The Original Ecosystem of Cacao in the Amazon

This article was born from Sakara’s journey through the Amazon in 2026, during the rainy season, witnessing firsthand the deep relationship between water, forest, and the origin of cacao.

At the heart of the Madre Selva, between Peru, Colombia and Brazil, lies one of the most complex ecological systems on Earth: the Amazon basin.

The Amazon rainforest is above all a territory of water, an immense basin crossed by thousands of rivers, tributaries, and secondary channels that form one of the largest river networks on the planet.

This vast basin is composed of different landscapes: floodplains located along the major river systems, and terra firme forests that are not flooded during the rainy season. These two types of ecosystems can be found both in the upper Amazon basin and in the lower Amazon basin, which correspond respectively to the regions upstream along the Amazon River near the Andes, and to those further east toward the Atlantic Ocean.

This distinction refers to position within the river basin. The term lowlands, on the other hand, is used to describe the vast tropical plains of the Amazon.

During the rainy season, rivers overflow widely and the water level can rise by 10 to 15 meters. Part of the forest then becomes an amphibious landscape: tree trunks remain partially submerged for several months and fish move between them.

The pink river dolphins of the Amazon navigate these waters with surprising grace. Otters, caimans, turtles, and many other species adapt as well to this transformed environment.

The boundary between land and water becomes fluid.

It is also in this environment that what are known as flying rivers can be observed. Through the combined action of the sun and the immense forest surface, water evaporates massively through the leaves of the trees and contributes to the formation of clouds above the Amazon.

In some large trees, evaporation can reach up to 1000 liters of water per day. As these masses of humid air move westward toward the Andes, they encounter the mountain barrier, cool down, and release rain.

This water then feeds once again the springs and rivers of the upper Amazon basin before flowing back down toward the plains.

The forest thus actively participates in its own hydrological cycle, giving the image of a Madre Selva taking care of her own creatures.

Meanwhile, forests flooded by the Amazon receive sediments from the Andes, rich in minerals and nutrients. These deposits help regenerate soils that are often poor in depth. Their fertility lies mostly at the surface, within organic matter in constant transformation.

Large trees continuously produce leaves and branches; when they fall to the ground they form a thin living layer — the forest litter — which, under constant humidity and heat, decomposes rapidly and releases nutrients immediately absorbed by the roots.

Most trees therefore develop shallow roots that spread horizontally near the surface, where fertility is concentrated. In some large Amazonian trees, this root network can cover 100 to 200 square meters.

This shows that in the largest primary forest on Earth, stability does not come from depth, but from extension and relationship with the living layer of the soil. Without this permanent vegetation cover, tropical rains would wash the soils away and carry the nutrients with them.

Amazonian fertility therefore largely relies on two complementary dynamics: water, which brings nutrients and renews the system, on the one hand, and the forest, which transforms and recycles at the surface, on the other.

In this ecosystem, life depends less on accumulation than on the constant movement of water, matter, and energy.

Nothing is stored. Everything circulates.

According to scientific studies, cacao originates in the lowlands of the Amazon basin, particularly in the western regions close to the Andes.

A plant of the forest understory, the cacao tree developed in shaded tropical environments with constant humidity, mainly in terra firme areas outside floodplains but still closely connected to the major river systems and to the rhythm of tropical rains that shape the climate of the Amazon basin.

Cacao is thus the fruit of an ecosystem where water, forest, and life continuously evolve in a balance of perfect interdependence — where connection becomes the strength of a land that remains, nevertheless, fragile.

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With you.

Sakara

Source

Some information regarding Amazonian soils, flooded forests, and the ecological functioning of the basin is based on:

Trujillo, D., Ramos-Henao, P.A., Páez, M., Valderrama, M.J., Trujillo, F. (2023). Bosque inundado en la Amazonia. Fundación Omacha, Fondo Noruego, Whitley Fund for Nature, Bogotá.