Brazil – Lago Jari, 29 October-5 November 2007

Our boat in the Paraná do Jari at the entrance to Lago Jari. The water level in the lake was to low and we had to leave this big boat behind and continue our trip with a much smaller boot to research in the Rio Jari.

The giant Lago Jari with over 60 km in length and up to 5 km wide, has only three caboclo communities on its terra firme along the lower western bank. Traveling in its center one feels like being in the open sea. We carried three canoes with us, of with one sunk during two hours of continuous strom and rain accompanied by high waves. And almost one of the caboclos drowned as well.

_{With the smaller boot, which Heiko named “Jari-Queen” (as it was as old and looked like the famous “African Queen”, from the old movie of the same name), we travelled for three days along the Lago Jari deep into the upper Rio Jari and its affluent, collecting  day and night}

^{_{The rest of a jaguar (left), which they had killed a few days before, because it ate the dog of our guide, Cabeça (which means “head”). Cabeça’s house on the terra firme (center). Cabeça’s wife keeps her house spotless clean (right}}

^{_{Travelling with “Jari-Queen” was not as comfortable as with our big boat. But no one complained}}

^{_{Heiko penetrating with a smaller canoe deep into a small affluent of the Rio Jari}}

^{_{After long a long voadeira ride (an additional, fast aluminium boat we carried as well) a good sleep did good…}}

^{_{Research for fishes: Heiko with Mario and Miguel (left); Miguel, Heiko and Ireneus (centre); Miguel and Pierre-Alain (right)}}

^{_{Some of the beautiful, untouched habitats, of the Rio Jari and its affluent never visited by white before}}

^{_{During the Jari-expedition we ate fresh fish every day … grilled natural over the open fire…}}

^{_{…even late at night after exhausting night fishing…}}

^{_{… and no place on earth one can eat better freshwater fish than in Amazonia. Cabeça’s wife invited}}

^{_{our team to come into her nice wooden house and served us peixe-boi and roasted fish}}

^{_{with farinha and a fantastic, original, Amazonian calderada (fish soup)}}

^{_{Most of the Amazonian caboclos ribeirinhos live on recreios – floating wooden houses – all their life}}

_{^{Some of cichlids we found: Cichla sp. (left), Biotodoma sp. (center) and Crenicichla sp. (right)..}.}

^{_{… also beautiful loricariids…}}

^{_{… and characoids…}}

^{_{… dragon flies, butterflies and spiders …}}

^{_{… frogs, crabs and every day tucuxi´s (Amazon dolphins)…}}

^{_{… and in the Lago and Rio Jari we saw many turtles, and thousands of birds}} 

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