Carajás is a walled city to protect the inhabitents from jaguars and other animals. We stayed at a pleasant hotel and were entertained by the sound of howler monkeys in the nearby jungle.
The next morning, we took a trip to the Carajás Zoo to get a close up look at all the animals we could not spot in the jungle.
The first mine we saw was the giant Mina N4W operated by the CVRD. From the overlook, we learned that the Fe2O3 reserves in this area are the largest in the world and will supply the world with iron for the next several hundred years.
Our host, Jose, then took us to an undeveloped area of the deposit where high iron concentrations in the soil hinder growth of the jungle. We hiked through the savanah island in the jungle with the aid of a machette wielding guide. At the end of the hot traverse, we discovered that we had hiked through scrubby vegitation and had climbed the highest mountain in the Carajás Range. We ended the day looking for caves, but quit for lack of sunlight.
The trip back was marked by the breakdown of the van
The next day took us to a gold mine.
