Through Jaguar Eyes: Crossing the Amazon Basin [Paperback]

Benedict Allen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 1995

An account of the perilous 3600-mile journey - without compass or map - across the vast Amazonian Basin, from the Andes of north-west South America through the tropical jungles of the lowlands to the dense forests of the Mato Grosso in Brazil. In February 1993 Benedict Allen became the first Westener to make the crossing at its widest point. Benedict Allen's plan in setting out to cross the Amazon Basin was to place his life in the hands of the remote Matses, the "jaguar people" - Indians who aspired to all the grace and strength of the powerful cat, tatooing their faces with jaguar stripes and placing bamboo spikes in their no0ses to resemble whiskers. From the foothills of the Ecuadorian volcano Cotopaxi he descended into Columbia and "forbidden" cocaine traffikers' country. Eluding a hitman from a drug gang, he entered Peru and made contact with the Matses. For two months he was taught how to make hunting traps and learnt the properties of plants. Then Benedict, jokingly dubbed "The Man Without fear" by the Indians, had to put his newly acquired knowledge knowledgr to the test.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Flamingo (October 9, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006548547
• ISBN-13: 978-0006548546
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #542,911 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #94 in Books > Travel > Latin America > South America > Brazil

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Ripping Good Yarn, January 25, 2006

By 

S. Houser "snake77" (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Through Jaguar Eyes: Crossing the Amazon Basin (Paperback)

English explorer Benedict Allen decided sometime in the early 1990's to attempt a crossing by foot of the entire Amazon Basin. Starting his journey high in the Andes, he proceeds to walk, ride, float and, at times run for his life hundreds of miles all the way from Ecuador to the coastal plains of Brazil. Allen has a loose style somewhat reminiscent of Bruce Chatwin, and is refreshingly free of the obsessive need most writers of these types of books have to categorize every single plant, animal and insect he encounters.

Like Chatwin, he is more interested in a little bit of history and the modern people and places he encounters. And he does meet numerous outrageous characters and gets himself into some interesting jams. In fact it's not much of a stretch to say he's probably lucky to be alive. Close scrapes with drug runners, guerillas, lonely homosexuals and just plain crooks are a reoccurring theme here. Allen seems to escape by the skin of his teeth, at times literally with only the clothes on his back.

Armed with his relentless optimism and little else (including, amazingly, a compass) he manages to achieve his goal of meeting and studying with members of an jaguar worshiping Amazonian tribe and using his newly learned skills to navigate the jungle like a native. Altogether an exhilarating read, proof there is still plenty of adventure out there for those who wish to find it.