Tour 6.3: Transpantaneira - Fazenda Curicaca - Estancia Vitoria - Pousada Pouso Alegre7 days/6 nights from/to Cuiabá (offered all year)
On this journey you will get to know diverse ecosystems. You will change accommodation twice. The three accommodation sites – the Fazenda Curicaca, the Estancia Vitoria and the Pousada Pouso Alegre – have left the nature around them (gallery forests, cerrado) untouched and in their original state. This tour is ideal for people looking for peace and quiet, seclusion and a familial atmosphere, but who are also prepared to do without luxury. You savour the different landscapes (throughout the year) and return from the Pantanal with a maximum of new impressions and experiences – and, of course, with many pictures of alligators and caimans.
1st day: Cuiabá – Curicacá lodgeOur travel guide picks you up at Cuiabá airport. Then a drive of about 100 km on asphalt roads to Poconé. Here you have lunch with a typically Brazilian family and enjoy the indigenous cuisine of the Mato Grosso region (depending on arrival time). After that drive to your first accommodation, the former fazenda Curicaca (ca. 25 km), including several stops for opportunities to explore the flora and fauna along the Transpantaneira. Arrival at the lodge.In the late afternoon you go on a hike in the vicinity of the lodge to track down various bird species and howler monkeys. Night safari with torches and flashlights to watch nocturnal animals after dinner.
2nd day: Curicaca lodgeOn request sunrise tour at around 5 am. Watch the rising sun and the awakening of the Pantanal fauna, a unique experience that no one should pass up. There is a look-out tower in the area, from which you get a beautiful view over the Pantanal. You can go on a number of different tours from this lodge; by boat, canoe or on foot in the neighbouring forest. Tours along the Transpantaneira are also an option, if you should feel like exploring the flora and fauna in this area of the Pantanal.After lunch you go on a canoe tour on Rio Novo or on a mountain bike tour along the Transpantaneira. After dinner nighttime safari with torches/flashlights to watch nocturnal animals (caimans, owls etc.).
3rd to 5th day: Estancia VitoriaBefore breakfast sunrise tour to watch the awakening of the birds and other animal species. After breakfast drive to the Estancia Vitoria (about half an hour's drive), a former fazenda. This accommodation is situated by the Transpantaneira (milestone 35) and was converted to a pousada in 2008 to open up a new lodge for tourism in the Pantanal. Even while on the Transpantaneira you will be able to see the first plant and animal species. Depending on schedule several stops are made for exploring and photo opportunities. On arrival at the lodge welcoming drinks, you move to your room and have plenty of time for a long shower. Afterwards you can go on the first tours, depending on your stamina. In the evening nighttime safari in the vicinity of the lodge to track and watch nocturnal animals.In the next morning sunrise tour before breakfast to witness the awakening of the animals of the Pantanal, a unique experience nobody should miss. After breakfast trip into the surroundings of the pousada to watch the flora and fauna; on request a horseback tour is possible as well. After lunch you go on a boat trip on Rio Clarinho. The lodge is equipped with 10 bicycles, so that you can go cycling, accompanied by your guide, on the Transpantaneira whenever you wish. After dinner night tour with torches to watch nocturnal animals such as caimans, owls etc.
5 th to 7 th day: Pousada Pouso AlegreAfter breakfast you say goodbye to the Fazenda Carandá and go back to Poconé (by car or airplane, depending on the season). Here you can freshen up a little, we switch cars and you travel along the Transpantaneira to the Pousada Pouso Alegre. 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 flocks of hyacinth macaws (andorohynchus hyacinthinus).
Other animal species such as the Toco toucan (ramphastos toco), the American rhea (rhea americana), the jabiru (jabiru mycteria) coatis, raccoons and giant anteaters (nasua nasua, procyon lotor, myrmecophaga tridactyla), capibaras (hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), otters (lontra longicaudis) and large gatherings of caimans are often to be seen 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. 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. After dinner night-time drive into the environment of the lodge to watch nocturnal animals, such as caimans, tapirs (tapirus terrestris), rufous nightjars (caprimulgus rufus), common pauraques (nyctidromus albicollis) and the occasional common potoo (nyctibius grandis).
7th day: Pousada Pouso Alegre – CuiabáAfter breakfast there is either another horseback ride, a hike in the environment of the lodge or you are taken to the airport in Cuiabá, depending on flight schedules.
Prices apiece:
Services (included in the prices above):2 nights at the Fazenda Curicacá (full board)2 nights at the Pousada Pouso Alegre (full board) 2 nights at the Pousada Pouso Alegre (full board) All rooms have air conditioning and a bathroom/shower All transfers and tours by car, boat, on horseback or on foot 24-h support by trained and competent English-speaking travel guides All transfers and 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 organisation and security reasons. 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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