Untamed Angling offers a first-class fishing experience in partnership with Kayapo communities along the wild and magnificent Xingu and Iriri Rivers. The experience is unique immersion in a pristine Amazon wilderness with the unconquered Indigenous people who protect it.
Threats
The Kayapo Indigenous territory exists within a lawless frontier region dominated by economies of illegal logging, goldmining, and land-grabbing for ranching. Every inch of the 2,200 km/1,375 mile border of Kayapo lands continues to be threatened by invasion of these predatory activities that utterly devastates forests, rivers, and indigenous culture.
Kayapo Resistance
As you fly across the Amazon, the result of the Kayapo conservation alliance is clear: an intact Amazon forest survives within a sea of deforestation. The fish you land, the birds and animals you glimpse, the trees that tower over you, the clear flowing wild river, and beautiful Kayapo culture would not be here today but for three reasons:
i) Kayapo Warrior Culture. Kayapo warriors managed almost single-handedly managed to wrest from the government exclusive rights over a traditional indigenous territory the size of Virginia, Iceland, or South Korea,
ii) Strategic Alliances. Kayapo strategy partnerships with conservation-oriented organizations such as the International Conservation Fund of Canada, and Untamed Angling.
iii) Kayapo Territorial Surveillance. The territorial surveillance program managed by the three Kayapo NGOs of the conservation alliance forms the frontline defense against invasion. The main component of the territorial surveillance program is border guard posts and associated patrols.
Kayapo lands immersed in a sea of deforestation
No Border Patrol and Guard Posts = No Forest, No River, No Fish!
Untamed Angling’s partner the “Associação Floresta Protegida” (AFP) represents northeastern Kayapo communities on the Iriri and Xingu rivers. In 2017, AFP established the first Kayapo guard post to control access to their Xingu River which had been suffering from illegal incursion by commercial fishing such that fish stocks were severely depleted. The guard post immediately
put an end to illegal fishing and other unauthorized entry -fish stocks rebounded and Untamed Angling was able to start their sportfishing enterprise on the Xingu in 2019. The success of the Xingu guard post to control access to Kayapo territory via the Xingu River led Kayapo NGOs to establish guard posts at other vulnerable locations along their border.
In 2024, sixteen guard posts operated at points along hundreds of km/miles of border. The objective of the guard posts is to keep invaders out because once they gain entry, they are exceedingly difficult to remove. Kayapo presence on their border is essential: guard posts signal to outside frontier society that the Kayapo of an area are organized to defend their ratified land rights and would-be invaders do not attempt entry.
A short video highlighting the Xingu guard post
Equitable Economic Benefits Through Fishing and Forest Protection
Untamed Angling and other partners of the Kayapo recognize the immense gains for forest conservation by supporting indigenous land rights. Inherent Kayapo drive to protect their territory, culture, and livelihood combines with equitably distributed income generated by sustainable enterprise such as sportfishing and ecotourism as well as guard post duty. Equitable benefits sharing among the Kayapo of the conservation alliance is key to territorial protection strategy because when everyone benefits, communities are better able to organize against illegal activity and resist the relentless campaigns by bad actors to gain entry.
Support the Kayapo and Amazon Wilderness
Guard posts form the first line of defense and are the main reason that over nine million hectares of Kayapo indigenous territory remains intact wilderness. Funding guard post operation relies solely on donations.
To support Kayapo territorial surveillance and ensure the survival of Kayapo rivers and forest wilderness, please visit https://kayapo.org/donate/
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