Indigenous Amerindians currently own approximately 28% of the entire Amazon basin, but surprisingly few opportunities exist to visit authentic Indian communities, as they normally are remote and understandably xenophobic. SouthWild believes that the single most impressive and authentic locations to visit as guests of hospitable but also traditional Indians are several of the Indian communities in the 6.5-million-acre Xingu Indigenous Reserve. These sites indeed are remote and require expensive charter flights to land on small airstrips in the wilderness, where your Indian hosts receive you and show you their unique traditions.

This site is the world’s most complex and ambitious experiment in co-management of rainforests by traditional tribes and national park services. This Massachusetts-sized reserve is inhabited by 16 different Indian tribes, each of which currently are represented by only 120-800 individuals.

Until the 1960’s, the tribes of the upper Xingu remained considerably natural and unspoiled thanks to the impassable waterfalls and rapids on the lower Xingu River and the area’s lack of either rubber or mineral deposits. Fortunately, from 1947 to 1976, the visionary anthropologist brothers, Orlando and Claudio Villas-Lobos, campaigned successfully for medical care and gradual systems of change that managed to protect the area’s Indian cultures and traditions.

As a result of the unbroken cultural traditions of the many tribes of the Upper Xingu, a number of extremely colorful rituals and festivals survive to this day, and some tribes allow outsiders to witness the spectacles.

Speak with our agents for details.