Brazil - from the jaguar to the waterfall
Brazil was already in sight and yet so far away. The border formalities on the Bolivian side were really tough. We stood in the blazing hot sun for almost two hours. We picked up on a snippet of conversation from our neighbors and understood that we would have to pay an exit fee of around 60 euros. Of course, we spent all our remaining Bolivianos. Artur then withdrew some more money at the other end of the village; there was no rush in the queue. When we finally arrived at the border post, everything went very quickly and WITHOUT an exit fee... This is only charged for US citizens and not for all tourists. We crossed over to Brazil on foot (approx. 500 meters). First shock: no Español! (No Spanish) Second shock: no Ingles! (No English). Well, that could be fun. We tried to teach ourselves the usual phrases on the journey, but the pronunciation is very different. Nevertheless, we made it across the border with our hands, feet and a little translator app. We made it as far as Cuiabá. The gateway to the northern Pantanal Delta. The reason why we traveled to Brazil!
Pantanal
The Pantanal (Portuguese: pântano, German: Sumpf) is the largest inland wetland area in the world. It is almost half the size of Germany and is about two thirds in Brazil and one third in Bolivia and Paraguay. Unfortunately, Bolivia does not offer the best opportunity to visit the Pantanal. Paraguay is not on our list due to the time remaining, and Brazil has the aforementioned two access points, via the north of the Pantanal and the south, each with a different landscape. The area is completely under water for up to six months of the year. The Pantanal is one of the most biodiverse areas on earth, and is home to the highest concentration of jaguars on the planet. Normally, the rainy season would have started in November and we would no longer be able to visit the area, as most of the animals would have retreated further inland due to the height of the water. This year, however, many things are different, partly due to El Niño. The rain had not yet started and we were able to let ourselves be carried away by the breathtaking landscape and the many animals... Or was it not?
One of our dreams for our trip was to see jaguars in the wild in this special place. On the way, we told many other travelers about our plan to travel to the Pantanal. Apart from dear Leo (a volunteer at PERÚ PURO), nobody actually knew about it, which really surprised us. It is not on the usual travel routes and is therefore very exclusive. The price for our three-day trip to the swamp area almost blew us away. For us, however, it was worth it in every respect to fulfill this dream...
So into the adventure:
Zunächst sind wir über eine geteerte Straße an einigen Gold- und Silberminen vorbeigefahren. Dadurch charakterisiert sich die sonst recht flache Landschaft teilweise durch sehr hohe Berge und „Abraum“. Hier durften wir schon einen ersten Eindruck des Artenreichtums gewinnen. Neben vielen Vogelarten haben wir auch ein erstes Capybara erspäht 😊. These are the largest rodents in the world.
We continued along the Transpantaneira Highway. The route into the Pantanal to Porto Jofre (where the Jaguar National Park is located) consists of just one road, a 150 km long gravel track over wooden bridges, some of which look very rickety. At first you pass seemingly endless fields where cows graze. Cattle breeding is one of the main sources of income in this region. Unfortunately, slash-and-burn farming is also practiced to gain more arable land for livestock farming...
We drove for about 20 minutes at 30 km/h past pastures. Apart from cattle, there were at most a few birds in the pastures, but almost nothing else. It felt very extreme for us to see that.
... Speaking of slash-and-burn ...
This year it was so dry in the Pantanal that huge fires broke out. This is due to various causes (global warming, El Niño, man-made fires).
There was a huge fire in 2020. Experts estimate that 17,000,000 vertebrates died in the fire - animals with bones and vertebrae, such as birds, snakes, alligators, monkeys, ...
Links:
- Deutsch/German: Trauriger Rekord: Fast 4.000 Brände im Pantanal (wwf.de) )
- Englisch/English: Pantanal has record number of fire outbreaks in the first 20 days of November | WWF Brasil
On our drive along the Transpantaneira Highway, we passed large parts of these burnt areas. That didn't match our idea of the Pantanal at all. It was a very sad picture. We were very saddened by how much valuable habitat had been destroyed here.
Once we arrived in Porto Jofre, we first went to our accommodation for the next two days: a cabin on an old river steamer. Pure river romance, dream sunsets and sunrises guaranteed. 😊 After a delicious dinner on board, we went on a short night safari. The Pantanal is also home to many tarantulas. Below are a few snapshots.
