Tour 6.3: Transpantaneira - Fazenda Curicacá - Estancio Vitoria - Pousada Pouso Alegre7 days/6 nights from/to Cuiabá (offered all year)
On this journey, you will get to know diverse ecosystems. Also, you will change accommodation twice. The three accommodation sites – Fazenda Curicaca, Estancia Vitoria and 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. Thus you will enjoy the different landscapes (throughout the year) and return from Pantanal with a maximum of new impressions and experiences – and, of course, with many pictures of “crocodiles” (which experts call “alligators” or “caimans”).
1st day: Cuiabá – Curicacá LodgeOur travel guide will pick you up at Cuiabá airport. Then a drive of about 100 km on asphalt roads to Poconé. Here you will have lunch with a typically Brazilian family and savour 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 will go on a hike in the vicinity of the lodge, mainly to track down various bird species and howler monkeys. Night safari with torches and headlights to watch nocturnal animals after dinner.
2nd day: Curicaca LodgeOn request sunrise tour towards 5 am. Watch the rising sun and the awakening of the Pantanal fauna, a unique experience that no one should pass up. There is also a watchtower in the area, from which you get a beautiful view over 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 Pantanal.After lunch you will go on a canoe tour on Rio Novo or a mountain bike tour along the Transpantaneira. After dinner night trip with torches 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 Estancia Vitoria (about half an hour’s drive), a former fazenda. This lodge is situated by the Transpantaneira (mileage point 35) and was converted to a pousada in 2008 to open up a new lodge for tourism in Pantanal. Even while on the Transpantaneira, you will be able to see the first plant and animal species. Depending on schedule, several stops will be made for exploring and photo opportunities. On arrival at the lodge welcoming drinks, allocation of rooms and plenty of time for a long shower. Afterwards you can go on the first tours, depending on your stamina. In the evening, there will be a 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 Pantanal, a unique experience nobody should miss. After breakfast trip to the surroundings of the pousada to watch the flora and fauna in Pantanal; on request a horseback tour is possible as well. After lunch, you will go on a boat trip on Rio Clarinho. The lodge is equipped with 10 bicycles, so that you can cycle, 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 take the 54 km 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, mainly, aras 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 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 found here. On a horseback ride in the morning, you can spot Black Skimmers (rynchops niger) catching fish in ponds. They are constantly scouring the pools for food. 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 watchtower. After dinner night-time drive into 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: Pousada Pouso Alegre – CuiabáAfter breakfast, there will be either another horseback ride, a hike in the environment of the lodge or you will be taken to the airport in Cuiabá, depending on flight schedules.
Prices per person:
Services (included in prices mentioned 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, a bathroom/shower. All transfers, all tours by car, boat, on horseback or on foot. 24-h supervision by educated, competent english-speaking travel guides. All transfers and car rides in an air conditioned van or car, depending on the number of travellers. Not included:Beverages, tips, personal expenses.Equipment:Appropriate footwear (light hiking shoes), long jeans or trekking pants, long-sleeved shirt or blouse, t-shirts and shirts for sleeping, hat, cap or head cloth, 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 extremely 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 fotos on this site are protected by copyright: © by Günter Stysch |
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