In the heart of the Amazon Forest there exists an area not known by the Brazilian people nor others. This unknown area lies north of the Equator. The Serra do Aracá has plants and animals that do not exist in other places. And a giant waterfall - possibly the highest in the entire country. (measured at 1,500 meters high)

To arrive there, a group of reporters from Brazil's Rede Globo had to pass over the immense Amazon rivers. Flying by float plane and helicopter, they discovered that there was still much to discover about the largest forest in the world.

The fascinating adventure to arrive at the top of the unknown mountains on the northern Aracá resulted in a special TV production of Globo Repórter and EPTV - affiliated with Rede Globo.

 

Their expedition departed from the Rio Negro, Amazonas. Destination one of the least know areas of Amazônia: the Serra do Aracá. Satellite photos indicated a small red point encircled by the green forest, almost on the border of Venezuela. A place that shows no human presence.

 

Passing the Equator to arrive at the Serra do Aracá, they passed into the northern hemishere aboard their floatplane. The only sounds were the roar of the powerful motor. The Rio Negro was behind them. The forest below was dense, completely covered with trees like an immense green carpet.

 

In minutes they were flying over another river - the Aracá. They were arriving at the beginning of the rainy season. The Aracá. was at it's lowest revealing beautiful beaches and sand dunes. The tea colored water contrasted with the white of the sand with it's different shades. Each curve was like a picture - where nature doesn't exaggerate the colors, but abuses the tones.

Before arriving at the Serra da Aracá, they passed over a plain or desert (sertão) that extends over an area of 100,000 sq. km. A region formed by the valleys of the rivers Aracá, Demene, Kiuini and other tributaries of the Rio Negro. Scientific research indicates that this was ocean bottom millions of years ago, and in the last 100,000 years a huge fresh water lake.

 

Today, this valley still remains a lake for part of the year and the high water marks show the limites of the lakes that are formed during the high water period. The next six months of high water and the rising of the rivers, most of this area will be covered with water.

The Serra do Aracá truely is a series of mountains that extends 50 km long and 15 km wide.

 

Some look like pyramids, others present strange forms like these twin columns sculptured by action of the wind and rain. The Serra at it's junction forms a vision called Tepui. It is like a huge table on top of the plain.

As they arrived close to the falls they saw an abandoned airport, supposedly that supported a mining operation, but was closed by the authorities because of 'drug smuggling' activities. Close by they found another waterfall, even larger than the one they had come to see. The water comes from the interior of the mountains. The birth of various rivers in the Rio Negro basin.

Discovering the secrets of this magic place will be the work of years of research. The Serra today is like an island wshen the entire valley is covered with water. Some species of wildlife, plants and flowers found in the Serra only occur here. The Serra do Aracá, along with being thebirth place of rivers, could well be considered the birth place of plants.

They decided to measure the larger falls, but a large natural pool blocked their way. They had no way to swim this pool with their equipment and gear so they decided to try to hack out another way in.

They were able to climb the falls by another way. The rocks, higher up, appeared small but close up were huge. The water seems to have no difficulty to leave this area. So after much climbing they succeeded in arriving at the top. What can one say in front of such beauty? Perhaps the major expression would be complete silence ....

To know whether or not this was the highest waterfall in Brazil, now, is only a matter of time. Time is what this Serra seems to have plenty of. She is testimony to various transformations of nature. Since when South America and Africa were one continent.

On the immense plain at the foot of the Serra do Aracá, there was no sign of human life. No villages of river people nor indians. But the rivers and igarapés that cut through this plain in the direction of the Rio Negro often receive temporary visitors. Most of these visitors, people that work the forests and the rivers for what nature offers for free, but very difficult to obtain.

Flying over the Rio Curuduri they saw small boats filled with piaçaba, a product of the forest. When the water level is low is the time of working the forests and small boats can always be seen bringing product downriver. After this they saw a camp of piaçabeiros - judging by the type of camp. (barraca - a type of hut)

In the barraca lives three families. It takes them 8 days to come up the river (low water) by boat after piaçaba. The work starts by finding the plant in the forest. After they obtain the leaves of the piaçaba, they must clean them very carefully and dry them.

Each slash with the knife or machcete (facão or terçado, as they are called here), the caboclo (native) gets the leaf, and the heart of the mágoas. In minutes the fibers are separated. Each palmeira will produce on an average of one kilo of piaçaba, R$ 0,40. (US$ .16 - 16 cents). A caboclo has to find 50 palmeiros to earn R$ 20 (US$ 8.00) per day, which is normally their food cost.