The next morning, we continued on the waterway for a special jaguar safari. Out of season, we were almost alone; we only encountered two other boats in total.
Unfortunately, the start of our boat tour was marred by the devastating fire. We sometimes traveled 40 to 50 minutes by boat and saw how everything had simply burned down. A few trees had partially recovered or still had a few green leaves, but as you can see in the following pictures, the landscape did not look lush green and vibrant, but in parts black, charred, barren and devoid of animals. How could there be 17,000,000 animals? Isn't that unrealistic? Possibly, BUT: The Pantanal is home to around 35,000,000 caimans, for example, which are helplessly at the mercy of the fire, especially when their lakes have dried up. There are also another 60-100 amphibian and reptile species and 650 bird species. Not forgetting the 80 - 120 species of mammals, which cannot escape the fire quickly on foot or save themselves by crossing the water to the other shore. This was so significant that we want to anchor it here accordingly.
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We turned a corner and there it was, the first jaguar. It was a female jaguar looking for a shady spot near the shore. A fantastically beautiful animal, indescribably beautiful. We were a good 20 meters away from her by boat and were able to watch her for a while. Can you imagine that? We saw a wild jaguar 😊 😊
Shortly afterwards we saw a second jaguar, a male named Donal, at another spot. In the neighbouring boat was a biologist from the Jaguar Identification Project, a non-profit organization that categorizes the jaguars in the Pantanal in their habitat, generates international attention for jaguars and maintains local conservation projects. The jaguars are given names and documented when they are spotted. Our Donal, for example, had severe burns on his paws during the last fire in 2020.
Here you can find more information about the project and the jaguars:
On the one hand, it was a wonderful experience. On the other hand, it showed us the vulnerability of nature and gave us food for thought. On our onward journey to São Paulo, we passed huge soy plantations... All the cattle on the pastures have to be fed, as the grass here is not as nutritious or there is not enough grass for all the animals. You've probably also heard about the soy plantations in Brazil? We've seen them... On our 32-hour bus ride from Cuiabá to São Paulo. More than 1600 km... The bus drove at 80 - 90 km/h, and with short interruptions for departures or smaller towns, we saw nothing but soy plantations for hours on end. Unbelievably, to the horizon and probably even further. What palm oil plantations were in Malaysia, soybean plantations are here in Brazil.
São Paulo
We're not fans of big cities, as you already know. But São Paulo is not a regular big city either. This city is gigantic. It is estimated that more than 12,000,000 people live here. That's 12 million people in an area of 1,521 km². Just as a comparison... Belgium has slightly less than 12 million inhabitants in an area of 30,688 km². Converted, this means: approx. 7,400 inhabitants per km² in São Paulo compared to approx. 380 inhabitants per km² in Belgium. Still no idea of the size? Take a look at the pictures, maybe that will give you an idea of just how huge this city is!
We only spent one night in São Paulo as a stopover on our way to Ubatuba and Rio de Janeiro. Unfortunately, we would have liked to stay here a little longer. Here we had a look around the old town. We really liked what we saw. There's something about the city that could be described as shabby chic.
We noticed outstanding graffiti on the building facades and very different building architectures. From Portuguese architecture to ultra-modern glass buildings. The people are totally diverse, nothing can be sorted into familiar patterns. That's really exciting. Anyone can walk around as they please without attracting any stares. There are abandoned buildings that are reminiscent of the new federal states after reunification. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of homeless people.
To see the city from above and get just a hint of its size, we went up to the viewing platform of the Santander bank building. Santander may come from Spain, but the building now belongs to Santander Brasil. It used to be the main building of the Bank of the State of São Paulo.
Ubatuba
This is where the inhabitants of Rio and São Paulo go on vacation, and we spent a few days relaxing with the locals ☺️ There are 72 beaches and 10 islands here, some of which are still quite undeveloped. We visited one of these beaches, which is right next to the jungle, and Tatjana even dared to go for a swim. 🙈 Quote from Artur: "I'm not going in there, it's too close to the Antarctic for me. The water feels like it's 5 degrees Celsius!!!!" Here are a few impressions of Ubatuba.
Rio de Janeiro
If someone had told us at the beginning of the trip that we would be visiting Sugar Loaf Mountain, Copacabana and the statue of Jesus on this trip, we wouldn't have thought it possible. Now we can say: we were here. We drank caipirinha on Copacabana beach, walked through Leblon, Ipanema and Copacabana and searched in vain for vegan/vegetarian restaurants with good food. But instead we did a guided favela tour! AND we still have all our stuff 😉 But let's take a step back and explain everything bit by bit. In Rio, but also in São Paulo, we noticed that there were a lot of VW Beetles and VW Bullis on the road.
