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Described by Jacques Cousteau as the ‘Caribbean of the Amazon’ because of its rare ‘blue’ waters, the Tapajós region of the Amazon is still undiscovered by mass tourism and offers a more remote option for the adventurous traveller, who wishes to
explore the Amazon in style. What's special about this region is that in a relatively small distance, you will find the three types of rivers present in the Amazon basin: black waters, yellow waters and the beautiful and rare blue waters, each with its own ecosystem.
This is one of the most beautiful and well preserved areas of the Amazon. Cruising the Tapajós region is a perfect family holiday. The beaches are seamless, the waters warm and calm. The Amazon cruising experience is about blending, treks in the forest, exploring the rivers, lounging on the beach and visiting indigenous communities. The private cruises we arrange carefully take into account the composition of each group of travelers in order to select the best balance for your group.
The River that Sweetens the Atlantic
Is this 6,500-kilometer-long river the longest in the world, or only the second longest after the Nile? The facts are open to various interpretations, since the river is only called "Amazon" for 3,700 kilometers, beginning in the Peruvian state of Iquito. The Amazon's total length is measured from the point where it rises in the Peruvian Andes to where it empties into the Atlantic. Its principal tributaries are the Apurimac, the Ucayali and the Maranon, all of which rise to more than 4,000 meters above sea level.
At the place where the borders of Peru, Colombia and Brazil intersect, the Brazilians call their most important river the Solimoes. It is only near Manaus, at the confluence of the Rio Solimoes and Rio Negro, that Brazilian maps label this watercourse "Amazon" (in Portuguese: Amazonas). It is an undisputed fact, however, that the Amazon has the largest drainage area of any river in the world, which is why it contains two and a half times as much water as the Nile and twice as much as the Mississippi. It also has over 1,000 tributaries, 17 of which are longer than the Rhine, and it measures 100 meters at its deepest point. The river is navigable for large ocean-going vessels as far as Iquitos, and for smaller freight and passenger ships over approximately 50,000 kilometers of Amazon basin watercourse. At its narrowest point it measures two kilometers (at Obidos) and at its widest 30 (at Belem).
At its 320-kilometer-wide mouth, 20 percent of all the Earth's fresh water empties into the Atlantic, spreading over a radius of up to 200 kilometers. Every year the river carries away one billion tons of silt that is in turn driven northward by strong currents and deposited on beaches in French Guyana, 800 kilometers away. Its rate of flow varies from 35,000 cubic meters to 160,000 cubic meters per second; as much as 310,000 cubic meters per second has been measured at high water. This fluctuation can be clearly seen on the high-water mark in the floating harbor at Manaus up to14 meters!
For many years it was a mystery why such denizens of the Amazon as sharks, rays, sole, prawns and even dolphins are able to survive thousands of kilometers away from shore. Geologists then discovered that 130 million years ago Africa and South America formed one large continent called Gondwana. During this period the original Amazon, which was even longer than the present one, flowed into the Pacific. After Gondwana broke up, the South American continental plateau drifted west and collided with the
Pacific tectonic plate. This collision gave rise to the Andes, which soon blocked the mouth of the Amazon, forcing the river to change direction and eventually cut its way through to the Atlantic. For marine life there was no turning back: they had to either adapt to the fresh water streaming down from the Andes or perish.
White-, Black- and Clearwater -
Malnutrition vs. Malaria
The central and eastern Amazon basins are drained primarily by clearwater rivers, the largest of which are the Rio Tapajos and Rio Xingti. Clearwater is similar to distilled water in that both are virtually free of impurities. Clearwater is transparent up to a depth of four meters and tends to have an "acidic" pH level.
Blackwater is found primarily in the northern part of the Amazon, for example in the Rio Negro, the "Black River." Such rivers flow through huge marshy areas, carrying humus away with them. The humus (earth) that is washed away colors the water amber. The water itself is nutrient-poor and high in Numinous acids, with a pH value of 4. Such water is clear up to a depth of slightly over one meter. Blackwater and clearwater rivers drain the northern and southern Amazon basins, whose bedrock constitutes some of the most ancient on Earth. The soil in these areas is heavily weathered and depleted, and can no longer deliver nutrients. Mosquitoes cannot survive under such conditions, and are therefore rarely encountered in the Amazon. But this has grave consequences from an agricultural standpoint: because hardly any humus is left, and the rivers bring no nutrients with them, the basic conditions are lacking that would allow the proud and self-sufficient ribeirhinos (people of mixed Indian and European ancestry living along Amazon) to survive.
By contrast, whitewater tributaries carry valuable nutrients from the geologically youthful Andes, depositing them as they flow through the riverbed. The waters of these rivers are pH-neutral, rich in minerals and suspension matter, and clear to a depth of up to half a meter. Small farmers prefer to live in the varzea (riverine floodplains) in which this fertile sediment is deposited - but this is also the preferred habitat of mosquitoes. Consequently, most inhabitants of this area have contracted malaria at least once, and often repeatedly, with some villages and indigenous settlements experiencing near-epidemic outbreaks. Wild game and fruit also abound around whitewater tributaries, as do fish and caimans.
In earlier times, it did not escape the attention of missionaries or of scientists on research expeditions (such as Alexander von Humboldt) that the more prosperous Indians groups were to be found along the banks of whitewater rivers such as the Napo, Maranon, Beni and Solimoes, with their cloudier waters but more fertile soil. However, the price for nutritional variety is endemic malaria, a problem that at the end of the 20th century remains unsolved. This also explains why most tourist lodges in the Brazilian Amazon basin are near blackwater tributaries: there are few mosquitoes, but also little fauna. |
