I began reading this book at the beginning of the pandemic, spending many afternoons in a hammock reading this account of a trek into the depths of the Amazon rainforest to look for signs of the region's remaining uncontacted tribes.

In this age of smartphones, air travel, and even grocery delivery, it was an almost spiritual experience to read of the existence of groups of people who still live in an almost complete state of isolation from the modern world. Even more inspiring to hear about were the efforts of a small few to keep these isolated groups safe from the encroachment of modernity.

Everyone should read this book, as a reminder of how far we've come (or fallen?). ( )

More of a poor repetitive travelogue, than a serious book on indiigouis tribes ( )

Perhaps our last frontier is still here on earth with tribes that have yet to have contact with others humans. Scott Wallace, attached to the National Geographic, went on one such excursion into the Amazon jungle in search of a lost tribe, trying to find the inner sanctum of the mysterious People of the Arrow, the flecheiros; Wild Indians.
An ancient tribe of Brazil, it was rumored they had not made offical contact with the outside world. Sydney Pussuelo, president of Brazil's Indian affairs agency, known under the Portuguese acronym of FUNAI led an expedition, not to contact these people; an encounter would mean a disatrous end to a way of life thousands of years old. In fact they where there to protect the Indians, to ensure the land they lived in was saved from the destructive activity in the Amazon, logging and gold mining, both of which are causing awful destruction to the land and forcing the natives to move from their tribal areas. Many tribes had been close to wiped out with white man's disease and subsequent way of life. Nature needed to be left alone.
In a harrowing journey, half of which was conducted on foot, a group of over thirty men helped map out the land area to conserve, while fending off attacks by snakes, piranha, and the potential of a curare-tipped arrow, eating monkeys that reminded them of cannibalism just to survive. This rugged group of men where bought to their knees, scourged with disease and hunger, willing to give of their lives in order that others might maintain theirs.
A magnificant story ripely told in colorful language that delves into the politics of South American countries and the rape of the Amazon forest that will leave you aghast and full of wonder of what men will do the harm and help others. A most impressive report. ( )

Perhaps our last frontier is still here on earth with tribes that have yet to have contact with others humans. Scott Wallace, attached to the National Geographic, went on one such excursion into the Amazon jungle in search of a lost tribe, trying to find the inner sanctum of the mysterious People of the Arrow, the flecheiros; Wild Indians.
An ancient tribe of Brazil, it was rumored they had not made offical contact with the outside world. Sydney Pussuelo, president of Brazil's Indian affairs agency, known under the Portuguese acronym of FUNAI led an expedition, not to contact these people; an encounter would mean a disatrous end to a way of life thousands of years old. In fact they where there to protect the Indians, to ensure the land they lived in was saved from the destructive activity in the Amazon, logging and gold mining, both of which are causing awful destruction to the land and forcing the natives to move from their tribal areas. Many tribes had been close to wiped out with white man's disease and subsequent way of life. Nature needed to be left alone.
In a harrowing journey, half of which was conducted on foot, a group of over thirty men helped map out the land area to conserve, while fending off attacks by snakes, piranha, and the potential of a curare-tipped arrow, eating monkeys that reminded them of cannibalism just to survive. This rugged group of men where bought to their knees, scourged with disease and hunger, willing to give of their lives in order that others might maintain theirs.
A magnificant story ripely told in colorful language that delves into the politics of South American countries and the rape of the Amazon forest that will leave you aghast and full of wonder of what men will do the harm and help others. A most impressive report. ( )

I loved this book. It is a first-person account of the author's experience traveling into a remote section of the Amazon rainforest to track indigenous tribes living there. Contrary to what you might expect, the goal of the mission wasn't to actually contact the tribes; rather, the expedition sought to identify where the tribes lived so that the Brazilian government could later track the the tribe's movements and population by air.

The book is great on several levels: First and foremost, it is a jungle adventure book. Accessing these tribes is a harrowing process by foot, since they are so deep into the rainforest. Along with the author (who was there as a reporter for National Geographic), there was a photographer, Brazilian citizens working for Brazil's department of Isolated Indians, and members of several "contacted" indigenous tribesmen. The expedition itself was led by a bizarre man named Sydney Possuelo, who has made it his life's mission to protect indigenous tribes from deforestation and crippling exposure to new diseases. Possuelo is a weird man; I spent the entire book trying to figure him out. I alternated between being appalled by him and fascinated by him.

Interspersed throughout the jungle tale is a history of the white man's contact with indigenous Amazonian tribes, a history of the department of Isolated Indians, and a history of the evolving theories on how to approach indigenous tribes. Where previously the government sought to "tame" wild Indians, the policy is now to avoid contact, since contact with the white man inevitably brings about loss of native culture and crippling epidemics of disease. (FYI, phrases like "wild Indians" sound extremely derogatory when I write them here, but the author is actually quite sensitive in his use of language throughout the book - whenever he uses words like "wild," "tamed," or "civilized," he is quick to provide historical context to explain his choice in language). The author's discussion of the issue of contact versus no-contact is even-handed and at times philosophical. He raises some interesting questions that genuinely made me think about both sides of the issue. The plight of the so-called "contacted" tribes is eye-opening, with applications to our own tenuous relationship with Native Americans in the US.

I highly recommend this book. It is an adventure book, complete with monkeys and sloths and fire ants, but also a very eye-opening look at our culture of consumption and the havoc we have wreaked on all the inhabitants of the rainforest - plants, animals, humans. ( )