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Trip to the Xingu River in the Amazon Forest of Brazil

In 1986, we were invited by Brazilian herpetologist Dr. Paulo E. Vanzolini to undertake a 30-day survey in the Brazilian Amazon Basin. Our mission took place in December of that year. The goal of our expedition was to survey the herpetofauna, with an emphasis on amphibians. This faunal information was required as part of the environmental report that precedes any construction work that significantly affects the environment in Brazil. We camped in the forest near the left bank of the Xingu River, near the municipality of Altamira, in the north of the state of Pará. We were three people on this trip: Dr. Adão Cardoso, professor at the State University of Campinas, São Paulo; Dr. Marcelo Gordo, then an undergraduate student and today professor at the Federal University of Amazonas; and Célio Haddad, master’s student supervised by Dr. Cardoso and today professor at São Paulo State University. Adão was 35 years old and had extensive Amazon experience in the Brazilian state of Acre. Célio was 27 and had little Amazon experience. Marcelo was 19 with no experience in the Amazon rainforest.

What follows are some of our stories from that trip, meant to paint an honest picture of fieldwork in a remote area of the Amazon Basin in the 1980s. We found amazing diversity and abundance of amphibians and reptiles, experienced difficult and sometimes uncomfortable living conditions, and had some unusual cultural interactions—all memories we treasure today.

The company Consórcio Nacional de Engenheiros Consultores Sociedade Anônima, hired to manage the initial part of the prospecting work in the area where a hydroelectric plant would be built, had several camps. Prospecting refers to any service aimed at surveying the local flora and fauna as well as aspects of geomorphology. The camps were in clearings in the forest created for this purpose. They were covered by plastic canvas under which hammocks were installed in a common space shared by all. In these camps lived the workers hired by the company and the researchers who carried out the various surveys. About 200 people lived in our camp. In addition to our trio of amphibian experts, there was a group from the Institute of Technological Research of São Paulo doing analyses on the geomorphology of the Xingu River bed; their data were necessary for construction of the dam. Because the camp was covered in black plastic, it was unbearably hot in the middle of the day. To reduce the temperature, palm leaves were placed above the plastic, but even so the heat was intense. During the hottest times, we usually rested on a trail in the forest or stayed immersed in the Xingu River until the heat subsided a little. Insects added to the discomfort, especially in the camps, with mosquitoes at night and many horseflies and piuns (Simuliidae, black flies) during the day.

Camp workers were humble people but quarrelsome and rough. They walked around camp and in the jungle always with machetes around their waists. The machetes were used to open trails in the forest and for self-defense against wild animals, like jaguars—and also against other camp workers. We were always concerned and a little frightened when near them. One night, a worker called one of us (Célio) to see an animal that was near their hammocks. Célio (fearfully) obliged, and saw that the animal was the Giant Toad (Rhinella marina). Instinctively Célio grabbed the large toad and, to his surprise, noticed that the workers formed a distant circle around him and were wide-eyed and surprised at his courage in holding the beast. Célio tried to approach them with the toad, and they ran away in terror. From that day on, the workers looked at us with admiration and respect, and we felt more at ease when near them. We even thought about always carrying a toad around our waists, to defend ourselves. The workers were afraid of toads because the animals are used in witchcraft in Brazil and because people believe that the toads cause diseases, like cobreiro (diseases that spread through the skin, such as mycoses, herpes, and others).

Food was sometimes a problem. On one of the first nights at the camp, we were served a barbecue dinner. We noticed a somewhat strange flavor in the meat, something that resembled a kerosene flavor, but it was mild. The next day everyone in the camp was sick with intestinal disorders that lasted throughout the day. We later learned that the meat had been contaminated with fuel from the helicopter that transported the food to the camp. When Cunha, the cook at one of the camps, finished cooking a 60-L pot of rice, he poured 2 L of soy oil over the rice and mixed it with a large spoon, claiming that this made the dish fluffy and delicious. In fact, the rice was quite greasy and cloying, but for the energy-intensive camp laborers, it was certainly adequate. Both the crackers, which came from Belém, and the cheese, made in Altamira, contained sand, which was really unpleasant to chew. Apparently they had been prepared with impure salt, which contained a lot of sand.

The workers with whom we shared the camp captured Yellow-Footed Tortoises (Chelonoidis denticulatus) in the forest and either restrained them in small enclosures or tied them to tree trunks by wires attached to holes they made in the animals’ plastrons or carapaces. These tortoises were basically a live stock of meat that could be consumed whenever the men wanted. There was plenty of food in the camp, however, which did not justify the capture of these animals. We felt sorry for the tortoises, mainly because of the cruel way in which they were slaughtered for consumption, so we surreptitiously went to the places where the workers trapped the tortoises and released them all. The feeling of releasing the animals was both satisfying and thrilling, a good deed mixed with the danger of being discovered by the fearsome workers. Luckily we were never surprised by the tortoise owners, as this could have caused us a big problem!

Early on, we realized we needed a table so we could fix specimens of amphibians and reptiles and take notes. We requested that the person in charge of the camp, Manoel Correia, get us a large board to use as a table. He kindly offered to solve the problem. That same day we heard a loud bang in the forest near camp. We ran to see what was happening. Mr. Correia had cut down a Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa) over 30 m in height with a chainsaw to remove a board for our table. We felt a mixture of bitterness and anger for such a meaningless death of a beautiful, useful, and imposing tree, but we soon consoled ourselves that the tree and the entire forest were doomed by the flood that in a few years would be caused by the construction of the hydroelectric plant. This same logic consoled us when it was time to kill the animals we collected, as they would not have a promising future in this place condemned by the flood. Today, this forest has disappeared under the lake of the dam that stores the water for the operation of the Belo Monte plant, the fourth largest hydroelectric plant in the world. Certainly the remains of this Brazil nut tree felled to serve as our table are still under water, as it is hardwood, highly resistant to time and weather.

