The next morning greeted
us with hundreds of yellow butterflies,
that fluttered all around us. Unfortunately
we could not identify them. The new engine
arrived right after breakfast and we could
now get started .With the boat fully loaded,
a crew of eight people and all the equipment,
we travelled first downstream on the Rio
Ia-Mirim, then on the Rio Ia and finally
upstream on the Rio Cauaburi to the mouth
of the Rio Tukano.
We spend two days
on this trip through breathtaking nature,
on Igapó (submersed jungle), Várzea
(temporarily submersed land bordering
a stream) and Terre-firme (an elevated
portion of the terrain, above the inundation
level) forests, surrounded by the ever
present sounds of the jungle.
Our first acquaintances
are rather unpleasant insects, called
Piums, stinging mosquitoes just the size
of a pinhead, which reveal themselves
as a terrible plague. But we also see
countless birds: black-necked araçaris,
toucans, yellow breasted, scarlet and
green wing macaws, plus several kinds
of herons and kingfishers flew across
the rivers and become our colourful travelling
companions.
One afternoon on the
Ia Mirim a brilliant green water snake
blocked our way trying to get across the
river. So we carefully got closer to take
a picture. The snake swam towards to trees
on the river bank and twisted itself impressively
fast up on the lianas mingling with the
green leafs and branches and could be
seen no more.
We fixed camp at the
mouth of the tukano river, hided the boat,
gasoline and rations for the return journey
and slept, protected by Citronella insect
lotion, under clouds of piums. Some dreamed
of spiders and snakes others of butterflies
and macaws...
Three days of tough
and steady uphill trekking lay ahead with
difference in altitude from 150 meters
to up to 2994 m NN. We toiled our way
six to seven hours daily along hardly
recognizable trails that have been opened
by Yanomamis and gold diggers. We stepped
on root entanglements covered up with
slippery foliage, jumped over crystal
clear rapids that supply us with fresh
drinking water, and climbed waterfalls
that seemed to fall out of an impenetrable
green wall before us. To relax muscles
and mind, there is nothing better than
a refreshing bath under a waterfall or
a plunge into some rapids.
The beauty and the
power of the jungle was present at every
step we took uphill. We felt like gnomes
next to well over 30 meters high jungle
giants and identified huge rubber hevea
brasiliensis and Brazil Nuts trees Bertholletia
exelsa. It gets very hot and sunny from
early in the morning with well over 90
per cent air humidity until the afternoon,
when the accumulated heat breaks out into
heavy rainfalls.
At night we sleep
in hammocks and in tents; that is the
time when the nightly noises of the jungle
always make us feel that we are not alone.
And actually, as we later are informed,
several jaguars roam here about in their
hunting domain.
On the second day,
one of the participants feels exhausted
and gives up. We left him behind with
one of the porters in a Yanomami hunting
camp and went on. At about 1,600m NN the
dense rainforest started to change into
the more open but very humid nebular mountain
forest.
In the evening of
the third day, under heavy rain and the
cold temperature of 5 Celsius, enhanced
by humidity, we arrive at the gold prospectors
camp beneath the mountain peak. To get
there we had to face a soft humus morass,
that took us 2 hours to traverse as we
were sinking knee-deep at every step
Here a natural, paradisical garden is
formed by the different sorts of bromeliads,
orchids, mosses and an amazing number
of endemic carnivorous plants. On the
same plateau at 2100 m NN also rare medical
plants can be found. Under rather precarious
circumstances we prepare our camp. To
get some relief against the bitter cold
we now surely would appreciate a swig
of our precious cachaça booze made
of sugar cane that came all the way from
Rio de Janeiro. To everybody's surprise
and disappointment it had miraculously
disappeared. But exhausted as we were,
sleep would come fast this night.
The next day a difficult
decision was to be made: shall we venture
climbing up to the peak under the present
weather conditions? It is raining so heavily
that the peak of the Pico da Neblina is
covered with white cascades of enormous
masses of water that are also running
down on the paths that we are supposed
to take. For safety reasons we unanimously
decide not to venture the climbing to
the 3014 meters high peak.
It has been decided
instead to use the time on the plateau
to explore the area together with our
botanist, who identified and collected
orchids, like Scuticarias, also called
whip orchids, the rare Coriantes with
their bizarre flower and the intensely
yellow Cataseto, all fully blossoming
and botanical highlights - a real treat
for our specialist in epiphytes.
