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Interim
Two months after assembling
in Bolivia the Expedition numbering some 55 men and women
from Argentina, Australia, Bahamas Bolivia, Britain, Canada,
Colombia, Gibraltar and Paraguay is now at Puerto Casado,
a small run-down river port at the head of a narrow gauge
railway that once led 200kms into the impenetrable thorn
forest of the Paraguayan Chaco. This route into the "Green
Hell" as it was called in the 1920's is now known as la
estaction del tren perdida (the lost railway).
Before reaching this remote corner, far from any tourist
trail, the Expedition has encountered a wide variety of
challenging terrain and adverse weather. Following the
naming ceremony in the main square of Bolivia's capital
La Paz, attended by the President General Hugo Banzer
Suárez, the Expedition's patron, and local dignitaries,
the team moved two traditional reed boats by low loader
to Santa Cruz. Built by Aymara Indians in Lake Titicaca,
these traditional craft are being used to test a theory
that ancient people could have navigated to the Atlantic
Ocean from the centre of South America.
On arrival the explorers were perturbed
to find that the 13.5 metre, 8-tonne flagship "Kota Mama
II", sponsored by the British tug company JP Knight of
Rochester, Kent, had been built half a metre too high
and could not pass under electricity cables, low bridges
or negotiate tunnels en route from La Paz to Santa Cruz.
Former Royal Engineer Officer, Captain Jim Masters who
commands these " Bales of Straw" solved the problem with
a saw, and everything went well in spite of some hair
raising moments - especially when some high tension cables
shorted as the boats passed underneath them. They crossed
the Andes at 15,500 feet and descended safely into the
lowlands. From Santa Cruz they moved to Puerto Quijarro
along the rail network of Empresa Ferroviaria, nicknamed
the "Railway of Death" because drunks fall off the train
as it rattles and bumps through the jungle to Bolivia's
link to the ocean. Here the boats were fitted out and
the crews trained for the 2,700kms voyage through Brazil,
Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina, to their final destination
of Buenos Aires.
Meanwhile archeological exploration
and community aid teams were deployed throughout southern
Bolivia. On the 9th of August the Brazilian support vessel,
crewed by the Bolivian Navy joined the two reed boats
at an impressive ceremony. As the Bolivian Naval band
played "The animals went on two by two" this extraordinary
fleet sailed into the Rio Paraguay. Much has been achieved
already by the international team of scientists, serviceman
and other experts. Archeological successes include the
location of twin fortresses built by Amazonian people
1100 years ago, and the discovery of an intriguing 14th
Century Inca road. The site of Inca Ossi - the last refuge
of the Incas - was located with much difficulty in the
Andean foothills. Sadly it had almost all been destroyed
by local road builders. Elsewhere, rock art and strange
petroglyphs have been found, and massive mounds of snail
and mollusc shells have been examined. However they are
believed to be a natural phenomenon. Sites of mega-fauna
fossils, probably a mastodon have been visited and the
team has investigated sacred locations still used by Indians
for rituals. The anthropologists have spent time with
a little known Bolivian tribe, the Chipaya, whose language
was reputed to be similar to middle eastern languages
but they could find no proof of this. However, Royal Engineer
officers in the team drew up a flood prevention scheme
for them.
Along the Rio Paraguay, Chamacoco,
and Ayoreo Indians have been studied. Unique rain dances
have been recorded for a BBC programme and filmed on the
latest, state-of-the-art miniature JVC digital video camera.
The Expedition still hopes to see the legendary, Totobiegosode,
who have had little contact with the outside world.
Without doubt the hardest-worked team on this great venture
has been the medical and dental section. Dr Noel Burrell
has seen hundreds of patients and given out free spectacles,
while the dentists Surg. Lt. Melissa Wingfield, Royal
Navy and Captain Graham McElhinny Royal Army Dental Corps
have extracted over one thousand teeth, managing two hundred
in just one day. First priority has been given to children
but Melissa had to take twelve teeth from one older woman.
This work is greatly appreciated by the local government
and the poor of the region who cannot afford such assistance,
and as word spreads people gather at the riverside awaiting
the arrival of the fleet. The Expedition nurses are also
fully employed giving medical aid and even the Quartermaster
Sgt Billy Huxter, 1st The Queens Dragoon Guards has become
an honorary dental assistant. With aching arms the dentists
continue their task.
