The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

In 2005, Grann and Pinage meet Vajuvi, chief of the Kalapalos. Vajuvi guides Grann and Penage into the Xingu National Park, where they travel by boat down the Kuluene River and arrive at the Kalapalo village, where ancient and modern appear to meet. Some Kalapalos walk naked through the village’s “circular plaza,” wearing only “monkey-tooth necklaces” and other ornaments (285). Other villagers watch television. While fishing, Vajuve explains that the bones Orlando Villas Boas claimed were Fawcett’s in 1951 actually belonged to Vajuvi’s grandfather. Boas had suggested the ruse in hopes of protecting Indigenous tribes from the continual encroachments of white explorers searching for Fawcett. Vajuvi also reports what he heard from his parents. In 1925, the Fawcett party had indeed been in the Kalapalo village. Fawcett, Jack, and Raleigh presented gifts, received food, and left the village to continue eastward. The Kalapalos tried to warn Fawcett that only hostile tribes lay to the east, but Fawcett insisted on continuing in that direction. After five days, the Kalapalos no longer saw smoke rising from Fawcett’s campfires. A few Kalapalos searched the area but found no trace of Fawcett. Vajuvi concludes: “People always say that the Kalapalos killed the Englishmen. But we did not. We tried to save them” (293).

As years pass, Nina consults psychics in hopes of learning what happened to her husband and son. Others do likewise. Brian Fawcett sinks into a deep depression. Nina gives Brian a trunk full of Fawcett’s diaries and logbooks. A childless, middle-aged man stuck in a job he despises, Brian finds purpose and exhilaration as he traces his father’s steps. Like many others, Brian is now drawn into the legend of Z. He publishes Exploration Fawcett in 1953. Shortly before her death at eighty-four, Nina reads the manuscript with great enthusiasm. Brian organizes his own expedition into the Amazon via airplane. He even comes to believe that his brother Jack might have survived. Brian’s venture, however, yields no clues. He begins to question whether Z ever existed. In fact, Brian reflects on some of his father’s occult-related writings and wonders if Z amounts to little more than a spiritual allegory.

In 2005, Grann encounters Brazilians and others who believe that Fawcett disappeared into another dimension. Grann considers ending his own search. Instead, Grann, Pinage, and Vajuvi head north to the Kuikuro village, where Grann hopes to meet with the archaeologist Michael Heckenberger. Although he is briefly separated from the group, Grann finds his way to the village, where he meets the Kuikuro chief Afukaka. After a few moments, Heckenberger appears. Afukaka has adopted Heckenberger into the tribe. Heckenberger shares his own fascination with Fawcett, whom the archaeologist describes as “one of those larger-than-life figures,” a man who, for all his quirks and deficiencies, saw things that others did not (310).

Finally, Heckenberger takes Grann and the others to the nearest archaeological site, where Heckenberger points to sloping ground that once served as a moat surrounding a walled city. The moat dates to 1200 A.D. Heckenberger continues into the jungle, pointing out “the remains of a massive man-made landscape” featuring a “giant circular plaza” that once had contained a “sprawling neighborhood of dwellings” (312). A closer look reveals ancient roads, canals, and evidence of wooden bridges. Heckenberger has found twenty such settlements in the Xingu region, exactly where Fawcett expected to find Z.