The Pantanal: Brazil's Forgotten Wilderness

Rating:
Summary: entertaining, informative, and thought-provoking
Review: This is a well-written and highly personal account of a naturalist-photographer's adventures and misadventures in one of the least known regions of the Brazilian interior, an area teeming with natural beauty that is rapidly being destroyed. The book begins as a light-hearted journey undertaken by an equipment-laden photographer who negotiates his way into the heart of the Pantanal amid much naive bumbling and enthusiasm. It ends on a note of despair as we encounter the ultimate expression of man's cruelty both to himself and to nature, an illegal wild-life market in a Rio suburb where rare birds are caged and mutilated. Along the way we learn much about the history and geography of the Pantanal and of the political corruption that is endemic to Brazil, which has increasingly come under international scrutiny for practices of which no nation is wholly innocent. There are powerful portraits of leading conservationists, such as the brilliant cinematographer, Arne Sucksdorf, and the famed ornithologist, Helmut Sick. The key to Banks's effective presentation of his ecological message is his personal involvement throughout the narrative: the problems of poaching lead to a day with an incredibly inept and thuggish police patrol; the problems of gold-mining and mercury poisoning lead to a day in the pits. We are treated, moreover, to the full range of Brazilian society, from cowboys and peasants to high-placed officials; comrades and friends jostle for space alongside more dubious types. All in all, this is a fine achievement that should be read by anyone with an interest in environment affairs, Brazilian folkways, or, simply, human adventure candidly told. It is considered the leading introduction to the Pantanal and is the basis for a prize-winning film.