Xixuau

Located on an ecological reserve of 182,000 hectares (450,000 acres) of virgin forest approximately 500 km (310 miles) and 40 hours by boat north of the city of Manaus, Xixuau (pronounced "sheesh-shu-ah-u") is a naturalist delight. It is a favorite jaunt for researchers, film- makers and eco-tourists that come from all over the world because of the area's abundance and visibility of fauna that is unique to the Amazon. Situated almost exactly on the equator, the seasons in the region are defined by high water during the months of March to September and low water from October to February. During the high water season, the area is characterized by vast tracts of igapo (flooded forest), and the low water season presents immense sandy beaches and extreme concentrations of aquatic life. Travel to this reserve site is done by regional boat, in which outboards are used along the main river and at the entrance to the reserve. All movements inside the reserve are by paddle canoe and on foot through the forest.

History and People

Although people have lived and hunted in there for thousands of years, the region was only settled by the non-indigenous people starting in the mid-late 1960s. The government encouraged new settlers to move to the Amazon as a way of reducing social pressure in the cities in a country with an ever increasing mass of poverty stricken. Tens of thousands of colonists moved throughout the Amazon each year throughout the '70's and into 1990s to claim small parcels of land and to carve out what became a meager existence for most.

In February 1992, the inhabitants of Xixuau, with the help of Scottish environmentalist Christopher Clark, established the Xixuau Reserve, a protected forest reserve, recognized by the government, which now covers 450,000 acres. They also established the Associação Amazônia, a community association charged with administering the new reserve and the community of Xixuau. The association purchased rights to the land and allows the resident to live, hunt, fish and conduct small scale farming there, so long as they protect the environment. Most inhabitants are caboclos, descendents of the mixing of indigenous people with European settlers and blacks brought from Africa as slaves.

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Demographics at a glance

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Amazon Protection Begins With Its Own People

Xixuau Photo Gallery

• Associação Amazônia
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  Associação Amazônia brochure (Italian) (4.0MB PDF)
  
  Extractive Reserve of the Lower Rio Branco-Rio Jauaperi
  

Brazil creates new protected areas in Amazon (MSNBC)
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Other communities
• Rio Tapajós Communities (Maguari and Suruacá)


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