The BR-319 is renowned as one of the most challenging roads in South America, but those who tackle it are rewarded with the opportunity to
see the Amazon in an "unfiltered way" that few people get to do.
No one seems to remember how the Brazilian Ghost Road got its name. Perhaps because of the long, deserted stretches of 900 kilometers through the Amazon rainforest, on which not a soul or settlement is visible. Or maybe the "ghosts" are the charred hulks of overturned trucks abandoned on the side of the road.
Although it's impossible to drive on highways during the rainy season, drivers often compete during the summer months by driving over crater-sized potholes and bouncing on dry, dusty potholes. Sometimes the odds are not in their favor.
The Ghost Road - officially BR-319 - is the only overland connection between the city of Manaus, home to more than two million people, and the rest of Brazil, ending in the state capital of Rondonia, Porto Velho.
Built in the 1970s to facilitate the exploitation of the Amazon's natural resources, the road sparked an influx of pioneer migrants from across Brazil, who were promised cheap farmland and new opportunities. But without proper maintenance, much of BR-319 soon fell into disrepair, leaving Wild West-style communities isolated and forgotten.
Brazilian President Lio Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva recently promised that BR-319 would be rebuilt. Proponents of beautifying the highway claim it will help integrate the states of Amazonas and Rondonia into the national economy. But opponents - including those in Lula's government - warn that restoring BR-319 would turn the highway into an open gateway to previously untouched areas of the Amazon and open the way - literally - to unprecedented levels of deforestation.
An unforgettable journey
For travelers, the BR-319 has a very different meaning. Known as one of the most exciting and challenging
roads in South America, it offers overland travelers a jungle experience.
Photo: bbc.com
In the dry season, intrepid tourists ride Land Cruisers and motorcycles that join trucks on the road, often bypassing the famous Pan-American Highway (Porto Velho is less than 300 km from the Bolivian border). The wild ride through the rainforest ends in Manaus, a lively offbeat city best known to travelers as the start of jungle eco-adventures and Amazon river expeditions.
Few people know more about the BR-319 highway than Flavio Bressan. Through his Brasilia-based company Cerrado Moto Aventura, Bressan leads motorcycle tours deep into the Amazon along the BR-319 highway, guiding riders through the rugged terrain of the rainforest and educating them about a rich and diverse region at the crossroads of change.
The tours also helped map new roads and landmarks to inform future travelers. "Only a few years ago, we had almost no data on Amazon roads," Bressan says.
"There are only stories from travelers who have traveled them. But these routes are not as dangerous as many Brazilians believe," he adds. "It's still a challenging route, but calling the highway the 'Road of Ghosts' is no longer necessary. You will see that the Amazon is not as abandoned and undeveloped as people tell you about it."
Bressan is now leading a tour of the Transamazonica, a rainforest highway that runs from the east coast of Brazil to the state of Amazonas.
Traveling to Porto Velho
The drive to Porto Velho passes through the undulating plains of Brazil's vast interior, past endless soybean plantations and remote agricultural towns. The first 300 kilometers from Porto Velho north on the BR-319 are uneventful, as some work has already been done on the road. But this partially repaired section ends at the border town of Realidade, where the asphalt gives way to solid mud.
The town's name means "reality" in Portuguese, and the harsh reality here is that life could be very different for several thousand residents if the government fulfills its promises to repair the highway that runs through the town.
Photo: bbc.com
Along the way, one encounters a dilapidated roadside cafe where patrons sit on plastic chairs on the porch and pour cold beer into tiny mugs. The music coming from a tinny speaker is drowned out by the hum of lively conversations.
Behind the bar is a woman Lea, the owner of the establishment. She moved to Realidade with her family in 2019, when then-President Jair Bolsonaro promised to repair the BR-319 road. "But the road is still not there," she says. "Five years have passed and we are still waiting for it."
An asphalted road would open up more business opportunities, like Leia's, who bought a snack bar on BR-319 to serve drivers making the long trip between Porto Velho and Manaus. "When it's dry, we see little traffic, and that's good for business," Lea says. "But when it rains, there's nothing."
The wet season creates additional problems for the community, such as sewage overflows and difficulties in delivering goods. Leah has heard that the government is planning to improve the road, but after so many false promises, she is no longer hopeful.
Realidade is cattle ranch country, where farmers have always used fire to clear forests for pasture, and a historic drought has turned the Amazon into ash - fires are out of control.
As the day progresses, the equatorial sun slowly burns away the thick shroud of smoke that envelops the rainforest. By midday, light breaks through it in shimmering waves, flooding the canopy and jungle foliage with color. Giant ferns, flecked with reddish-brown earth lifted from the trail, guard the boundary between BR-319 and the endless untouched rainforest, their branches swaying in the light breeze.
There is a cacophony of delighted cries from blue monkeys streaking across the pale sky in the distance. Then, just as suddenly as the rainforest crept up, it disappears. The tall jungle trees are replaced by vast farmland; a herd of cattle looks on curiously from behind a low wooden fence.
"The land here is cheap," says Rosalyn, a farmer's wife. She and her husband moved here in January from Rondonia. They prefer not to use fire to tend their pastures, but that doesn't stop their land from burning. "The wind brings fire to our borders. Now the fire has died down, but the smoke will remain until the rain."
Environmentalists fear that the BR-319 pipeline will give land grabbers easy access to pristine areas of the Amazon, allowing them to build roads for illegal logging and mining.
Photo: bbc.com
Farmers will soon follow, buying up cheap land for cattle ranching and soybean plantations. It is estimated that this will lead to a fivefold increase in deforestation, resulting in the deforestation of an area equivalent in size to Florida.
Indigenous peoples of the Amazon
Scientists call it the fishbone effect: BR-319 acts like a fish's spine, and the unavoidable and illegal adjacent roads represent its ribs. Increased deforestation and farming along the skeletal ribs will likely mean more fires, which is bad news for everyone in the Brazilian Amazon and beyond.
And it could also mean disaster for the original custodians of the rainforest. More than 300 indigenous peoples in Brazil call the Amazon their home, and many of them could be directly threatened by the reconstruction of BR-319 if illegal land grabbing and deforestation follow.
The village of Diane Tenharim was built on land that belonged to her people, the indigenous Tenharim-Marmelos people, for countless generations. Today it is connected to highway BR-319 by another highway through the jungle, the Transamazonica, which has brought many problems to Tenharim's doorstep.
Tenharim tells how her village elders are suffering from respiratory illnesses related to smoke from forest fires. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. "For years we have been fighting to evict the invaders of our territory," she says. "It's supposed to be protected land, but the government has been slow to respond to our complaints."
Photo: bbc.com
This sometimes leads to conflict, and indigenous communities like the Tenharim community have received threats from land grabbers. "If BR-319 is paved, more people will come from other states. What defense will we have?"," Tenharim asks. "We have always said we are not against paving as long as decisions are made in consultation with people who already live here. That includes the indigenous people."
A difficult winding path
The middle section of the BR-319 is the most difficult: a 400-kilometer stretch of deep bumps in the road and slippery sand scattered across the sizzling earth. There are few ranches here, only dense jungle that threatens to swallow what's left of the road. Every bump and jolt is a test of agility and endurance, an immersive, thrilling journey off the beaten path in the middle of the largest and most important rainforest in the world.
It's easy to imagine how a fully paved highway would be a lifesaver for the residents of the communities along it. But paving the way for progress could also threaten to deeply scar Amazon, which is already under siege. One thing is for sure: a trip on the BR-319 will always be an exciting journey through the jungle.