The Face of the Earth

Brazilian surfer Ricardo Macario puts mud on his facce from the banks of the Araguari river, before surfing on the tidal bore wave. The Araguari pororoca is possibly the most dangerous of all the Amazonian tidal bores, long feared by locals for wreaking havoc on their communities. wave crests at 2 to 3 meters and races at speeds between 30 to 50 kilometers per hour. To catch it, surfers must leap from a motorboat as the wave barrels upriver. Since the wave only occurs twice per day when the incoming ocean tide reverses the river flow for a time, there are not many chances to catch it, The name "pororoca" comes from an Amazonian indigenous dialect meaning "destroyer" or "great blast." Since time immemorial, people have feared the roar which precedes the wall of water that capsizes boats and washes away anything in its path.(Douglas Engle/Australfoto)

30 / 68

Brazilian surfer Ricardo Macario puts mud on his facce from the banks of the Araguari river, before surfing on the tidal bore wave. The Araguari pororoca is possibly the most dangerous of all the Amazonian tidal bores, long feared by locals for wreaking havoc on their communities. wave crests at 2 to 3 meters and races at speeds between 30 to 50 kilometers per hour. To catch it, surfers must leap from a motorboat as the wave barrels upriver. Since the wave only occurs twice per day when the incoming ocean tide reverses the river flow for a time, there are not many chances to catch it, The name "pororoca" comes from an Amazonian indigenous dialect meaning "destroyer" or "great blast." Since time immemorial, people have feared the roar which precedes the wall of water that capsizes boats and washes away anything in its path.(Douglas Engle/Australfoto)

amapa amazon araguari brazil extreme pororoca radical surf tidal bore engle face