Rio Heath-Sonene Expedition
In the Footsteps of Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett
(Run from April 29, through June 16, 1996)
By Bruce Barron, leader and navigator of the expedition
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Our expedition's objective was to follow Colonel Fawcett's footsteps. I, like many others, was fascinated when I first read the book "Exploration Fawcett" which I found it at a research lodge on the Tambopata River in 1986 and read it straight through in a heavy rain. Since that date and for a period of 10 years, I tried to put our Heath expedition together until I succeeded in 1996. - Bruce Barron - |
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Rio
Heath (Sonene) Expedition Team Bruce
Barron, Leader, navigator (Expedition and
Climbing Guide USA)
Marshall
Pickard, Expedition financier USA
Juan Rodriguez, Zoologist (Museo de Historia
Natural de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos), Lima, Peru Martin
Ponte, Botanist (Museo de Historia Natural
“Javier Prado”), Lima, Peru Alejandro
Gonzales, Whitewater expert (River Guide)
Cusco, Peru Carlos
Valdez, Filmmaker (Correspondent, Reuters
International) Lima,
Peru David
Creech, Filmmaker (Commercial Cameraman -
Filmmaker) USA Antonio Pezegra, Trochero (Trail Cutter) Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios, Peru |
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A
brief story of the expedition In May
1996, I led an expedition to the source of the Heath River, following Colonel
Percy Harrison Fawcett's 1910 Heath Survey Expedition
of the Bolivia/Peru border. Our exploration roughly matched Fawcett's in
reverse. We crossed the altiplano (high altitude), rafted the Tambopata River
and then cut through the jungle to the Heath, near the spot we believed
Fawcett crossed from the Rio Heath. We explored the Heath to its source and then
descended by inflatable kayaks we had carried from the Tambopata. I believe we
were the first to reach the true source and the only expedition into the upper
headwaters since Fawcett's days. As Colonel Fawcett described his high point during his fourth expedition (Good Savage) in 1910 with his fellow-assistants Costin, Leigh and Gunner Todd: "..we had reached a point where the river was no more than a brook a foot or two wide, descending from steep wooded hills difficult to climb. After taking the necessary observations we turned to retrace our steps...". More information about it in the book "Exploration Fawcett", page 163.
Fawcett and his assistants having a rest in the Upper Heath We attempted to cross just below the ridge as well, also believing Fawcett crossed there. We then backtracked a few miles upstream to Quebrada Marte and ascended it, then crossing through the jungle and descending an unnamed creek to the Heath. We continued our exploration to the source and descended by kayak to a few days below the Rio Blanco where we met a Peki Peki we had arranged to transport us to Sonene Village and then to Puerto Maldonado, capital of the Peruvian Province Madre de Dios. - our expedition, which surprisingly paralleled Fawcett's one, was wild and woolly - we ran short of food (I personally lost 35lbs), - we dealt with "sututus", grubs of a moth that bury themselves under the skin and vampire bats, big rapids, physical hardships and some of us were forced to turn back - we encountered the supposed microbe Colonel Fawcett referred to in his fourth expedition, a microbe that had to do with peeling of skin that would come away in patches stacking to the socks and making undressing painful - We saw footprints and transient huts, but we met no Native people until lower on the river. We brought an Ese' eja elder (Guarayo as Fawcett describes them in his book) as our interpreter from Sonene Village at the bottom of the Heath. There are
no groups, or at least permanent groups living in the Heath headwaters
today. We found only footprints on the Marte and a hunters camp near the
confluence of the Rio Blanco. |
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I know of only two other expeditions that have reached the upper Heath. - a German expedition that ascended the Heath up to the confluence of the Rio Blanco (I believe in 1995), and - the expedition of Fernando Rubio, a post guard at the Pampas Del Heath Control (Bolivian side), who I spoke with on our descent. He was very interested in Fawcett and our exploration and informed me that he had explored upriver to a few miles below the Marte, where he had attempted to cut across to the Tambopata via a creek he named the Pongo, trying to match Fawcett’s route. He began just below the last ridge of hills before the river flows into the flatlands and found it thick, swampy and rough going. He then quit and climbed the ridge to its summit and found easy travel all the way to the Tambopata. He believed that even with the trails used by the numerous natives at that time, they probably guided Fawcett along the easy going ridge top. A complete and detailed article of the above-mentioned expedition to the Rio Heath-Sonene will be published soon through our websites "The Great Unknown, The Great Explorers" and "The Great Web of Percy Harrison Fawcett". All Rights Reserved.
Bruce Barron, leader and navigator of the expedition. All Rights Reserved.
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