Serra do Aracá

Although it was scheduled for October 2004, the expedition to Serra do Aracá was only carried out in March 2004 due to the lack of available resources.  On May 8th and 9th, the coordinator and field manager arrived in Manaus respectively. The technical team for this expedition was greatly reduced due to the difficulties caused by changes in the travel date, being made up of specialists in primates, bats, amphibians and reptiles, supported by the manager and four field assistants.

The journey from Manaus to Barcelos was done by plane. Purchases of consumable materials such as groceries, fuel and others were carried out in Barcelos and, on Friday, March 11, 2005, we began the expedition up the Aracá River. We spent the night in the Community of Romão, where we began interviews with residents to obtain information about the local fauna.

In the middle of the afternoon of the following day, we left Aracá and headed northeast along the Jauari River (erroneously called Cuieiras on the Radam Brasil Project map) with much darker waters than the Aracá. In the early evening we arrived at Comunidade do Miranda, where we spent the night.

The next morning, we left the community accompanied by another field assistant, Moreno, a former prospector who knew very well the paths that lead to the top of Serra do Aracá. We followed the Anta stream, which presented numerous difficulties for navigation. In the first section there were many branches that required cutting and negotiation for the flyer to pass. After a few hours, however, the problem became the shallow depth of the stream. On several occasions it was necessary to use the chainsaw to clear a path through fallen logs. Furthermore, in very shallow sections, the entire team had to disembark and continue on foot, pushing the boat until the depth increased again, allowing the use of the outboard motor. Therefore, the whole day was consumed without us reaching the place where we intended to set up base camp. We spent the night on a sandy beach.

In the mid-morning of March 14th, we arrived at the place on the banks of the Anta stream which, for more than a decade, was used as a support by miners who extracted tantalite from the top of the Serra do Aracá. This activity only ended in 2001. We set up our Base Camp or 1 (128m) using the already relatively prepared flat area. But once it would be necessary to set up advanced camps to allow the team to reach the plateau, at the top of the Aracá mountain range. So, on the same afternoon, the woodsmen began cleaning the trail that led to the base of the mountain.

The next day we followed the trail, almost two hours of walking at a strong pace to the base of the mountain, where Camp 2 (189m) was set up. When crossing an area of ​​lower and more spaced vegetation (caatinga) it was possible to glimpse the wall on the west side of Aracá. Researcher Marcelo Gordo followed the trail that goes up the mountain alone, while the rest of the team spent the night at camp 2, and prepared for the attack on the plateau to be carried out the following day. 

During the morning, while we were preparing our backpacks, field assistant Nivaldo was stung by a centipede (scorpion) while putting on his shoe. Following the prospector tradition, he just swore and continued walking as if nothing had happened. The climb took five and a half hours, with several stops to catch your breath and obtain GPS points and take photographs.

We used the abandoned miners’ trail, whose most critical points are known as “escadinha da vovó” and “crina da anta”. The vegetation changes completely along the way up, leaving the typical lowland physiognomies, such as terra firma and caatinga (campinarana), and crossing mountainous formations, including the marked presence of pteridophytes of the black fern type. The plateau, whose average altitude is over 1200m, presents a conspicuous open formation that resembles the savannahs of Central Brazil. We set up Camp 3 (1100m) next to a small stream. The soil profile in the area was so shallow that it was very difficult to plant the tent supports.  

The Aracá plateau has typical tepui vegetation with a predominance of Saxofrederichia sp. in floodable regions close to bodies of water. The herbaceous and shrubby vegetation allows observation from a great distance. Several Mazama sp. deer were observed. grazing near the camp. Furthermore, the amount of dung and different sizes of tapir footprints along the trails suggest that there is a population of these animals living on the plateau. Bats, amphibians and reptiles were collected and birds that were captured in the mist nets were photographed for later identification. 

The two nights spent on the Aracá plateau represented the maximum discomfort that a Spartan camp can offer. The non-stop cold wind and rain practically prevented the team from sleeping. In the middle of the first night, the shed had part of its structure broken and the sleeping hammocks fell onto the soaked floor. Unfortunately, there was a wooden shed that was used by the miners and which would have offered excellent accommodation conditions for our team. But it was destroyed by the Federal Police (see Discussion). After lunch, assistants Dorismar, Wanderley and Leandro began the descent of the mountain.

On the morning of March 18, herpetologist Marcelo Gordo and assistant Moreno descended the mountain, leaving camp 3 at 8:00 am. The rest of the team went to reconnoitre the banks of the Anta stream that originates at the top of Aracá. At 11:00 Jean, assistant Murilo and manager Francisco left the plateau to descend the mountain. Rafael and Nivaldo stayed to spend another night to collect bats. The descent saw the dissipation of the fog, which allowed us to photograph the Anta stream waterfall and the Aracá walls. We arrived at camp 2 at 1:50 pm. In that shed, field assistant Nivaldo was stung by a scorpion when we were climbing the mountain. And now on the way down it was almost Francisco's turn, as a scorpion was on the strap of the backpack that was being prepared to be placed on his back. After another hour and a half of walking at a fast pace, the team arrived at camp 1, on the banks of the Anta. Incredible as it may seem, that same night field assistant Dorismar was bitten on the hand by an armored spider. The treatment was a dose of drip and one of the countless “porroncas”, hand-rolled cigarettes with extra strong string smoke.

The next day involved preparing the collected material and drying everything that had been wet for several days. Rafael and Nivaldo arrive in the middle of the afternoon. We prepared everything at camp to leave early the next day. And so, under the lights of the generator that was turned on at 4:25 am, we dismantled the last camp of the last expedition of the Pantepui Sub-project. The flight left the camp site, heading down the stream at 6:15 am. Despite the rain of the last few days, the water level was higher than that found during the climb, which made the descent easier. We arrived at the Miranda community, where Anta and Jauari met at 10:50am. There we said goodbye to field assistants Moreno and Leandro and continued our journey down the Jauari. We arrived at the Aracá River at 3:00 pm where the outboard motor's blade (propeller) was changed (see Discussion). We continued down this river for another two hours to a rock formation with a granite outcrop on the left bank of the Aracá known as Serrinha. We set up camp on the edge of a lake at the base of Serrinha.