Page 8 - Brugger Karl The chronicle of Akakor

The Chronicle of Akakor
Amazonia were substantiated during the summer of 1972. The service formed an expedition to establish
contact with the mysterious Ugha Mongulala and instructed Tatunca Nara to make the necessary
preparations. However, these plans were halted by the resistance of the local authorities of Acre
province. On personal instructions of then Governor Wanderlei Dantas, Tatunca Nara was arrested.
Shortly before his extradition to the Peruvian frontier, his officer friends released him from the Rio
Branco prison and took him back to Manaus. And here I saw Tatunca Nara again.
This next meeting took a different course. I had thoroughly checked his story and compared the tape
recordings with material in archives and reports by contemporary historians. Some points could be
explained, but I still thought much was quite incredible, such as the subterranean settlement and the
landing of the 2,000 German soldiers. But it was unlikely that the whole thing was fabricated: Officer
M.’s data and Tatunca Nara’s story did coincide.

In the course of this meeting Tatunca Nara repeated his tale once again. He marked the approximate
location of Akakor on a map, described the route of the German soldiers from Marseilles to Rio Purus,
and mentioned the names of several of their leaders. He drew various symbols of the Gods in which the
Chronicle of Akakor was allegedly written. Again and again he returned to those mysterious ancestors
whose memory had remained forever intact with his people. I began to believe in a story whose very
incredulity became a challenge. When Tatunca Nara suggested that I accompany him to Akakor, I
accepted.

Tatunca Nara, the Brazilian photographer J., and I left Manaus on September 25, 1972. We intended to
proceed as far as the upper reaches of Rio Purus on a hired river craft. We would take along a canoe
with an outboard motor and use that to reach the headwater region of Rio Yaku on the border between
Brazil and Peru, then continue on foot through the foothills of the Andes to Akakor. Time required for
the expedition: six weeks; probable return: early November.

Our equipment consisted of hammocks, mosquito nets, cooking utensils, food, the usual jungle clothes,
and medical dressings. For arms we carried a Winchester 44, two revolvers, a hunting rifle, and large
machetes. In addition, we had our filming equipment, two tape recorders, and cameras.

The first days differed widely from our expectations: no mosquitoes, no water snakes, no piranhas. The
Rio Negro was like a lake without banks. We glimpsed the jungle on the horizon, its mysteries hidden
behind a green wall.

The first town we reached was Sena Madureira, the last settlement before entering the as yet unexplored
frontier regions between Brazil and Peru. It was typical of all of Amazonia: dirty clay roads, dilapidated
huts, an unpleasant smell of stagnant water. Eight out of ten inhabitants suffer from beriberi, leprosy, or
malaria. Chronic malnutrition has left the people in a state of dull resignation. Surrounded by the
brutality of the wilderness and isolated from civilization, the people depend heavily on sugarcane liquor,
their only means of escape from hopeless reality. Standing in a bar, we say good-bye to civilization and
meet a man who allegedly knows the upper reaches of Rio Purus. In his search for gold, he was taken
captive by the Haisha Indians, a semi-civilized tribe in the headwater region of the Rio Yaku. His report
is discouraging: He tells us all about cannibalistic rituals and poisoned arrows.

On October 5, at Cachoeira Inglesa, we abandon the boat for our canoe, and from now on we depend on
Tatunca Nara. The ordnance maps show the course of the River Yaku, only inaccurately. Indian tribes
living in this region do not yet have any contact with white civilization. J. and I both have an
uncomfortable feeling: Is there such a place as Akakor after all? Can we trust Tatunca Nara? But the
adventure proves more compelling than our anxiety.

Twelve days after leaving Manaus, the landscape starts changing. The river up until this point looked
like an earthy brown sea without shores. Now we drift through lianas under overhanging trees. After a
bend in the river, we come across a group of prospectors who have constructed a primitive factory on
the riverbank and are running the coarse-grained sand through sieves. We accept their invitation to stay

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