Featured Image Credit: YouTube/@JaySwingler
There is a river in the Amazon - that seems to flow from the center of the Earth - that kills everything that enters it.
It might sound like the beginning of a Netflix horror film, but it's the reality for anything that falls into the boiling river located deep in the Peruvian jungle.
The river actually starts off as a cold stream that heats up during the day before cooling back down at night.
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Its temperature ranges from around 80 degrees fahrenheit and can go up to over 200 degrees fahrenheit at its hottest.
Mammals and reptiles often fall in and are boiled alive as a result.
Speaking to National Geographic, explorer Andrés Ruzo, recalled his journey to the river, saying: “As we approached the confluence of the two rivers, the shaman's apprentice, who was at the prow, said, ‘Stick your hand in!’
“So we put our hands into the cold waters of the Pachitea. As the boat glided into this olive-green plume that was the mouth of the Boiling River, immediately the temperature went up. But there was no steam and the temperature was only like hot bath water.”
Its formal name is Shanay-timpishka and is also known as La Bomba, and local cultures believe that the river has enormous spiritual power.
But researchers were not always in agreement on what causes the phenomenon.
One theory was that the heat is by a geothermal gradient while others have suggested it could be the result of an oil field accident.
But the boiling river does in fact occur naturally, caused by a non-volcanic, geothermal feature flowing at an anomalously high rate.
Ruzo added: “One of the things I love about being there is that it forces you to be extremely intentional with every step, because there can be really serious consequences if you do fall in.”
One YouTuber, Jay Swingler, documented his own journey to the boiling river during his exploration of the Amazon jungle.
Now, researchers alongside the local communities are working together to try to have the area declared as a Peruvian national monument.
This would protect the river and its region from the effects of deforestation and would only be open for eco-friendly activities.
Ruzo went on to say: “This is such a special area, not only because of the geologic aspect, but also culturally. It’s a key location for traditional knowledge.
“The area around the Boiling River not protected by the oil field or by the shamans has been totally clear-cut. As a result, all the fauna and flora that would normally be present across the entire area has been concentrated in this one small oasis of remaining jungle.
“So it's now of great biological significance, as well. It’s this bastion of Amazonia in a sea of deforestation.”
