Tour 6.2: Transpantaneira - Chapada dos Guimarães7 days/6 nights from Cuiabá (from May to November)
1st to 2nd day (1 overnight stay): Chapada dos GuimarãesOur travel guide picks you up from Cuiabá airport and takes you to Chapada dos Guimarães in an air-conditioned minivan or car. Here you spend a night at the Hotel Turismo or at the Pousada Penhasco. Lunch in Chapada dos Guimarães at a regional restaurant. Afterwards visit to the national park. During a hike through the highlands you get the opportunity to take a bath under one of the many waterfalls. Visit to the cave of Casa de Pedra (with its subterranean river), view from Morro de São Jerônimo; visit to the highest waterfall of the Véu de Noiva region, with a height of 96 m, which falls down into a majestic canyon.
2nd to 5th day (3 overnight stays): Fazenda Carandá (Pantanal)After breakfast drive in the air-conditioned vehicle from Chapada dos Guimarães to Poconé (about 170 km). Here you have lunch with a typically Brazilian family. Transfer by airplane to the Fazenda Carandá (ca. 15 minutes' flight; comes at an extra charge).
This accommodation offers no luxury, however, the nice environment and the kindness of your hosts more than make up for the fazenda's plainness. There are seven cosily furnished rooms, all of them simple but clean and practical. They each have a bathroom with a shower, a fan and a wardrobe, as well as room for your luggage. Let your hosts spoil you and the local cooking enchant you. Savour the typical cuisine of the Pantaneiros.
Here you can experience life on a fazenda firsthand: you go on extensive horseback rides or trekking tours to watch the local flora and fauna, or you undertake a smaller boat and fishing tour on the nearby lake. Would you like to see cattle being branded and rounded up? That is possible as well. All tours will be suited to fit your individual wishes. Our guides are at your disposal 24 hours a day and know the flora and fauna of Pantanal like the backs of their hands. 5th to 7th day (2 overnights) – Fazenda Carandá – Transpantaneira – Pousada Pouso AlegreAfter breakfast you say goodbye to the Fazenda Carandá and travel by airplane to Poconé (15 minutes). Again you are a guest in the house of Dona Dalva and Senhor Antonio, having lunch with a typically Brazilian family. Here you get the opportunity to freshen up a bit. Transfer by car to the Pousada Pouso Alegre on the Transpantaneira. This fazenda is preferably visited by ornithologists and biologists, since here people have tried in the past few years to recreate the old habitats of macaws and other bird species. In the immediate vicinity of the fazenda, you can find swarms of hyacinth macaws (Andorohynchus hyacinthinus).
Other animal species such as the Toco toucan (Ramphastos toco), the Jabiru stork (Jabiru mycteria), coatis, raccoons and giant anteaters (nasua nasua, procyon lotor, myrmecophaga tridactyla), capibaras (hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), giant otters (lontra longicaudis) and large gatherings of caimans are often to be found here. On a horseback ride in the morning, you can spot black skimmers (rynchops niger) catching fish in ponds. This fazenda is a must-see for nature lovers and photographers and offers a wide range of activities.
Next up is an excursion in the afternoon, to forest islands with diverse trees that are exclusive to this area. Horseback ride to a lodge close by and extensive excursion on a trail of about 2 km, through a gallery forest to a look-out tower. From here there are many different bird species to be spotted (such as the point-tailed palmcreeper), depending on the time of day. You also get a magnificent view of the Pantanal from the tower. After dinner night-time drive to the environment of the lodge to watch nocturnal animals, such as caimans, rarely tapirs (tapirus terrestris), but certainly Rufus Nightjars (caprimulgus rufus), Common Pauraques (nyctidromus albicollis) and the occasional Common Potoo (nyctibius grandis). 7th day: Pantanal – CuiabáAfter breakfast (and depending on departure time), drive to Cuiabá airport. If your flight from Cuiabá doesn’t leave until 05:00 pm (which is mostly the case), there will be more tours offered in the morning (on horseback or on foot). In this case lunch at the pousada, then drive to the airport. Additional days or programmes are possible.
Prices apiece:
Services (included in the prices mentioned above):1 overnight stay at the Hotel Turismo or at the Pousada Penhasco in Chapada dos Guimarães including breakfast (lunch/dinner at a regional restaurant included)3 nights at the Fazenda Carandá (full board) with transfer in/out by airplane 2 nights at the Pousada Pouso Alegre (full board) All rooms have air conditioning and a bathroom/shower All transfers, all tours by car, boat, on horseback or on foot 24-h supervision by trained and competent English-speaking travel guides All transfers/drives in an air-conditioned van or car, depending on the number of travellers Not included:Beverages, tips, personal expensesEquipment:Appropriate footwear (light hiking shoes), long jeans or trekking pants, long-sleeved shirt or blouse, t-shirts and shirts for sleeping, hat, cap or headscarf, sunscreen and mosquito protection. No black clothes, since black attracts mosquitoes. Sweatshirt, sweater or fleece jacket from June to September, since the nights can get very cold. Jaundice inoculation strongly recommended.Note:Programme changes reserved, due to weather and particularly flight schedules (arrival/departure and order of accommodations). Price changes expressly reserved, due to fluctuating exchange rates and reasons of organisation and security. Timely booking required, since the smaller accommodations are usually fully booked for months in advance.The texts and photos on this site are protected by copyright: © by Günter Stysch |
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