Brazil has a love affair with VW Beetles. You see them everywhere. But why is that? In fact, the first VW Beetles were shipped to Brazil as early as 1950, and production was opened in Brazil just three years later. The last Beetles rolled off the production line there in 1996. The car is also a classic here and is well looked after. Although it is very simply equipped, it is much more reliable than many other cars in the steep cobbled streets. In some towns, there is even one VW Beetle for every 10 inhabitants. And another fun fact: many Beetles here run on ethanol, which is made from sugar cane. The reason for this was the oil crisis in 1970, when combustion engines were converted to ethanol. The VW Bulli was also produced here until around 1980 and enjoys cult status ☺️
If you want to feel the atmosphere in Rio musically:
We set off on our favela tour in just such a van.
Favelas
The hills of the city spill down to some of the richest areas of Rio de Janeiro, "slums". We have also seen the so-called "favelas" in other major South American cities and in other developing or emerging countries. In Rio de Janeiro, they are illegal and are not maintained by the Brazilian government. They are overcrowded slums with their own laws. They originated in the 19th century, where they were built by African slaves after the abolition of the slave trade. The government refused to recognize them as legitimate settlements and thus refused to provide them with critical infrastructure (roads, water and electricity). From the mid-1980s, the favelas became the center of illegal drug trafficking under the rule of drug gangs. Like everything in life, there are two sides to this. In addition to the criminal activities on one side, the drug gangs support a variety of social measures. They help people pay for funerals, buy school buses for the children, fund projects for medical care, food provision and children's homes, as well as financially supporting local children's football clubs, as we have learned. Samba plays a major role in the favelas, and most of the dance schools that take part in the Rio Carnival Parade come from the favelas. Since 1994, there has been a major project called Favela-Bairro to bring structure to the favelas, and the favelas have been renamed bairros, i.e. official city districts. There is garbage collection, electricity and water from the government. As well as hospitals and schools. Our tour gave us a good insight into life in such a favela. The favela we visited is called Rocinha and was officially declared a bairro in 1992. In 1998, with 200,000 inhabitants, it was the largest in Brazil and the largest in South America. The only houses that have an official address here are those on the main street. All the others in the second, third, ... tenth row do exist, but have no address. Mail is therefore sent to a store on the main street and then collected by the recipients. Water, electricity and sewage are available at almost every house. However, due to the very narrow and winding corridors, flooding and torrential streams regularly occur when it rains, so people usually stay at home when it rains. Our guide explained to us that the drug trade also plays a major role here, so perhaps Judge Merciless can help here 😉. P.S. We didn't meet him on our tour.
Christus Statue
The large statue of Christ is the city's landmark and pretty much the first thing you see from afar and probably comes to many people's minds when they think of Rio de Janeiro. It was built between 1922 and 1931 and named one of the 7 Wonders of the World in 2007. With its 30 meters plus 8 meter platform, it watches over the city. But why does it actually exist? The idea of building it was first conceived in 1859 by the French priest Pierre-Marie Bos. However, the whole thing was then rejected and resumed in 1921, when General Pedro Carolino Pinto presented it again to celebrate Brazil's centenary of independence. Finally, the monument was built over a period of 5 years (1926-1931) under the direction of the architect Heitor Levy, after being developed as a model by the French sculptor Paul Landowski. In 1927 it was decided to cover the monument with a mosaic. It protects the statue from heat, cold and erosion. If you look closely at the pictures, you can see the small stones. We were also able to see a small heart on his chest up close.
Sugar Loaf Mountain
Of course, we also visited the 396-metre-high Sugar Loaf Mountain, which was amazing. Two gondolas take you to the top of the Sugar Loaf. That was really adventurous, at least for Tatjana. From here we had a great panoramic view of Copacabana, Ipanema and the center of Rio de Janeiro. We enjoyed the view for a long time, a view that is etched in our minds. At the top of the mountain there are small monkeys, lizards and condors drifting on the thermals. This is definitely a special place with a great energy. Take a look for yourself 😊
Carneval in Rio
Carnival is celebrated in Rio de Janeiro every year. The main focus is on the Rio Samba Parade - a fierce competition between the city's samba schools. This is a super event and each of the samba schools has between 3,000 and 6,000 members. Each school is judged in ten categories. There are 4 judges for each category. The 40 judges sit in booths along the route. Unfortunately, we were not there during carnival time, which is usually in February. Instead, we drove past the large Sambódrom and were able to see a few carnival floats under construction. We were able to get a feel for how impressive this festival must be.
