Arekuna National Park - Venezuela

This is a floating gold mine, these act like giant vacume cleaners sucking up frowm the bottom of the river and then seperating the gold. As part of this process they use Mercury which then washes back into the river causing polution. When visiting we were told that these were illegal and they are operated by cartels from outside the country. They survive on bribary and corruption. Typically a unit like this will harvest 1 Kilo of pure gold a day.

This was our first pass and we kept a safe distance, on the way back I was told to put my camera away as they intended to show us what happens if you get 2 close. As we headed towards them 2 guys with guns suddenly appeared. we veered away but they stayed and watched until we were out of sight.