Chapter ThreeOf Lost Explorers
&
Ancient Mysteries
A Lost FrontierOur journey now moves to the vast areas of rainforest nestled in the northern reaches of South
America. The jungles of the Andes are an environment that can be likened to no where else on
earth and high in the jagged mountains in areas such as the Matto Grosso region of Brazil
(fig.59a,) the jungle is some of the most dense and unforgiving in the world (fig.59b.)
The great explorer Percy Fawcett had called the area “The Roof of the World” and he was
right. High in the heavily wooded mountains, even still, there are no towns, roads or known
inhabitations of any kind as far as can be seen, just a continuous undulating blanket of dense
green jungle, broken occasionally by jagged mountain peaks crumbling skyward and snaking
rivers that team with piranha and huge crocodilian. The thick jungle in between them is populated
by countless species of insect, enormous spiders, monkeys and other more terrifying predators:
Black Panthers and giant anacondas, the largest and most feared snakes in the world. It is a place
where the moist forest air itself is alive with all manner of hidden and still yet unknown
compounds. Primitive tribes still live in these remote areas and it’s possible that some areas may
yet be inhabited by other tribes that are even still unknown.
When the intrepid Fawcett had gone missing in the area in 1925, every major metropolitan
newspaper in the entire world had announced: “The disappearance of the expedition organized by
Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett in the mysterious region of Matto Grosso, in the heart of Brazil
in search of ‘THE LOST CITY!’”
Colonel Fawcett was certainly not the first to venture into the wilds of the South American
Jungles, nor the last. He is however, if not one of the most famous, undoubtedly the most daring
and his story is almost certainly one of the most intriguing. The diaries of Percy Fawcett have
inspired many a Hollywood Movie pertaining to ‘Lost Worlds’ and mysterious jungle treasures.