We also visited the
only gold prospector left in an area that
used to be one of the most prosperous
sites in Brazil. But since the Pico da
Neblina is part of the Indian Reservation,
Federal Police and the Military cracked
down on the illegal activities that came
to an end during the last decade. The
lonely man showed us his self-made installations,
by which he obtained gold from a particular
layer of mud and rock in the slopes, washing
them out with powerful jets of water from
the rapid that rushed down from the peak.
Questioned about the resulting environmental
devastation that he is causing, he looked
at us as if we had just arrived from mars.
His modest accommodation was like that
of a caveman and his way of living seemed
not far from that too: the only pot he's
got for his meals he shared with his chickens.
With the obtained gold he pays for his
food and equipment, brought regularly
up by Yanomamis Indians from their village
in Maturacá. There he also deposits
the remaining gold to save for his uncertain
future.
On the way back to
our camp we were taken by surprise by
a violent storm which flooded the river
that we had to cross. There was not a
chance to do so now and, with a machete
we beat a path through the bushes, at
times up to our hips deep in the morass.
Somehow we finally reached our camp, only
to see that the tents, as well as our
sleeping bags that we had hung out to
dry in the rare sun when we left, are
now soaking wet: at almost 0 Celcius,
a sure promise for a rather uncomfortable
night!
We were still shivering
from the frosty night but the morning
sun gently warmed up our bodies. After
dismantling the camp we start our not
less difficult way back, picking up our
expedition participant who had been left
behind. In the late afternoon of the third
day we are again at the mouth of the Rio
Tucano, where we had hidden our boat with
the rest of the food and fuel supply.
In spite of the constant
heavy rain that smashed into our faces,
we decided to start our journey back on
the rivers right away. After a couple
of hours, already on the Rio Cauaburi,
we were lucky to meet a Yanomami hunting
group just busy smoke-curing their freshly
killed wild animals and fish. An excellent
opportunity to enhance our food supply
mainly consisting of beans, rice, jerked
meat and pasta and that was also getting
scarce. Real delicacies against real money
a pig sized paca, a bare-faced curassow,
a nine-banded armadillo and a brown capuchin
monkey, besides lots of delicious fragrant
fish from the nearby Igarapé waterway,
all for R$ 30!
Happy and satisfied
that we were, we tried to reach our camping
place that we had chosen for the night.
But since surprises is what a real adventurer
looks for, the place had disappeared in
the masses of water of the flooded river
and with no alternative in view, we are
forced to move on to the FUNAI post still
far away. With flash lights, at a very
slow pace, we feel our way through deep
darkness during two hours, until the flashing
signals of the Indian protection institute
safely usher us through the rapids to
the anchorage.
After another day
on the rivers Ia and Ia-Mirim we reach
our departure point, this time under bright
sunshine, but not before undergoing a
final physical and nervous fitness test:
right after turning into a side arm of
the river with strong current against
us we run out of fuel .The whole crew
immediately grab plates and whatever suitable
objects were at hand and start rowing
like hell against the current - one metre
forward and two backward. It is then that
one of the guides miraculously gets some
more drops of fuel out of one of the bins
making it possible for us to reach the
FUNAI anchorage, just 200 meters ahead.
We slept one more night in the hammocks
at the FUNAI support base and return the
following morning by jeep to São
Gabriel de Cachoeira. This time we got
stuck in the mud only 5 times. One of
the participants however hasn't had enough
yet, and wanted to walk up to the Morro
dos Seis Lagos (Mountain of the Six Lakes),
a bio reservation and geologically very
interesting area for the biggest niob
beds in the world lie here underneath
the soil.
Three days later we
are together again and fly back to the
jungle metropolis Manaus where we completed
a classical sightseeing program. Very
interesting are the old opera house, which
flourished during the coutchouc boom and
the colourful and bustling harbour with
off-and on loading of the typical Amazon
cargo and passenger ships canoes and boats
in all sizes, that arrive at the harbour
and depart in all directions to the most
distant destinations in the region.
A short stay in Rio
de completed a fascinating journey, replete
with adventures in a world so far removed
and different from ours. A world where
the simple things have remained of great
importance. Encounters with the forest,
the rivers, the mountains, the animals
and last but not least with the local
people, our guides and porters, enriched
all of us. One of our best trips ever
-the German guys commented.
There is now a promise
to be fulfilled, made by the tour operator
and which has helped us through the hardships
of the trip: a luncheon with non-exotic
Kassler and sauerkraut, and a couple of
cool German Pils - an attempt to regain
some of the of eight kilos in average,
that some of the expedition members had
lost.
Annette Runge/Peter
Rohmer
southerncross@uol.com.br
|
