By the time you read this blog we should be on our way to Rio Jutaí – the last of the major tributaries of the Brazilian Amazon basin. Before we left Juruá, I sent photos for this blog to Clive Maguire in Manaus. I then managed to write some of the blog via a batch … Read more »
After leaving Tefe (the city where the famous naturalist Henry Walter Bates based himself for several years) and following an exhausting 7.5K swim across Lago Tefé, my current guide Everaldo and I set off for the long slog to Juruá. Armed with Everaldo’s vast knowledge of the rainforest and my own very modest experience, we … Read more »
Finding and organising guides/walking companions has proved to be time consuming and expensive. I have lost weeks – months even – over the course of this expedition, finding and waiting for guides, and I have just lost another month of good low-water walking time doing just that. However, the benefits of walking with a local … Read more »
I was sitting in the little Igapo Açu Pousda alone, unable to find anyone who would walk with me, and thinking about attempting a solo crossing. I could see what looked like an indigenous guy sitting at the other side of the room. I went over and asked him if he was from a community … Read more »
The language barrier is still a problem for me, and the dialect seems to change slightly in different areas, but the mist and fog is very slowly evaporating. Little by little I find I can understand more of what people are saying to me and to each other. I managed to get to Manaus port … Read more »
I had just completed the scary swim across the slow-moving Rio Trombetas and walked onto the gold/white deserted sandy beach With the blisteringly hot sun on our backs we said thanks and goodbye to the boat owner who had accompanied us, put on our enormous backpacks, and happily started to walk inland. The first community … Read more »
