Amazon Basin, Brazil
Dusk is an abbreviated affair at the equator. You must be quick if you want to take pictures of the setting sun as it hovers just above the majestic Amazon River or the seemingly endless tropical rainforest. And after the sun has plunged into the brown flood waters of the Amazon, darkness blankets the landscape quickly, accompanied by all of the eerie sounds and shadowy movements the largest jungle on earth has to offer.
As humans, we feel small in this place, and I wonder what it must have been like for the first European explorers and colonists who set foot into this forest a couple of centuries ago. Many entered and have never been seen again. Surely, they knew nothing about the jungle’s most prominent residents: swift jaguars, constricting boas, spiky trees, deadly spiders, hungry alligators, Amazon Indians with poisoned darts and billions of disease-carrying insects. Since these first expeditions and excursions into this terrifying environment took place, it is important to note that not much has changed for about 80% of the Amazonian Rainforest. In the jungle, the same beauty and terror reign in the year 2020, as it did then.
Of course, the Amazon River is at the very heart of this massive ecosystem. With thousands of tributaries originating in 6 countries (Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia), the 6,437 km (4,000 mi) long river system is home to 10% of the world’s species and 20% of the world’s bird species. The Amazon spills 20% of the world’s river volume into the ocean, carrying its brown discharge eastward across the Atlantic almost as far as the west coast of Africa.
It may surprise you that the Amazon River basin is nearly 2/3 the size of Canada and home to approximately 28 million people. The vast majority of its residents live in cities that have been established along the riverbanks - Belem, Manaus, Santarem, Macapa, Parintins, Fabatinga, and Iquitos are just a few examples of major population centers. While the cities offer work and are home to millions of people, many towns are islands of civilization in the midst of the jungle and have no roads leading in or out. Access is only possible by air or boat. In fact, there are no bridges across the Amazon River anywhere for its entire length. The flooded forest during the rainy season makes building bridges an impossibility.
At the edge of the jungle and away from civilization and the hustle and bustle of city life, you can only make out the occasional light along the thousands of kilometers of riverbank. Out here, in the remote parts of the Amazon, generators provide electricity to the rustic cabins of the ribereños, the River People. An independent and transient folk, the ribereños eek out a subsistent living for their families along the world’s longest river. Over time, and not unlike most Amazonian indigenous tribes, the River People have adapted to life in the forest. Fish, acai, Brazil nuts, wild fruits from the jungle and whatever crops they can produce on their meagre land base constitute the lion’s share of their food intake and income. Smaller animals are also part of their diet. Armadillos, tapir, opossums, and small rodents are hunted and represent an important source of protein. The ribereños know how to survive in this unforgiving environment.
At the Poi Bumba Festival in Parintins, State of Amazonas, Brazil
Ethnically, the ribereños consist of detribalized natives, mestizos, and those of European descent. As a matter of life and death, children growing up along the river must learn to swim and operate dugout canoes at a very early age. Given the lack of roads, this giant waterway with its many inlets and sloughs, is the ribereños’ lifeline and transport system. Boats are used to drop the kids off at the nearest one-room school, to get the harvest to market, to go to church, to pick up supplies in the village, and to visit friends and family up and down the Amazon. Through our conditioned eyes, the ribereños look poor and backwards, however, those impressions are misleading. While living on the fringes of the civilized world, with cellphones in hand and satellite dishes on the roofs of their cabins, the ribereños know what is going on in the outside world.
The same is true, but only to varying degrees, for the indigenous Indian tribes in the Amazon. Without a doubt, they represent the most vulnerable population group in the country of Brazil, which occupies 60% of the Amazon basin. Hunted by ruthless soybean farmers and displaced by illegal gold miners who invade native lands, the tribes’ very existence and traditional way of life are severely threatened. The populist, right-wing government of President Jair Bolsonaro is not only unsupportive of the Amazon Indians, it is actually in the process of rolling back indigenous rights while encouraging religious groups to convert the “savages” to Christianity. The evangelicals are a crucial voting block in Brazil and very supportive of Bolsonaro’s efforts to “integrate these citizens” into modern society. It appears, not much has changed since the early days of colonization.
The bullet ant (Paraponera clavata) is one of the most feared ants in the Amazon. Contact with the ant is very painful and can be fatal. It is used by the indigenous tribes during initiation rituals for boys.
In a country where red traffic lights are a mere suggestion and the violation of laws goes unpunished, the exploitation of the Amazon basin has reached unprecedented levels. Native tribes are in the crossfire more than ever. Literally, Indians are being killed because they are seen as a hindrance to the economic exploitation of the rainforest. As Cristiane Mazzetti of Greenpeace states: “Even in the face of an alarming scenario for the Amazon, with increased fires, deforestation, invasions of protected areas, and violence against Indigenous Peoples, the government hasn’t presented any consistent policy to protect the forest and its peoples; on the contrary, the government is taking the side of environmental crime.” For farmers, ranchers and miners, it’s open season for the rainforest. Aside from the lack of political will, it is very difficult and expensive to police the vast, remote, and sparsely populated areas of the rainforest, making this a lawless and relatively ungovernable part of the world.
To date, 17% of the Amazonian rainforest have been logged and burned and opened up to cattle ranching, soybean field production (80% of the Brazilian soybeans are used as cattle feed), and mining. Scientists believe that the destruction of 20 to 25% of the rainforest represents a threshold and the point of no return. At that level, the water cycle will be sufficiently disrupted (reduced evaporation of water vapour from the tree canopy results in diminished rainfall) to gradually turn the Amazon basin into a savanna.
A visit to the Amazon is as passionately enthralling as it is emotionally upsetting. To focus on one without at least acknowledging the other would be akin to burying your head in the sand. The bad news is that the political climate in Brazil is marked by division as much as it is in the USA and in many other parts of the world. The resulting populist agenda is driving the further destruction of the rainforest and causing much uncertainty for Brazil’s indigenous tribes. The good news is that the forest still functions. The animals are still there, the tribes are still practicing their traditions and the rains still flood the forest. Also, the world is very much aware of the dangers to the rainforest ecosystem and many brave people put their lives on the line to save it. Also, the European countries are leading the way in applying economic pressure on the Bolsonaro regime to change its way of managing the Amazon basin.
To catch the sunset and with my camera in hand, I am racing to the upper deck of our ship and just manage to see the last glimpses of the giant red ball dropping into the vastness of the life-giving Amazon river waters. This is one of those moments when you are as close to being filled with joy as you are to crying with grief. I have said many times that every one of my pictures could be a prayer. Nowhere has this been more true than in the Amazon.
More pictures can be seen on this website on the page “Gallery Archive - Central & South America II”.
~ RT