July 4, 2001
Loma Alta

We are 1000 km from Guanay, spending the night at a tiny Indian village named Loma Alta. The rain gods have not been kind to us these last two days. At 4 p.m. on 2 July, the sky suddenly turned black and forked lightning stabbed the surrounding jungle. Within seconds sheets of rain struck the open boats, chilling the crew. Nevertheless "Kota Mama 3" continued to head bravely into the storm, her triple jaguar figureheads ploughing through the lashing torrents of rain. On the bank of the river we spied a small hut. As the storm seemed to be worsening Col. JBS decided to turn the fleet into the slippery bank. Staggering through knee-deep mud, the crew sought shelter in a shed.

Red carpet at Riberalta

Our humble shed was in sharp contrast to our previous night's experience, when we enjoyed a brief stop at Riberalta, a town of 80,000 people. Riberalta is at the centre of the Brazil nut trade in Bolivia. This friendly town, which was established in 1894, laid out an extravagant welcome with a naval band and a reception at the lovely naval club. "The arrival of these traditional boats is an important historic event - nothing like this has happened in our lives," commented Dr. Said Zeitum Lopez, the Rector of the University of Amazonia. While hungry expedition members tucked into huge steaks and enjoyed the local beer, the town's people headed down to the riverbank to be photographed beside "Kota Mama 3". At the main plaza, expedition members were treated to drinks and meals.

Another city in the jungles?

The day before our arrival at Riberalta, we made another important discovery. A few miles west of Riberalta an Indian woman led archaeologist Bruce Mann through dense tropical forest to an extensive set of ruins, stone walls and evidence of early buildings. Bruce found some pottery and was amazed by the ruins. "Clearly, this is an important site, but I cannot say exactly to which culture it belongs," he said.

At Riberalta Col. JBS learned from the Rector of the University that the site is believed to be that of an ancient fortress established around 1460 AD by the Inca ruler Inca Yupanqui. Before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, Inca Yupanqui is said to have transported 10,000 people from Cuzco in Peru down the Madre de Dios River on balsa or reed boats during a period of civil war. No one knows what happened to these Incas who journeyed so far out from their mountain homelands into the jungles and swamps of Amazonia. "We have been trying to get the government to send archaeologists to examine this place - it could be enormously important, but no one seems to be interested in what is happening in such a remote area as this," said the Rector. Now Col John Blashford-Snell is considering a future SES expedition to the site. "It is quite incredible that such unrecognised ruins should be discovered," he said. The expedition's archaeologists have also heard that pottery and mastodon bones were found nearby, possibly indicating human habitation over 10,000 years ago.

Await the Esperenza Cataract

At Loma Alta we end the second phase of the Kota Mama expedition. This phase has already proven to be more successful than we could have imagined. On 4 July we begin the next phase when the team encounters a new challenge - the 19 sets of rapids between the great Esperanza Cataract and the Brazilian city of Proto Velho. It is believed that the ancient people of Bolivia may have used this route to reach the Atlantic.