East to the Amazon

In May 2001, explorer John Blashford-Snell and his team set off through the dense rain forest of Bolivia in search of Great Paititi--the mythical land that the Spanish conquistadors called El Dorado--and the secret of its trade routes to the Old World. Their quest led them on a treacherous river journey across the heart of South America to the mouth of the Amazon. Riding 300 miles of hair-raising rapids abroad the reed boat Kota Mama III, they vividly demonstrated how the ancient peoples of Paititi could have traveled as they did.