And the work doesn't stop there. In order to take any product from the forest requires a lot of work. After finding the piaçaba, cutting out the fibers, and making the bundles ( fardos), it is necessary to carry the days production to the camp at the river bank.

The major activity of these river visitors on the upper Rio Negro is not on land, but in the igarapés in the middle of the forest. Here thousands of people live catching tropical fish (called peixes ornamentais). During the dry period the igarapés are transformed into natural aquariums. And in these live hundreds of species of tropical fish.

The most common or well know are the 'neons' and the 'cardinals', a contrast with the dark waters of the Negro. Depending on the sun rays the 'neons' are fluorescent, almost as if they are producing their own light rays. Also there is the 'borboleta' which seems to float instead of swim.

These fish eat alongside the trunks of submerged trees. Swimming they exhibit grace and harmony. Depending on your point of view they seem to make the forest more beautiful. These fish grace aquariums of the entire world.

The piabeiros, as these fishermen are called, pass their entire day in canoes hunting for these little fish. For the cardinal they use a cacuri, a fish trap where the fish enter attracted by a bait and can not escape once inside. But the majority of the fish are captured using a rapiche - a large dip net, and the fishery requires complete silence, patience and observation.

Today, the state of Amazonas exports on an average 20 million tropical fish per year. And it expected to double. Barcelos is the center of the tropical fish business in the Rio Negro. The most common sold to the United States is the cardinal where they bring a price of US$ .50 - 50 cents each. The fisherman receives R$ 8.00 (US$ 3.20) per 1,000 fish.

Why are there not any Indians in an area that is not inhabited by the white man? The Indians certainly at one time inhabited this region. Proof of this was found on the shores of one of the lakes. Here the ground is full of pieces of Indian pottery. The lake is near a barranco (high ground), where probably was their village.

Plus, in this area there are no conflicts, like occur with the garimpeiros (miners), why are there no longer Indians in the plains of Araçá? The forest has covered the history. The superintendent of Ibama of Amazonas has an explanation: the Indians of this region were once hunted as slaves.

Today the waters of the Rio Negro and it's tributaries are faced with another conflict. This is the concern over the disappearance of the fishes. On one side is the commercial fisherman, with their large freezer boats. On the other side are the river people and tourism for sport fishing.

 

The large hotel yachts, jungle lodges and camps such as Aracá Camp bring close to 3,000 sports fishermen from Brazil and from overseas every year. This creates over 400 jobs in the area. This activity, 'catch and release' sports fishing, doesn't hurt nature, but it is aggravating to the commercial fishing. There is presently a movement to stop commercial exploitation of these species all together. We need support with this.

Also the concern of the survival of the ribeirinhos (river people or caboclos), the region of the upper Rio Negro nearly 400 families live in 12 communities at a survival level. For these people the river is their highway, laundry and, principally, their survival.

The simple artisanal fishermen of the Rio Negro region use a simple method called pinauaca, using bait from the skin of another fish or animal. They pass an entire morning sometimes to catch one fish.

A easy survival fishery conducted in the lakes along the Rio Negro is an illegal activity using gill nets that stretch from one bank to the other closing the lake. The fish can not escape. They catch tons of fish.

Not only the results of the mass killing of fish, but also the protection of the life and culture of the forest people .... this is a perspective for the Amazon. The problem is so serious that Ibama is considering seriously prohibiting commercial fishing in various rivers of Amazonia, including the Rio Negro.

The largest tropical forest and the largest river on our planet. This is the image that the whole world has of the Amazon. But here there is much more that forest and rivers. In this time of sattelites, great mountain ranges that so far haven't been discovered and lakes that guard secrets of unknown history.

Who could imagine campinas and natural grasslands, dunes in the middle of the forest. A sertão (desert) that was once part of the oceans, that now is a lake that has the attention of the world. A collection of various forms, biodiversity, patrimony of the human race.

But the Amazon also has people. People that probably do not understand what is biodiversity. People that history created to supply the aquariums of the world. For these people there lacks the right to know, plus understand what the discovery of these mountains might mean ... theirs is a survival world in order to live in the extremes of the jungle. Of all of the mysteries of the Amazon .... the largest is probably the future of all this.