For nearly a month, a three-man team consisting of an historian, an adventurer and a social activist ran the 761 kilometers of the Rio das Velhas (Velhas River) in Minas Gerais. From mid-September to mid-October, the expedition retraced the route of English writer Richard Burton, who, in 1867, outlined the natural environment of the places he visited. Roberto Varejão, history professor at the São João del Rey Federal University, Ronald de Carvalho Guerra, activist, and Rafael Bernandes, kayak expert, are all members of the Manuelzão Project. For the last six years, the project has worked on health and environmental education along the length of the Velhas River.
Developed by professors of the rural extension program of the Medical School of the Minas Gerais Federal University (UFMF), the Manuelzão Project aims to inculcate an ecological culture into the minds of the people who live along the banks of the main tributary of the São Francisco River. “Our mission is to encourage the return of fish to the river and to preserve historical diversity by using environmental education, health programs, ecology, and citizenship,” said Antônio Leite, one of the group’s coordinators.
Professor Apoio Heringer Lisboa, the project’s director, first came up with the idea of the Rio das Velhas recovery project in 1989. Eight years later, with the support of the Belo Horizonte city hall, researchers navigated a few stretches of the river. The group visited eight of the 51 towns located in the 30,000 square kilometer river basin.
The most recent expedition began in Cachoeira das Andorinhas, in Ouro Preto, and passed through 30 towns before reaching Barra do Gauicuí. “We could see that the river, with clear water near its source, dies in Belo Horizonte because of the pollution from wastewater,” said Antônio Leite. The river cleans itself up, and fish even begin to reappear, as it distances itself from the capital of Minas Gerais state. “There are reports that it was possible to navigate the Rio das Velhas from the end of the 19th century to the early 20th century,” he added. “However, because of pollution and deforestation, both the quality and the quantity of the water diminished.”
The Manuelzão Project conducts scientific research of the region via the biomonitoring of the Rio das Velhas basin. It receives financial support from Copasa (the Minas Gerais sewage company), the Minas Gerais state secretary of education, and the City of Belo Horizonte.
A backlands storyteller, Manuel Nardy provided the inspiration for João Guimarães Rosa’s novel “Manuelzão e Miguilim” (1964). He served as the guide on the horseback trip that the writer made through rural Minas Gerais state while researching the novel “Grande Sertão: Veredas” (1956, translated as The Devil to Pay in the Backlands). In 1997, when the Rio das Velhas research project was inaugurated, it paid homage to Nardy by adopting the name Projeto Manuelzão.
FAPESP News Agency
Minas Gerais Travel
Order Sir Richard Burton’s EXPLORATIONS OF THE HIGHLANDS OF BRAZIL, WITH A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE GOLD & DIAMOND MINES from Amazon.com
Order João Guimarães Rosa´s THE DEVIL TO PAY IN THE BACKLANDS from Amazon.com
Order The Devil To Pay In The Backlands from Livraria Cultura.
Order Manuelzão E Miguilim (in Portuguese) from Livraria Cultura.
Expedição Manuelzão website
In June 2003 BBC reporter Paulo Cabral also retraced Sir Richard Burton’s steps. Read his account.
Lodging and tours in state capital Belo Horizonte and other parts of Minas Gerias with Belo Horizonte Travel (our partner)
