Dear Madam and /or Sir,
Firstly I should like to thank you
for your enquiry. Secondly I would like to introduce a bit of myself and my family
History followed by the information on my special designed tours for cruiseship
passengers.
My grand father was a sephardic
Jewish from Morocco. He settled in Boim, a village up the Tapajos river in
1855. He encouraged the natives to grow rubber trees and started his own rubber
tree plantation.
In 1866 several families of American
confederates moved to Santarem, these did businesses with my grand father and
became friends.
In 1870’s The Wickhams arrived and
were hosted by The Rikers. Six years later, Henry Wickham was commissioned by
Joseph Hooker, diretor of Kew Gardens, to take 70.000 seeds of rubber tree
which he got from my grand father. My grand father passed away in 1923 and rests
in the Jewish cemitery of Boim.
Lots of books about all this, Joe
Jackson’s The Thief at the end of the
world and Greg Grandin’s Fordlandia, The rise and fall os Henry Ford’s
forgotten jungle town are my favourites.
You may also want to read Shinzo Kohjiya’s Natural Rubber.
In 1925 Henry Ford starts Fordlandia.
The Ford Company hired most of the Confederates. David Riker, whose great grand father was a friend of my
grandfather was one of the bosses and despite the fact that Henry Ford was anti
semitic he hired my uncles to work for the company. My grand mother Umbelina,
who was one of the leaders in the Village, was taken by my uncles. Now she
rests by David Afton Rikers first wife at the abandonned cemitery of Fordlandia
with my uncle Elias Garibaldi Serique.
In 1935 the Ford Company starts
Belterra, My father who was in the Brazilian Army meets my mother there. In
1945 when WWII was over there was no more need for rubber. The Ford Company
left the Amazon, my father moved back to the Jewish village and eventually to
Surucua, one hour down the river. My
father built the school, my mother was
the teacher. My mother was also the caretaker of the church. I am the youngest
of eight.
My mothers almost entire Family were
farmers and they settled in Terra Rica, na área now that makes the Tapajos
national Forest. When the park was created by dictators in 1974, it was based
on Yellowstone, my Family was expelled, it is the only primary forest left in
the área! That is where I lead one of my tours as well.
The tours finally for god sake
In my opinion cruiseship passengers
have travelled most of the world and read many books, so I am talking to wise
people who has The Amazon in their bucket list.
Floodplain Exploration
plus lots of reviews on trip advisor
and also details on my website.
The tour I
propose, I Call it Floodplain Exploration and it is really, really good! It is
like taking your time here to a higher level.
Lots of
wildlife, history and unforgettable scenes in the place we shall visit!! The tour,
which is very different from what others offer, includes an authentic Amazon
boat cruise to the extraordinary meeting of the Tapajos and Amazon rivers. We
start by taking a van to visit briefly the market in order to have a glimpse of
the Amazon fish fauna and observe pink dolphins.
We get back
to the van in order to get to the Richard Hemmington pier to embark on our
nice, clean and safe boat at Santarem downtown. The drive gives us an opportunity to see the city a bit
closer.
We will
then explore the Amazon Floodplain where I guarantee that we will see
Three-toed Sloths and Pink Dolphins, plus loads of birds. Here is a link to my
little e-book https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Wildlife-Cruiseship-Passengers-Amazon-ebook/dp/B01F2LEN68 . When you
buy one, it guarantees you a printed copy on arrival.
The very
most of the wildlife found on my little book, can be observed during your
Amazon cruise and our tour. I also included a little map in the centerfold.
The Maica
river area has been explored by Victorian naturalists like Bates, Wallace and
Spruce. This same area was researched extensively by American anthropologist,
Anna Rooselvelt.
If you like
fishing we do have the time for it and we provide basic rods and fishing line.
The price
is U$130 per person
Each tour
requires a minimum of 5 hours.
Very Special Tour From Alter do Chão For Cruisers ONLY!
I live with my 6-year-old she
almost 7 now_ daughter Flora Serique at Alter do chão. We truly live at the nicest place of the village. It is
located 3 minutes from the tender’s dock, one minute from the village center
and at two minutes from the best souvenir shops. Of course, it is just in front
of the beach, but you don’t come from so far way to spend your precious hours
on the beach, do you
So I thought of this tour in
order for you cruisers to have an amazing pristine Amazon Rainforest experience
(with no mosquitoes at all), access environmental issues, and human occupation
history.
TERRA RICA is a place located in the Tapajos National Forest, a unique
area with pristine Rainforest that cruisers can access with the limited time
they have! It belonged to my matriarchal family until 1974, when the park was
established. It is Indian black soil area surrounded by huge representatives of
the local flora like Brazil Nut Trees, Piquia Tree, Jacaranda, Brazilian Chery
etc.
My uncles hunted, collected medicines and fruit on the trails we will
hike in. We also visit a huge Kapok tree that I used to play hide-and-seek when
I was a little boy.
My Family was the major supplier of fruit to Santarem area and my
grandparents introduced cocoa, rubber trees, breadfruit tree and several other
fruiting tree species to the area.
After we visit Terra Rica we drive through Belterra, the second city
founded by Henry Ford in the Amazon to arrive at my place some 45 minutes
later.
Still, in my place we drink, eat fish-snacks, fresh-roasted cashew nuts
and of course we contemplate Alter do Chao from my private deck and office (you
will like to know from where I respond your e-mails).
We are only 3 minutes from the tender’s dock. The village center and
souvenir shops are in between. You may
walk or just take the van we used to explore the area.
meeting place at alter do chao above
The price is U$130 per person
