World Wildlife Fund

© Zig Koch

Morning coffee and crackers is followed by a meeting in the round. Puku is voicing the Wajãpi's satisfaction in being involved in the planning for the expedition and for the visit to their communities. They discuss with the park's director, Cristoph, the importance of the national park in assuring an added layer of security to maintain the quality of the environment and in protecting their lands. They are fearful that gold miners may come into the park and contaminate the waters with mercury, used to amalgamate the gold, and indiscriminately hunt game in the forests. The Wajãpi take only what they need from the forest and are troubled by the prospect of hunting and fishing by outsiders.
 
They are also concerned about the ability to maintain Kamuta as a year-round outpost due to its remote location, limited access, and for the health of the Wajãpi families who reside there. They raise the possibility of opening an airstrip to facilitate periodic access by park staff and a way to bring in staple supplies and medicines. In return, they could provide continual monitoring of the borders of this section of the park. The discussion continues for several hours and signals the start of a constructive and potentially powerful relationship to benefit both the park and the Wajãpi community.
 
Puku has learned that several family members are sick with malaria and has decided to return to them overland, a five day trek. The remaining Wajãpi will also stay behind and return to their villages. Despite that bad news, our departure later in the afternoon as a happy one as we bid farewell to the Wajãpi. Gifts are given (extra petrol for the Wajãpi boats and spare propellers - much needed in transiting these rocky waters). For the national park staff, as well as for the Wajãpi, the visit has been well worth the major effort required to get here.
 
Bad luck heading downstream and the Maria Clarini's motor breaks down. She is lashed to the Flavia and we make the return trip side by side while Sergeant René works patiently with a rasp and large lag-bolt to fashion a spare part. Back at the Mukuru base camp, we fire up the generator and the cyber jungle café springs to life. With a satellite link, we are in nightly phone and email contact with the logistics team in Amapá's capital city of Macapá. Tonight's urgent message - send a new motor by supply plane to our upriver destination at Molokopote. The link also enables my colleagues to publish a daily journal and photos on the WWF-Brasil website. The cyber café activity unfolds beneath the darkening canopy while the bizarre thunder-like rumble of a troop of howler monkeys approaches and the raucous macaws head to their nighttime roosts.
 
Learn more about WWF's ARPA project - a giant step to protect the Amazon forest