We also faced some sleeping problems. When it rained, it was common for leaks to wet our hammocks. The inexperience of sleeping in hammocks also affected us. We considered sleeping directly on the ground, but we gave up on that idea because of the large number of pit vipers, spiders, scorpions, and army ants that roamed through camp. The noise made by the workers also bothered us. They often played cards until dawn, shouting and fighting with each other, as those who lost part of their salary in gambling complained about the cheating of the winners. Sometimes we slept badly for three nights and on the fourth night we slept well owing to exhaustion.

One night in camp, a worker called on us to capture a snake. It was a pit viper, the Jararaca (Bothrops atrox), and was next to the camp’s drinking water filter. One of the workers had almost stepped on the snake. The truth is that Jararacas were very common in that area, and we had several encounters with this species. One night we had traveled for a few kilometers on a dirt road in a Toyota four-wheel-drive truck. Célio was collecting frogs of the genus Adenomera, and fractions of a second before he grabbed a frog in a thicket of vegetation, the head of a Jararaca, also interested in the frog, appeared next to the frog. Célio almost got bitten by the snake. That night we collected several Jararacas. Because we didn’t have wooden boxes to accommodate the pit vipers, we packed them in plastic bags. On the way back to camp, at dawn, when we drove on a small improvised bridge made of loose wooden planks, Adão lost control of the car and we overturned. Chaos ensued. In addition to the stress of the accident, the feeling of being under plastic bags containing live venomous snakes was really terrifying. Fortunately no one was hurt, but we couldn’t turn off the engine of the overturned vehicle, so Marcelo ran for about 8 km to camp to ask Mr. Correia for help. He and some other men came to the accident site and rescued us.

The second part of the expedition took place in a much quieter camp, accessible only by boat, up the Xingu River, toward the mouth of the Iriri River, land of the Arara Indians. From this new camp we explored the area on a few nearby trails, but most of the time local assistants took us by boat with an outboard motor to different places. During part of our trip, Adão had commitments in Altamira and Célio had to return to São Paulo, leaving only Marcelo, the cook, and the cook’s assistant in the new camp.

One morning in this new camp, Marcelo was tending to his sores caused by insect bites when the cook’s assistant asked if he could bring a farmer, a neighboring resident, so that Marcelo could bandage this person’s wound. Marcelo promptly agreed but noticed that the first aid kit was very simple. When approaching the injured man, who was drunk, Marcelo could see that he had two deep cuts in his leg just above the knee, made by a chainsaw. The wounded man was placed on a table, without his pants, where Marcelo could see the severity of one of the cuts, which was bleeding profusely. Luckily Marcelo had brought some thread and suture needles, but he had no pliers to facilitate handling this material. Without anesthesia and with only alcohol for cleaning, Marcelo started suturing the deepest cut, without gloves, in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Marcelo had difficulty getting the needle through the man’s thick skin, causing him a lot of pain. The tension was so great that a puddle of sweat formed below Marcelo, causing concern on the part of the patient. The procedure took more than an hour, allowing the patient to tell his story as a fugitive from the Brazilian state of Maranhão, having killed a person in a fight. He explained that as a fugitive, now in the state of Pará, he worked as a professional hunter hired to supply the village of settlers nearby with food. He also told of having suffered an attack by the Arara Indians, his hunting companion killed at his side by arrows, and how he managed to escape by running through the jungle and throwing himself into the river to swim across; he was helped by the settlers on the other side. At the end of the suture work, there were 14 well-spaced stitches that successfully stopped the bleeding, and Marcelo closed the wounds with clean bandages and bactericidal ointment. The next morning, Marcelo arranged for another settler to take the injured man to the hospital in Altamira to be evaluated and treated with antibiotics and an anti-tetanus injection.

By the end of the trip, all of us were parasitized by chigoe fleas (Tunga penetrans), mainly on the feet but also on the hands. The sensation was a little uncomfortable, because in addition to scratching, it hurt. We removed chigoe fleas by making small incisions in the skin and squeezing to eject them. Black flies ended up causing many injuries to Marcelo’s skin, resulting in a serious secondary infection and requiring hospital care as soon as he arrived in Campinas, São Paulo.

In addition to the beauty of the Amazon rainforest, the Xingu River, a tributary on the right bank of the Amazon River, is fascinating. With a length of about 1800 km, it is a mighty river with an average water flow of about 10,000 m³/s. In the region where we worked there were the Xingu rapids which, in addition to the scenic beauty, contain rock boulders carved with enigmatic geometric drawings made by an ancient people that inhabited the region. Today, some of these carved drawings are submerged by the dam. Problems associated with modern civilization arrived at the Xingu River not only because of the flooding of the dam but also because of contamination of its waters by mercury, a result of the exploitation of gold by illegal miners that continues today in that region.

We collected more than 50 species of anurans. Some were new to science and later described by Janalee P. Caldwell, such as the Para Toad (Rhinella castaneotica) and the Brazil-Nut Poison Frog (Adelphobates castaneoticus). The great richness of species caught our attention, and the enormous abundance of amphibians and reptiles surprised us. The area was one of the most spectacular and remarkable places we have ever worked.

We dedicate this essay to the memory of Dr. Adão J. Cardoso, who led our adventure through the Amazon and died in a car accident in 1997.