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Published: June 28th 2008
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Our bus journey into Bonito was probably one of the worst we have experienced... not because it was uncomfortable or anything, but because we had 2 bus changes, then had to get in a small mini-van in the early hours of the morning for the final leg of the journey into Bonito... not the best nights sleep we have ever had!
Anyway, Bonito itself is a small little town on the edge of Brazil´s vast wetland area called The Pantanal, and we stayed just a couple of nights on the way to The Pantanal itself, but having got here we discovered that there was some great snorkeling trips available in crystal clear rivers about an hours drive away. When we got to the area we first had a 1/2 hour trek through the rainforest before even reaching the river, we didn't see much wildlife but by the time we got to the river we were pretty hot so it was nice to get in the river! We were snorkeling for a good couple of hours down the river, and it really was crystal clear... we spotted loads of different fish, some pretty big as well, although no cayman or snakes
which could well have been in the river at the same time as us! It was pretty tiring , and fairly cold by the time we got into the main river towards the end of the trip, so we were all glad to get back for some well deserved food at the end of it all.
After a couple of days in Bonito our next stop was a tour of The Pantanal to check out the wildlife. We started with a spot of piranha fishing near to the ranch where we were staying... which was different. Neither of us had been fishing before and we didn't manage to catch anything although a couple of people in our group did so we didn't go hungry for the night! A few cayman were swimming close by for good measure too, just to add to the atmosphere... When we finally made it to our ranch, we were greeted by a fantastic sunset and with macaws squawking in the trees. The only problem we found with our ranch was that to get to the room we had to walk down what we named "cayman alley", it was a patch of land in between
huge expanses of water with cayman sleeping and laying around on either side which we had to dodge. We were told that they sleep during the day so not to worry. It made going to the bathroom at night interesting as we had to double check for cayman on the path before crossing....never done that before!! We really were in the middle of nowhere and as the lights dimmed, the mosquito's and midges appeared in their millions, so we all tried to stay indoors to avoid them before heading to sleep in our hammocks, listening to the sound of bats in the eves of the building and hoping not to fall out of the hammock in the middle of the night!
Wildlife spotting is really the main activity in the Pantanal, so we went on a morning trek through the forests in an attempt to find some interesting wildlife. After about an hour of walking round, all we had seen was a couple of cows and a monkey skull on the floor... very disappointing! It wasn´t until the drive on the way back that we finally spotted the beautiful toucan and also a couple of monkeys in the trees
near the road... of course, there were loads of cayman, but we had seen those already in the ranch! Another classic activity was horse riding through the wetlands... again trying to spot wildlife. It was a fantastic view as the sun was setting, walking through water up to the horse's belly at times. We spotted a few more macaws... and the inevitable cayman! It was all good until the last part when we had the option to canter or gallop on the horses and all hell broke loose as most of the horses decided to make a fast dash home whether you wanted to or not. Unfortunately, Elaine and one other of our group fell off... luckily it was into water so no-one was really hurt, but everyone was really shook up and unfortunately our camera went in the water with Elaine so is now water logged.
That was the last of our adventures in Brazil. We both absolutely loved Brazil, just an amazing country from the madness that is Rio, to the gorgeous beaches of Ilha Grande and the beautiful wildlife in the Pantanal (except the horses!!!). We definitely want to go back to see more of the
country one day as we only managed to see such a small part. We are now off to Bolivia, and buying a new camera will be first priority...
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