Word: amazons
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...countless waterfalls that bathe the southeastern foothills of the Peruvian Andes, I enjoy the cool breath of the cascade, which takes the edge off the equatorial sun. From nearby promontories, an observer can look upward to the cloud forests that cling to the mountainous rim of the Amazon basin, or down into the steamy lowland rain forests that extend thousands of miles to the east. As far as the eye can see and beyond, there are no villages, roads or towns. Lying below is the Manu, a 7,000-sq.-mi. area as choked with plant and animal life...
...hike to the waterfall is part of a trip that began by rugged and fat- tired mountain bicycle in a forest of tiny trees and giant plants at 11,300 ft. on the very rim of the Amazon basin and will continue by white-water raft, motorized canoe and dugout canoe into the swampy lowlands. The guided excursion is designed as an experiment in ecotourism, where the focus is on nature rather than on stimulating thrills. The aim is to attract paying customers into previously inaccessible areas with minimal disruption of the surroundings...
...been in Peru. "The country where cholera strikes first is always hit the hardest," claims Dr. Baldur Schubert, head of Brazil's National Commission for the Prevention of Cholera. "We've had time to prepare for the disease." The Brazilian government has distributed 450,000 illustrated pamphlets on the Amazon border to teach people how to combat cholera by boiling drinking water and washing one's hands after defecating. Authorities have also allocated $6 million to build public toilets in the area. In Colombia the folk troupe Los Natales is performing a modified version of traditional dances to teach sanitary...
Everybody wants to save the exotic plants and animals of the Amazon. But until quite recently, nobody seemed to notice that the rain forest is also filled with people -- more than a million native Indians who have been hunting, fishing and gardening there for thousands of years...
That perception has started to change, thanks in large part to Evaristo Nugkuag, 41, a Peruvian who has emerged as the leading spokesman for the indigenous people of the Amazon. Born of the Aguaruna tribe and educated by missionaries, he watched firsthand the encroachment of loggers, miners and now drug traffickers on traditional Indian lands. Today, as president of a group representing 229 tribes, he argues persuasively that the best way to save the rain forest is to make the Indians its caretakers...