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SUMMARY OF OUR TRIP:-
I have been thinking about the highlights of the trip and our key recommendations to anyone coming here.
Brazil is a big country with good air-links so try several different areas - for wildlife what we picked really worked for us - we met several other international tourists doing the more traditional tour of Amazon, Pantanal and Iguassu Falls - we been to several rain forests - in Ecuador and Guyana so felt another trip was unnecessary this time - so explored the savannah instead.
Wildlife - we saw all we came to see and more - 11 jaguar sightings was above our expectation......the only thing that eluded us was the tapir. Lots of great birds - our favourites were the hyacinth macaws; the toco toucan and the aracaris. The picture above is of the Toco toucan - better known in the UK as the star of the guiness adverts! In a nutshell Africa has the greater diversity of animals South America has the greater diversity of birds - but each is unique and intriguing in its own right.
Guiding - all was excellent and added enormous value to the trip - the guides at REGUA - really knew their birds- Fred was 'top draw' in every department - knowledge and customer care; Fabricio - excellent on birds and animals and always seemed, in an unassuming way, to get us to the best spots to see the jaguar even if several other boats were already there; and Sergio - filled in some knowledge gaps for us albeit it's always hard to come in after 75% has been led by someone else.
Food: not cordon bleu but good well cooked food everywhere - plenty for vegetarians - always lots of salad, local vegetables and fresh fruit....we saw beetroot as an option on most salad tables - which I love and with rice and beans always on the menu you never go hungry - John found the meat really good and the fish was good once he had negotiated the bones.
He said as they used slow cooking methods - everything was tender.
Best food was at REGUA and that fantastic restaurant in Belo Horizante where you paid by weight.
Best Lodge overall : Arasas - welcome; friendliness of staff, tours, food and activities available.
Unique experience: staying at the monastery in Caraca and seeing the maned wolf.
The people : we found everyone we met friendly and helpful - a few words of Portuguese, a phrase book, google translate ( if in a wifi area ) and a smile really helped. Just holding the phrase book seemed to cause people to be helpful.
In the areas we visited we saw very little wealth and none of the so say emerging middle class - not even in Rio. Most cars were small and ranged from new to very very old - the biggest were in the airport hotel carpark! We don't think many lorries would pass MOT tests and there were lots on the roads. The only really congested roads were in Rio.....once outside there was plenty of room...the road quality wasn't bad but the best were the toll roads we travelled on to Canastra - Fred would like them all privatised as they are much better than the state roads.
Value for money - excellent particularly as the exchange rate is @ 3.17 to the pound.
Safety - never felt threatened or unsafe.
Brilliant initiative at the airports is that you book and pay for your taxi before leaving - so you can use credit card.
Top tips:
#get a really good insect repellent - the bugs don't have diseases but they can be irritating - after being bitten we used 'after bite' and 'stop itch' which helped but John found the best thing was germoline - I tried it, at his suggestion, and he was spot on - the bugs didn't like it either and could be seen flying towards and then veering off!
# stock up on large 6 litre bottles of water at Ponce before going to the Pantanal then decant into smaller bottles - you need to drink plenty - and if you don't you will spend 24-30 $reals a day (for 2)on water alone.
Brazil - should be on your travel list - a five star experience for those that want experiences not luxury.
Next stop Madagascar.
- comments
Dee All amazing, great stamina too.