The Royal Engineers are closely
involved with the community programme. Bridges, clinics
and fish tanks have been designed. They are also assisting
the construction of schools and houses as well as mapping
old fortifications and villages. Artist, Mrs Peter Minter,
wife of the British Ambassador to Bolivia and Andrew Stevenson-Hamilton
are capturing the images of the area as well as helping
with the map making.
Using boats and horses biologist Jennifer Sambrook's team
is cataloguing the abundant wildlife. Sightings include
an anaconda, rattlesnakes, Jaguar, Jaguarundi, Puma, caiman,
the aggressive White-lipped Peccary and it's more docile
cousin the Giant Peccary, the largest known rodent, the
Capybara, agouti, brocket deer, vampire bats, numerous
monkeys and a great many varieties of birds. The rivers
teem with fish including flesh-eating piranha and massive
catfish.
Malaria has not been a problem and the team is remarkably
fit. However the extremes of temperature varying from
-20°C in the 14,000ft Bolivian altiplano to 38°C in the
humid swamps of the Chaco tax the strongest. The sudden
swings of wind from the warm northern breeze to the biting
cold of the southern pampero that sweeps from Patagonia
call for tropical shorts and T-shirts one day to thermal
underwear the next. Expedition leader Colonel John Blashford
Snell commented, "In forty years of expeditions I have
never encountered such rapid changes of weather."
Children are fascinated by the reed boats and crowds gather
at every stop. Historian Richard Snailham has been lecturing
in village schools and on 9th September, when British
Schools have returned from holidays, a twice weekly link
is being established by BTMobiq satphone to Clayesmore
School, Dorset, and then to other British Schools. This
will allow pupils to talk directly to the explorers and
also to speak to children in South America. The website
is regularly updated by journalist Peter Hutchison using
the Sight & Sound Computer and BTMobiq satphone (website
is at http://kota-mama.awc.co.uk).
Communications within the expedition
are maintained by Motorola UHF radios and VHF sets kindly
loaned by London Communications Ltd. The reed boats have
now completed 640kms and have 2000kms to go, however the
current is increasing all the time and now runs at 3.5kph.
With full sail Kota Mama II has run at 14kmh. The smaller
reed boat Viracocha, Spirit of the Bahamas, is the fastest
craft and is often used to recce ahead for the giant Kota
Mama II. The Aymara Indian builder Erik Catari from Huatajata
on Lake Titicaca is pleased with his craft. In one month
Kota Mama II's draught has only increased 4cms due to
water absorption by the totora reed. Local insects do
not seem to be attacking this material but snakes try
to climb aboard from the vast islands of water hyacinth
that constantly float downriver. The greatest hazard to
date has been local cows who regard the reed as a tasty
meal. Damage to these sturdy craft has been minimal although
the main sail was torn out by a Force 6 pampero and the
rudder transom was shattered when Kota Mama II was flung
against the side of the support ship by the wake of a
passing vessel.
Contaminated petrol has caused some problems with the
outboard motors, although the Expedition`s robust Avon
inflatable, driven by a 25hp Suzuki engine, has proved
most reliable. As a safety measure, the reed flagship
is fitted with a 15hp Mariner outboard which has proved
vital when huge barges appear in the narrow channels.
On 1st September the Engineers surveying the "lost railway"
narrowly avoided being enveloped by a bush fire racing
through the tinder dry thorn forest and managed to beat
a hasty retreat to the river. Other Sapper officers, working
with Argentine cavers, have been exploring little known
caves in the limestone scenery of northeast Paraguay.
The Expedition is now entering an especially interesting
area with strange petroglyphs and 'runic' cave writing
which are rumoured to be linked to Scandinavian text.
Microlights are to be used to give the wildlife team mobility
in northern Argentina when they will survey threatened
marsh deer populations.
The Expedition aims to reach Ascuncion
on 13th September and Buenos Aires on 7th October. Expedition
members will be flying to Britain with American Airlines
in mid October. Thereafter, Kota Mama II will be shipped
to England for exhibition, thanks to the kind help of
Freight Agencies Ltd. A permanent home for this unique
craft will be provided by ISCA Maritime Museum. |
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