“An old-fashioned jungle adventure, one with rare immediacy and depth of feeling for the people and creatures [Rosolie] encounters.” —Wall Street Journal

For fans of The Lost City of Z, Walking the Amazon, and Turn Right at Machu Picchu comes naturalist and explorer Paul Rosolie’s extraordinary jungle adventure in the uncharted tributaries of the Western Amazon—a true adventure story of discovery that vividly captures the awe, beauty, and isolation of this endangered land and presents an impassioned call for rainforest conservation.

In the Madre de Dios—Mother of God—region of Peru, where the Amazon River begins its massive flow, the Andean Mountain cloud forests fall into lowland Amazon Rainforest, creating the most biodiversity-rich place on the planet. In January 2006, when he was just a restless eighteen-year-old hungry for adventure, Paul Rosolie embarked on a journey to the west Amazon that would transform his life.

Venturing alone into some of the most inaccessible reaches of the jungle, he encountered giant anacondas, floating forests, isolated tribes untouched by outsiders, prowling jaguars, orphaned baby anteaters, poachers in the black market trade in endangered species, and much more. Yet today, the primordial forests of the Madre de Dios are in danger from developers, oil giants, and gold miners eager to exploit its natural resources.

In Mother of God, this explorer and conservationist relives his amazing odyssey—a gripping explorer memoir about the heart of this wildest place on earth. When he began delving deeper in his search for the secret Eden, spending extended periods in isolated solitude, he found things he never imagined could exist. “Alone and miniscule against a titanic landscape I have seen the depths of the Amazon, the guts of the jungle where no men go, Rosolie writes. “But as the legendary explorer Percy Fawcett warned, ‘the few remaining unknown places of the world exact a price for their secrets.’”

Illustrated with 16 pages of color photos.

This riveting account of real-life exploration is a journey into a world on the brink-and a battle for its soul.

• A True Survival Story: Follow a restless eighteen-year-old as he ventures alone into the primordial forests of the Madre de Dios, the most biodiversity-rich place on the planet, on a journey that will transform his life.
• Incredible Wildlife Encounters: Come face-to-face with giant anacondas, prowling jaguars, isolated tribes untouched by outsiders, and orphaned baby anteaters in the heart of the Amazon.
• Urgent Call for Conservation: Witness the frontline of the battle for the Amazon, as poachers, oil giants, and gold miners threaten a secret Eden and its endangered species.
• A Perilous Expedition: Go deep into the guts of the jungle where, as the legendary explorer Percy Fawcett warned, “the few remaining unknown places of the world exact a price for their secrets.”

"A sobering account of an ecosystem hanging in the balance. . . . An insightful history of the region. . . . Entertaining and revelatory."