Shanay-Timpishka, the boiling river of the Amazon

Known by natives of the deep Amazonian forest as the Shanay Timpishka, the mysterious river with boiling waters is located in Peru, in the province of Puerto Inca, near the ancient pilgrimage area of ??Mayantuyacu. This stream that has a depth of about 6 meters and a width of 25 meters, flows for over 4 miles inside the jungle and maintains a temperature that in some areas can reach 95° degrees. This very high degree of heat is sufficient to kill any form of life, including humans, in a mere few minutes.



Until 2011, most scholars thought that the "boiling river" was just a popular legend, but they were forced to change their mind when Andrés Ruzo, a young Peruvian with a passion for geology, decided to go in search of this mysterious place. Following the stories of his grandfather and a map provided by some of his colleagues from the Peruvian government, he managed to find the boiling river, proving that "the river that kills" really exists.



The search for Ruzo, supported largely by the "Young Explorer of National Geographic", led to a discovery of the existence of a tortuous underground geothermal network capable of bringing the boiling water to resurface many miles away. The most shocking part of this discovery to most is that there is an absence of volcanoes in the nearby area, as there are many known hot springs directly resulting from the effect of lava such is the case in Iceland and Yosemite. The boiling river in Mayantuyacu is about 450 miles away, making the Shanay-Timpishka shrouded in mystery.



This is a place that has remained intact and unspoiled for a long time, but today is threatened by wild deforestation and the exploitation of natural resources. Andrés Ruzo published a book entitled "The Boiling River: Adventure and Discovery in the Amazon", in which he describes the river and the fragility of the entire ecosystem, currently under the interest of those who would already like to use it as a source of energy. On the boilingriver.org website you can find all the useful information to visit this spectacular beauty of our planet in complete safety.

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