Pongo de Mainique

The Pongo de Mainique is a "pongo" (canyon) in Peru, being nowrap|45 metres wide and nowrap|3 kilometres long, with nowrap|900 m to nowrap|300 m high cliffs. It is considered the most dangerous whitewater pass on the Urubamba River, which it divides between Upper and Lower Urubamba. It is a global biodiversity hotspot. Its rapids were used for key scenes of Werner Herzog's 1982 film "Fitzcarraldo".

Overview

The Pongo de Mainique is a "pongo" (canyon) in Peru, being Convert|45|m|yd|-1 wide and Convert|3|km|mi|0 long, with Convert|900|m|ft|-2 to Convert|300|m|ft|-2 high cliffsCite web
author = Stromquist, Tamara
date = 2000
title = "Paititi (ARA Winter 2000)"
work = Macaw Landing Foundation's Ecotourism
url = http://www.macawlanding.org/paititi.html
accessdate = 2007-08-18
quote = Onward we went to Pongo de Mainique, a convert|50|yd|sing=on-wide, two-mile (3 km)-long canyon through which flows the Urubamba River on its way from Cusco. This canyon is the only break in the entire Vilcabamba Mountain Range. The canyon has convert|3000|ft|m|sing=on-high walls, 30 veil-like waterfalls and is extraordinarily beautiful.Cite web
author = Llama Travel
title = "Cusco Tourist Information"
work = Peru Tourist Information
url = http://www.perutourist.info/cusco.html
accessdate = 2008-07-18
quote = The Pongo de Mainique, a long, but beautiful, bus ride from Cusco, is a narrow gorge, with 300 m-high cliffs on either side of the Urubamba River, with waterfalls pouring down into the river.. It is the only break in the entire Cordillera Vilcabamba Mountain Range. It also divides the Urubamba River (a headwater of the Amazon River) between Upper Urubamba and Lower Urubamba. It is considered the most dangerous whitewater pass on the Urubamba; however, many boats traverse it, depending on seasonal river conditions. It is crossed by the Inca Bridge, ancient secret entrance to the Machu Picchu.

It is a global biodiversity hotspot; six square miles of rainforest around the canyon contains more species of life than any other similar-sized area on Earth.Cite web
author = Wildlife Conservation Society
date = 2001
title = "Surveys and protection of endangered wildlife in the Pongo"
work = Macaw Landing Foundation's Field Projects
url = http://www.macawlanding.org/projects.html
accessdate = 2007-08-18
quote = WCS wishes to protect the Pongo because the lowland rainforests and mid-montane cloud forests within a radius of five miles (8 km) of the Pongo possibly comprise the single most biologically-diverse site on the face of the Earth.

The rapids of the Pongo de Mainique were used as a filming location for key scenes of Werner Herzog's 1982 film "Fitzcarraldo" starring Klaus Kinski.Source requiring two languages:
* Cite web
author = Herzog, Werner
date = 1999
title = "Spanish captions of documentary "My Best F iend" from 27:58 to 28:37"
work = My Best F iend (German: Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski)
url = http://www.cswap.com/1999/Mein_liebster_Feind_-_Klaus_Kinski/cap/es/25fps/a/00_28
archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070817223343/http://www.cswap.com/1999/Mein_liebster_Feind_-_Klaus_Kinski/cap/es/25fps/a/00_28
archivedate = 2007-08-17
quote = [Spanish captions keep "Mainique"] A unos días de viaje del Machu Picchu más abajo del río Urubamba. Aquí en el estrecho de las cataratas del Pongo de Mainique rodamos partes de la película "Fitzcarraldo". En la temporada seca, con agua baja no hay ningún peligro por aquí.
* Cite web
author = Herzog, Werner
date = 1999
title = "English captions of documentary "My Best F iend" from 27:47 to 28:25"
work = My Best F iend (German: Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski)
url = http://www.cswap.com/1999/Mein_liebster_Feind_-_Klaus_Kinski/cap/en/25fps/a/00_27
archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070817223343/http://www.cswap.com/1999/Mein_liebster_Feind_-_Klaus_Kinski/cap/en/25fps/a/00_27
archivedate = 2007-08-17
quote = [English captions omit "Mainique"] A few days journey from Machu Picchu, down the Urubamba river. Here, at the rapids of the Pongo, we shot parts of "Fitzcarraldo". During the dry season, with the water at its lowest level this is quite harmless.In a 2006 survey of "15 of the world's top travel writers" by "The Observer", Monty Python actor and BBC travel documentarist Michael Palin named it his "favourite place in the world".Cite web
author = Wilkinson, Carl, ed.
date = 2006-01-08
title = "My favourite place in the world"
work = The Observer
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2006/jan/08/observerescapesection5
accessdate = 2007-08-18

References

; Sources consulted

; Endnotes

External links

; Pictures and text

* Cite web
author = Palin, Michael
date = 1997
title = "Day 193: Pongo De Mainique, Urubamba River"
work = Full Circle
url = http://www.palinstravels.co.uk/book-464 – Click "Next page" for two more screens.

; Pictures

Cite web
author = Vanackeren, Guy
date = 2003
title = "Kiteni et le Pongo de Mainique"
language = French
work = Aventura Latino Americana
url = http://www.perou.net/ala/fr/Kiteni&Pongo.html – Pictures of the Pongo de Mainique (4th to 8th)