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Amazon
WWF Expeditions
EXPEDITION: Jari River
WHO: Matthew Perl, WWF
WHEN: August 2 - 7, 2005
© WWF
Join WWF on a fabulous adventure to explore some of the most remote and unknown portions of the worlds largest tropically forested national park in northeastern Brazil. Tumucumaque Mountains National Park (too-moo-koo-MAH-kay) is the first national park formally established by Brazil under the ARPA program in 2002. It covers over 3.8 million hectares, making it the world's largest tropical forest national park - roughly four times the size of Yellowstone National Park - and a fitting symbol of for the monumental undertaking to establish a viable system of protected areas in the Amazon.
As part of my work with WWF to help raise awareness and financial support for ARPA - Brazil's path breaking effort to build a well-managed and world class system of parks and reserves to help conserve the Amazon, I had the great fortune to accompany the Tumucumaque expedition. The following journal entries chronicle some of the highlights of this fantastic adventure.
© Zig Koch
AN OVERVIEW OF THE EXPEDITION: The southwestern border of Tumucumaque Mountains National Park runs approximately 380 kilometers along the Jari River and most of it remains practically unknown. The upper Jari is among the most remote areas of the park and access presents many difficulties. According to park director Christoph Jaster, the only people with knowledge of this area are the native inhabitants of the region, the Wayana, Aparai, and Wajãpi Indians, and the occasional gold miners who have been operating in several locations in and around the park.
To explore this vast territory and obtain reliable field-based information to better understand the park and its surroundings, Brazil's Protected Areas Agency, IBAMA, and WWF mounted a month-long expedition covering over 500 kilometers along the mostly uninhabited upper Jari river. Our specific objectives were to:
> initiate a cooperative effort between the park and the neighboring Wajãpi indigenous communities whose lands border the park, and to develop a joint strategy for patrolling the park and indigenous lands;
> demarcate the park by installing signposts that will help restrict entry for unauthorized purposes;
> identify and document illegal gold mining activity and map likely entry points for future control; and
> carry out field observations of the park and its surroundings to better inform the park's management priorities.
Learn more about WWF's ARPA project - a giant step to protect the Amazon forest
