Natural Wonders of Brazil

Gill Thorp tells us about her experience as a tour manager in Brazil...

Natural wonders of Brazil

Brazil, the very name conjures up a host of fantasies and as the fifth largest country in the world an awe inspiring variety of landscapes, architecture, wildlife species and experiences are on offer. The tour I was leading, Natural Wonders of Brazil, was to focus on the natural highlights of this amazing country but we were starting in Rio de Janeiro, which was once the capital, and is a vibrant and beautiful city with many of its own natural wonders. Perhaps the most well-known of these are Sugarloaf Mountain and Corcovado with the jaw dropping magnificence of Christ the Redeemer statue and the Tijuca Rainforest. However, Rio is also famous for its carnival held each February or March depending on when Lent falls, a culmination of one year’s work by the samba schools to produce the best in visual and spectacular entertainment. Our stay in Rio therefore included a tour around the Sambadrome, the parade ground where the festival takes place.

Too soon, however, we had to leave Rio and the next part of our trip took us to the southern part of Brazil bordering Argentina and Paraguay where one of the most astounding visual wonders of the world can be found, Iguazu Falls. Words and indeed pictures cannot do justice to the sheer power and excitement of this amazing natural phenomenon and I would urge anyone who is thinking of visiting Brazil to include a visit to Iguassu. They are in fact a series of approximately 275 separate falls along 2.7 kilometres of the Iguazu River culminating in the most astonishing sight, the Garganta del Diablo or Devil's Throat, marking the border between Argentina and Brazil. Besides the opportunity of visiting the falls by foot on both the Brazil and Argente sides, we could also have viewed the falls from the air by helicopter. However, we decided to take a speed boat trip instead passing right underneath the falls themselves. This was an incredible experience although you do have to be prepared to get very wet!

Although almost impossible to decide, if I had to make a choice my favourite part of our tour had to be our visit to the Amazon where we stayed in the Amazon Ecolodge, near Manaus. This was set up to provide somewhere unique for visitors to stay when they visited the Primate Rehabilitation Centre where captive monkeys are cared for prior to their release back into the wild. The lodge and surrounds are a vast privately owned area of some 15,000 acres and our stay here also included a jungle walk with survival skills, boat trips, piranha fishing, a visit to a local village as well as the famous trip to see the ‘Meeting of the Waters.’ This is a magical and beautiful area and the stillness and tranquillity was only disturbed early in the morning and late at night by the natural jungle noises of our wildlife neighbours!

Our trip then took us to a relatively unknown area of Brazil, Chapada dos Guimaraes, where ravines, mountains, rivers and waterfalls are part of this impressive landscape. We were in the central region now of Mato Grosso and surrounded by savannahs and plains, and we were all seduced by the sheer size of the landscape and far reaching views on offer. However, this was a fleeting visit and all too soon we were on our way by road to the final part of our journey, the Pantanal, the largest wetland area in the world. If you are fascinated by birds, then this is the place to come as it is impossible to describe the sheer number and variety of birds and other species of wildlife on offer. This has to be one of the world’s most stunning natural wonderlands and we took trips in motor boats, canoes, by foot and even on horseback to view its extraordinary beauty. Although we did not see the famed anacondas we did see many caiman, or Pantanal alligators, craftily swimming past us or sunning themselves on the shores, an incredible sight.

All too soon, our trip was over but one which has provided many superb and lasting memories for everyone who took part in this tour. I know we were all extremely sad to leave this wonderful country and I would thoroughly recommend this trip to anyone thinking of planning a holiday to this part of the world.