Barranco Alto brings together rubber history, river courses, forest trails, and expeditions. If you are looking for a vacation rental, this overview offers a concrete point of reference: its focus is the rubber estate, settlement history, and historical connections across the region. A look at the wider travel area complements the local history with natural landscapes and regional trade connections.
An Estate Headquarters at the Confluence
In 1915, Américo Casara established the headquarters of his rubber estate in Barranco Alto, where the Rio Verde flows into the Rio Corumbiara. By around 1940, the place had 30 houses, including a rubber depot. The two dates mark different aspects: the establishment of the estate headquarters in 1915, and the size of the settlement and the depot around 1940. About 25 years lie between them.
Forest Trails and River Connections
Historically, varadouros were paths about one to two meters wide, cut through the forest. Rubber tappers used them to transport rubber by mule train from extraction and production sites to the barracões on the riverbank. In this way, transport ran from the forest to the riverside warehouses.
River navigation also presented a specific challenge: historically, an aquatic plant known as colchas made navigation difficult in the Barranco Alto area. The varadouros and the colchas represent different transport conditions: mule trains on trails through the forest, and difficult navigation on the water.
A historic 200-kilometer varadouro connected Barranco Alto with Cascata, the mouth of the Rio Tanaru, and the telegraph station at Pimenta Bueno, at the mouth of the Rio Apediá. In the vicinity of Barranco Alto, Cascata on the Rio Apediá is considered a historically significant site of Indigenous activity; numerous trails and petroglyphs are associated with it.
People and Expeditions
An expedition led by Indigenous interpreters passed through Barranco Alto. Several women from the Aikanã community, including Salamãi Wãzerip, lived and worked in Barranco Alto for periods of time, in the fields and in the rubber estate’s food production. Thus, both the passage of an expedition and temporary work on the estate are part of the place’s history.
The Wider Travel-Area Context
The Parque Estadual de Corumbiara is located in the wider travel area, within an important transition zone between the Cerrado and the Amazon. It preserves natural grasslands, forests, and springs that contribute to the conservation of regional biodiversity. This adds a natural area within the wider travel region to the historical perspective on Barranco Alto.
The region’s expedition history also runs through the Casara family’s rubber estate: in the Corumbiara-Apediá region, it played a central role in supporting technical expeditions. These included the 1927–1928 expedition of engineer Dr. Francisco Erse to delineate the GuaporĂ© Rubber concession. In 1929, Lieutenant AnĂbal Freire’s expedition followed, accompanied by Captain SalamĂŁi TelĂŞmaco; in 1930 came the expedition of Lieutenant AluĂzio Ferreira, who at the time was director of the Madeira-MamorĂ© Railway by order of Rondon.
Between 1920 and 1935, Casara sold rapadura, cachaça, meat, and cassava flour in the region to local rubber estates and to employees of the Pimenta Bueno telegraph station. Alongside the expeditions, trade and provisions were also part of the region’s rubber history.
Discover more destinations: Abraão, Vilhena, Costa Marques, Guajará-Mirim, Palmeira, Porto Velho, Ariquemes, Ji-Paraná.
See the wider travel overview: RondĂ´nia.
