Unsupported crossing of Matses territory in Amazonia

Flight to Lima generally at the end of the evening on day 1. Flight Lima-Iquitos the next day, welcome and transfer to the hotel. Evening in the heart of Iquitos with Jean-Patrick.

Transfer to Nauta by cab. In a humid, tropical climate, we take a fast boat up the three rivers Ucayali, Tapiche and Blanco. In two days of sustained navigation, we leave the immense waters of the Amazon and Ucayali to enter the black waters of the Tapiche and finally branch off into the white waters of the Rio Blanco, each time more and more surrounded by forest. We gradually enter Matses territory and meet the first Indian communities. We pass the Curinga military checkpoint and realize what a privilege it is to be here, as few Westerners are allowed through. An hour later, we set down by the river for our first bivouac.

This morning, accompanied by our Indian friends Matses and Jean-Patrick, we leave our bivouac for our first trekking day. We are going to do this crossing “Indian style”. The rhythm should be something like this: get up around 6 a.m. and leave around 7/7.30 a.m. We arrive at your next bivouac point at around 1:30 pm. In the afternoon, we divide up the tasks and activities as we see fit. We build camp, fish and hunt. Animals should abound in this little-hunted area. 

It should take us 7 days at this pace to reach the Yaquerana basin on a trail-less walk. We will cross dozens of rivers and marshes, thanks to the structures we are building as we go along, notably with logs. At the end of this expedition, we arrive at the Brazilian border, at the foot of the Sierra del Divisor, in an area without a single village.

This morning, we meet up with other Matses Indians to take a motorized pirogue (dugout canoe) down the Yaquerana to the village of Puerto Alegre. We reach it at the end of the day. We spend the evening with the elders, who may initiate us into their rituals. Then we sleep in a tent or hammock in a magnificent maloca that was built at the end of our first trek, in the summer of 2015. The next day, we take the time to meet the village authorities and observe village life. We can take part in activities as we wish.

We take a privatized seaplane directly back to Iquitos. Depending on the weather conditions, we take advantage of the windows to fly safely. We are planning a contingency day for this flight. If we can fly on DAY 14, we spend a day in the charming town of Iquitos. If we only fly on DAY 15, then we enjoy another day in Puerto Alegre.

We are accompanied to the airport where we take our return flight to Europe by Lima (arrival the next day).