Intro by Ben Hammott.
In the years following Fawcett's disappearance in 1925, many have entered the jungle to try and find any new information about Fawcett that could shed light on what happened to him, his son Jack Fawcett and Raleigh Rimmell.
But as the years passed these dwindled, but they haven't stopped completely.
Many of us who have become interested in the Colonel Fawcett story and his missing 1925 expedition into the Amazon jungle, have no doubt thought, however briefly, about traveling to Brazil to either follow in his footsteps, or to attempt to find out what fate befell them. But for most of us thinking about it is as far as it goes. Although flying to Brazil and then travelling on to the Mato Grosso region is far easier now than experienced by Fawcett, the logistics of putting a team and equipment together for a serious investigation is a daunting as well as expensive undertaking.
David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z: A legendary British explorer’s deadly quest to uncover the secrets of the Amazon, did travel to the Amazon to try and find Fawcett's Lost City of Z, but he didn't go the distance, not in mileage but in the thoroughness that a serious expedition would need to. But hat's off to Grann, at least he tried and he did reach the Xingu region.
In 1995 Steve Kemper, armed with lines drawn on a map showing the route Fawcett is thought to have taken while searching for his Lost City of Z, decides to see if he can shed any light on the mystery. His very interesting article, partly reproduced here with his permission, gives us armchair explorers a very good insight on some of the difficulties that would be encountered on such an expedition. Read on, you won't be disappointed.