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The Araguaia Avá-Canoeiro live in the interior of Bananal Island, a depression in Central Brazil that has a vast drainage network made of mid-sized and large rivers, creeks, springs, 'ipucas' (areas where floodwater remains for a time after the river went back to its bed) and several lakes.

The soils are generally acid, with low natural fertility. In the Eastern, higher part of the island, which corresponds to the Javaé territory, where the contacted and strayed Avá-Canoeiro live, there can also be found deep soils, with typical forest and 'cerrado' (as the savanna of Central Brazil are called) vegetation. The area is composed of 'cerrado', 'cerradão' (scrubland), dry and wet forest, extensive flooded areas, dry hillside and sand banks (Ministério da Agricultura/ IBDF 1981:27).

In environmental terms, Bananal Island may be described as a transition zone between the 'cerrado' and the Amazon forest. For an Indigenous group that can be most aptly described as hunter and gatherer such as the Araguaia Avá-Canoeiro, the area is exceptionally favorable, offering resources for hunting and gathering and natural refuge from regional and Indigenous enemies, such as the Karajá and the Javaé, who were hostile until very recently. Forest zones, such as the Mata do Mamão, on the Northern part of the island, and the region's abundant 'cerrado' provide them the animal proteins and the vegetables that are the bases of their diet.