Brazil’s Wild, Wild West

After the great city of São Paulo, we got on an overnight bus and a transfer to travel over 900 miles, a little more than the distance from Land’s End to John O’Groats. In 24 hours we had gone from the biggest city in South America to the far edge of Brazil, just fifty miles from the Bolivian border.

We arrived at a 30,000 acre cattle ranch, which was our home for three nights with the horses and cattle, and immediately went out on the first of a series of boat trips, jeep rides and walks on foot and by horse. We were in the Pantanal, which is a huge savannah-type area which borders Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina and Paraguay. Now famous for cattle farms and crops, we were here for one main reason – jaguars.

We went up and down the River Miranda and drove round the huge farm, as well as walking and even going out on horseback for the first time in years. Walking on foot was the most interesting, and most scary, as we were literally following the fresh tracks of adult and baby jaguars in the hope of catching them sleeping or walking. When we did this at 2am in the morning, in complete darkness, it was particularly intense; but despite the best efforts of our guide, Elias, we did not see the elusive animal. Instead we saw lots of caiman, capybara, howler monkeys, birds and other interesting things.

After not seeing the “big cat”, we moved south to the edge of the Pantanal. Bonito is known as an activity centre, but for us it was to see the crystal clear waters. Firstly, we went to see a cave which had the most amazing blue lagoon, but the highlight was the Aquatico Natural. Here, we floated for a mile down a river which was so clear and absolutely full of fish. It was just an incredible, and memorable experience; similar to swimming in an aquarium.

We carried on further south to the triple border between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. This point is the location of the world’s largest waterfalls, Iguacu Falls. Over three kilometres, and on the border between two countries, there are a series of smaller falls on two levels, which build up to one gargantuan fall at the end called the Devil’s Throat.

We started the trip by visiting the Brazilian side. This has the advantage of looking across from the other cliff edge, and giving an overview of the size of the falls. At the end, you get to go along a walkway and look right across into the Devil’s Throat amidst a wall of cooling spray. It was a great taster for what was to come.

We were staying in Foz do Iguacu, in Brazil, but there are trips which take you to Argentina for the day, and directly to the larger Argentine National Park. We started the day by taking a boat trip up, and into, the waterfalls themselves. Although the Devil’s Throat is too difficult to get to, you do get to go up some big rapids to the nearest waterfalls. You get to see the falls up close, from water level, which is incredible, but you also get driven into the spray itself and get shockingly wet.

We spent the rest of the day drying off as we walked around the National Park. There were three areas to go, the furthest was by a small train, and the rest were walking. At the furthest point you get to look down into the Devil’s Throat and it is truly stupendous. There is so much spray that there is a permanent rainbow, and you can’t see down to the bottom as the water crashes down and rushes back up.

The other views showed us the water rushing over the edges as well as crashing down below. We saw the huge waterfall that the boat had driven into, and quite how far we had gone into the falls. It was such a pleasure to see the falls in different ways, and we just loved the several hours we spent there.

In our final place in Brazil, we moved back to the coast to Florianópolis, which of course is not strictly the West. Staying on the nearby island of Santa Catarina, we ended our trip where we began, on the coast. The island has lots of beautiful beaches, some surfing and some swimming, where we spent some time in between the showers nd sometimes, heavy rain. It was a nice, relaxing place and a great way to end our time in Brazil.

We have loved it in Brazil – it’s a country of so many contrasts. The people love the beach and to party, and they are very kind and helpful. It takes some time to work the country out and to find its hidden secrets, and it is so vast it takes a lot of travelling time, but it is well worth the effort. We still have more to see in Brazil, and will definitely be coming back. Now it’s on to Uruguay, and beyond.