We have noticed that the Brazilian population is very diverse and cannot be categorized into a single pattern. Apparently this is why Brazilian passports are worth a fortune on the black market. But why is the population so diverse? Among other things, it has to do with Brazil being a coffee republic. The coffee bean has had a huge influence on life in Brazil, its people, its politics and, of course, its economy ever since. Today, Brazil is the largest coffee exporter in the world, with around 3.6 million tons annually (this fluctuates, of course). In the 19th century, a rail network was even built through Brazil to transport the coffee to the export ports. And in the first half of the 19th century, 1.5 million slaves were brought to Brazil from Africa to work on the coffee plantations. After the slave trade was finally abolished in Brazil (1850), the plantation owners took in immigrants from Germany, Portugal and Italy as workers. This is the reason why the Brazilian population is a real mixture of people.
Ilha Grande
After this wonderful time in Rio, Christmas was just around the corner. It was a different Christmas for us this year, who would have thought 😉. Not -10 degrees or rain, no Christmas markets or delicious pastries. Instead, sun, beach and sea. We chose the beautiful Ilha Grande, a tropical paradise on the Brazilian coast near Rio with dense jungle. The special thing here: There are no cars, just a relaxed atmosphere and pure nature. To get into the Christmas spirit, we turned to good old German traditions. Potato salad (Tatyana's Aunt Gitti's recipe) and Swiss "Wiener sausages". We had already bought the ingredients in an organic market in Rio and actually managed to leave the potatoes standing twice. Fortunately, we were able to buy them again in a supermarket on the island. There was also a pretty cool Christmas playlist from the Pioneers of Change, which we've linked here.
Apart from that, there wasn't really any Christmas spirit as we know it. It was more of a party atmosphere in the large family circle of Brazilians and many international travelers were celebrating in the bars.
Iguazu
Am Ende unserer Südbrasilien-Tour haben wir die Iguazú-Wasserfälle an der Grenze zu Argentinien besucht. Sie sind einfach der Wahnsinn! Hier stürzen sich über 270 Wasserfälle den Fluss Iguazú hinunter, besonders der „Teufelsrachen“ mit seinen ca. 80 Metern war sehr beeindruckend. Wir haben beide Seiten, die brasilianische und die argentinische Seite, besichtigt. Auf der argentinischen Seite sind wir mit einer kleinen Bahn zu den Wasserfällen gefahren. Alle Teile konnten wir leider nicht besichtigen, weil es vor kurzem hier Erdrutsche gab. Deshalb war manches abgesperrt. Der Blick auf die Wasserfälle ist von beiden Seiten sehr unterschiedlich, aber beides toll. Wasserfällen sagt man nach, dass sie besondere Kraftorte sind, an denen eine Verbindung zu anderen Sphären und spirituellen Energien möglich ist. Von einigen in der Nähe lebenden indigenen Völkern werden die Iguazú-Wasserfälle deshalb als heilige Stätte betrachtet. Die Energie der gewaltigen Wasserkraft ist in jedem Fall deutlich zu spüren und hat uns ein reinigendes Gefühl vermittelt. Bilder können dieses Naturwunder schwer erfassen, aber wir haben auch ein paar Videos gemacht 😊. Auch von den süßen Nasenbären und Schmetterlingen, die hier leben.
Here are the pictures and videos of the Iguazú Falls in Brazil:
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And the pictures and videos of the waterfalls from Argentina
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Special Content 🙂
The long wait for this article must have been worth it! That's why there's a special here! Just for you, a small selection of the Brazilians' favorite shoes. And that was all in one day
Hallo liebe Tatjana und lieber Artur,
erst einmal Danke für die tolle Fortsetzung Eures Reisebericht und die phantastischen Bildern.
Es ist einfach herrlich Euch auf dieser Reise zu begleiten und Ihr macht es so ausführlich und mit den vielen Bildern können wir es uns gut vorstellen wie begeistert Ihr von diese Reise seid.
Mama und Wilfried