Together with the 2 tour leaders – Carlos and Dilwyn – this fourth Ecotribal Adventure Expedition into the Amazon comprised of two groups, similar to previous trips. The Euro-USA group was formed by Michel and Barbara, their son Cedric and his good friend Jean. The others came from Lima (Charo, who works in tourism) and the UK (Bethan, Ruth, Helard, and Heloise, in their late teens and early 20's).
Comments from members of the tour group, August 2006:
"Ecotribal Tours is not for the faint of the heart. Do not sign up if you want to sip drinks all day by the pool. It is the right choice though if you are highly motivated by a true and real experience to discover the genuine culture of Peruvian tribes. Our guide Dilwyn was at the cutting edge in his field. I found him knowledgeable, reliable and always in a good mood in spite of a change of plans (this is the true "jungle" after all). The price is right for all the riches Ecotribal Tours has to offer. I would go back anyday. Michel
Ecotribal Tours is a fabulous adventure that will allow you to learn about the interesting culture and way of life of Peruvian tribes, all the while facing difficult conditions and traversing the mysterious jungle. However, be ready to encounter difficulties like bug bites, physical effort and getting wet. If this is what you want and you are ready to face all that, you will find that the riches you discover in the jungle are more than worth it. I would do it all over again without a second thought." Jean
The Expedition Story
We gathered in Lima and set off over the Andes for Satipo, changing from the bus to colectivo cars at La Merced, for a faster arrival to friend Billy's. Some of the party opted for staying in a hotel in town. We met Jaime - an Ashaninka from Tinkareni and friend of Dilwyn's for 28 years - our chief guide and logistics coordinator. With his help we organised our purchases and prepared for the boat ride early the next day to take us into the forest.
Billy invited us to share a boat he had to take group of scientists up river to Cutivireni, so we met them in the morning and, drove in convoy for 2 hours the end of the road. The Ecotribal group had breakfast in a rustic café on stilts over the Rio Perene (Rio Ene). From here we took a really big canoe up river. As well as the 11 of us, there were around 8 scientists, Billy, Jaime and an Ashaninka representative related to a local office of the Otishi National Park under the Ministry of Agriculture. Then there was the boatsman, El Gato, and his point-man at the front of the 30ft to 40ft canoe.
The scientists group included two French men, two men from Lima and a few more locals to assist. Things started to click into place when one of the French "scientists" asked the boatsman to turn around so he could take samples from the rock face in the canyon-like Pongo de Pakistipanko. The major geological feature on the entire river, the Pongo is where there are the biggest rapids and highest cliffs of the Rio Ene. It became evident that the scientists were in fact geologists on a mission of some kind.
As we were all getting back into the boat on a small beach at the Pongo, another canoe came along side us, full to the brim with Ashaninka children, women and men, some of the latter armed with shotguns. The apparent leader of the Ashaninka men introduced himself to us as chief of the local Ronderos, the local civil defence group. He wanted to know what we were doing here and by whose authority we had come. Carlos said that we had been invited by the community of Cutivireni to visit them with a group of tourists. There was some discussion about the required permission and clear annoyance that strangers had been tampering with the rocks and apparently taking samples. It would have been a good time to have clarified the situation about there being two separate groups, but no-one wanted to talk.
The chief and his friends continued on their way down stream and we continued up river towards Cutivireni arriving a few hours later. That night there was singing and drumming late into the early hours at Cesar's house, the closest Ashaninka settlement to Cutivireni port, and the house of Dilwyn's compadre.
The trekking section of our expedition went really smoothly, the difficulty of the rocky riverbank terrain was challenging at times but we all made it. Similar to the 2005 trip (see report for a more detailed description of the trekking, communities and waterfalls) our group divided into two smaller parties to minimise impact on the communities visited. As it turned out, both groups overlapped at Parijaro, so this year all of our expedition participants were able to travel back down river together on the same day. We moved in one large fleet of balsa rafts and inflatables carrying about 30 people, mostly our Ashaninka guides, cooks and porters. It was a beautiful journey down the Cutivireni river, taking most of the day. We arrived back at Cesar's house on the banks of the big river Ene in a straggly and extended flotilla just as it began to get dark.
(The geologists also wandered into our camp at Parijaro on our second day there. They stayed over before setting off by a higher, different, overland route back to Cuti where and back to Satipo the next day – in the end their presence meant the tour had an extra day in the jungle!)
The next night, about half the group took advantage of an invitation to sample the Ashaninka's spirit-medicine, a brew of ayahuasca (known as kamarampi to the Ashaninka). It was an interesting session with many of the group experiencing water -based visions, but all feeling cleansed, chilled out and refreshed by morning. Ayahuasca is closely associated with Ashaninka religious beliefs and traditionally whole villages – old and very young alike – share in experiencing the medicine, singing and chanting through their visions into the early hours of the morning.
In our time upriver a political hoo-hah had evolved on the local radio airwaves and offices of Satipo over the fact that Billy (who works principally for the ACPC - a Peruvian NGO which does good work with the Ashaninka) took a group of geologists into the region. To make matters worse, the Ashaninka authorities (Central Ashaninka del Rio Ene - CARE) were now calling the geologists "petroleros".
From the pieces of information we managed to pick up it would appear that CARE are more or less correct. The geologists were contracted by the Peruvian government to seek prospect for oil or gas in a region which is destined for seismic testing in 2008 and under negotiating with big oil companies. The government presumably want to know what exactly it is that they are negotiating for.
Ultimately, this journey into the forest of the eastern Amazon proved to be a political as well as a physical and spiritual challenge and adventure.
The tour was party to a large potential impact to the region and Ecotribal will stay up-to-date with the developments on the gas and oil prospecting in this sensitive and stunningly beautiful area of virgin rainforest. We are particularly keen that the Ashaninka communities there stay well informed of developments and their rights within the situation should it evolve.
