The fog had not quite disappeared and the coming warm rays of the sun already hinted at a rather bold adventure on the waters of the Pará River: departing from Belém under oars in oceanic kayaks to cross the frightful Marajó Bay and follow River Arari which practically cuts through the Island from north to south. Then, later on, at the island’s northernmost portion, cross the South Channel, one of the violent branches of the Amazon River’s mouth and end the trip at Mexiana Island, exactly at the Line of the Equator. A trip initially foreseen to last a fortnight and endure nothing more or less than 350 km of rowing! In all, five kayaks were used, one of them a double kayak; a little supporting trawler, which offered greater mobility for my photographic documentation as it was used to carry part of the equipment – during the entire time in which I used the oars, I worked with underwater cameras.


A journey risky enough for unbelieving fishermen to come out with remarks such as: “These little would-be boats will never make it even to Cotijuba!” (25 km ahead). The difficulties, which are well-known to locals, lie mainly in crossing Pará River, in the Bay of Marajó, famous for its bad temper and where even seasoned local fishermen only brave with much caution. However and surprisingly, the day dawned with an overcast sky, which is great for calming down the nerves of these stormy waters. Our destiny after an 8-hour crossing at a 20-knot wind which took some by surprise was the Tartarugueiro Community, at the entrance of Arari River. The Community was founded by slave descendants with a population that hardly reaches 100 souls, all counted, all of which are relatives of each other; they live off fishing, the production of açaí berries, bacuri, manioc and other Amazonian fruits which are sold weekly at markets in Belém.




The Archipelago of Marajó is considered the largest river-maritime archipelago in the world since the island’s surface area exceeds 40 thousand km2. More than 2 thousand islands and islets dot its insular windings. Extremely flat, it has some hillocks considered artificial and called ‘tesos’, a name whose origin, they say, goes back to pre-Colombian times and given by local Indians. So they say...

As for the landscape’s features, Marajó is quite some distance away from being just marsh lands inhabited by buffalos. Through the journey’s length, I noticed a great variety of ecosystems that ranged from dense evergreen ombrophile forests, mixed flooded fields and lowland fields to mangroves and cerrado (tropical savannah). Storms were ever present but disappeared as fast as they came.

The first township reached was Cachoeira do Arari, where the Marajó Museum, informally founded by Italian Giovanni Gallo in 1972 is located. However, in 1984 it was officially acknowledged and opened to the public with a great many archeological findings, ceramics, utensils and memorabilia of the habits of the marajoara people’s way of life. The most surprising aspect of these remote places in Brazil is to find places such as this that propose to restore and conserve the country’s history, ideas that only succeed through the individual initiatives of visionary people. I saw ceramics and funeral urns in a veritable archaeological site scenario.




After Cachoeira do Arari, we began to use what are well known as ‘holes’ – or little shortcuts between the fields of shallow vegetation – that cut straight through and confuse pathways. Close to the waterline, everything is absolutely the same, and the capacity of locals to find their way in that sea of water pasture lands and water flowers is truly amazing. Many of these so-called “holes” are created from the coming and going of buffalos, which heavily stomp the grounds during the dry season and canals in the rainy season. They even say that all this bustling coming and going, which has been occurring now for all these decades in which buffalos have been roaming the island has considerably altered the islands hydrology, so they say...

The Township of Jenipapo is considered the largest marshland in the world, which we reached after a few days. Actually, it is a great wood-built village on stilts, and it is said that it covers more than 10 kilometers of bridges that connect houses, churches, commerce, swine compounds and kitchen gardens.




Everything takes place on bridges; everything is thrown into the water... a few kilometers from Santa Cruz do Arari, an important city on the shores of Arari Lake, a passage for vessels that carry people and supplies from Belém to the island’s north shore. It is not an uncommon sight to see people riding buffalos as one would do with horses, with saddle and saddlebag to carry shopping items and that are left tied by the entrances of bars, where cowhands (or should I say, buffalohands?) struggle for elbow space among pool tables; between a dose of spirits and another, nothing better than a saloon brawl to relax.

On the trip’s seventh day, our callosities and ringworms began to show signs of vitality. After Santa Cruz do Arari, we noticed a very interesting fluvial characteristic; until we reached the Lake we were constantly going against the current, since the waters of the Arari River flow into Pará River. But on this northernmost portion, it is the opposite, due to the fact that the Mocoões canal – which was artificially built to help the traffic of boats transporting buffalos – is narrower, the current mostly flows in the direction of the Mouth of the Amazon River.

The scenario now is one only of farmlands, and more than a few times we found ourselves quite lost, even though in the possession of GPS coordinates. Due to the constant coming and going of buffalos, and consequently, the frequent threat of assaults, the peacefulness that we could have enjoyed during eventual stops on the banks were constantly frustrated by the presence of armed hitmen.




Our passing through Egypt River brought back the natural mystery that prevails in this island; dark and cold waters, which are also narrow, with what little sunlight comes through and vast extensions of mururés (a type of water plant) clogging up our passage and hindering any effort at the oars while increasing the chance of a blind encounter with the indigenous anacondas. And thus it was until Arapixi, truly a city ‘built as a movie set’ close to the South Canal. A ‘square’ made of houses surrounds the church, all of which are made of wood and carefully painted, remodeled and suspended. These are surrounded by natural plantations of açaí berries and buriti palm trees, which lend an even more bucolic atmosphere to the place.




The last leg of the trip, the crossing of the Canal to Mexiana Island, was aborted due to the presence of Amazonian waves, which actually forbade any bolder attempts at navigation. By the way, the attempt did happen, but one of the kayaks overturned, causing serious damages and loss of equipment.

However, our final destination on the Line of the Equator, on Mexiana Island, was reached with the certainty that Brazil is an unexplored world after all. And one that must be carefully taken care of, before it is forever lost...

* The expedition was organized by Kaluanã, a sports and adventure agency in Belém. It consisted of a group of 7 people + support from locals.

Adriano Gambarini has been a photographer for 15 years. Graduated as a geologist, speleologist and also a diver, he is a Member of the Council for the Pro-Carnivore NGO and works as a photographer for WWF, TNC, CI and Terra Brasilis. He has authored seven photography books and two poetry books and owns 50,000 images of the biodiversity and culture of Brazil, the Antarctic and 17 countries.