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Published: December 5th 2010
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The journey to Campo Grande was a little more eventful than was hoped. Our tickets had been arranged through the tour company, which saved us hassle in having to go to the bus station to get the tickets but we were given tickets which meant we had to change at a station an hour away. It was explained as being very straightforward and we did believe them until our bus left 10 mins late and we still seemed some distance away at 645 when we heard an almighty bang and the driver pulled over. We all got out after the driver to see the tyre completely shredded. There was no way we were to make our connection at 7pm now, but as Sam reminded me we were probably lucky to be alive! The driver and a few of the passengers set about changing the tyre and we quite quick, setting off again we eventually got into Cascavel at 915, 2 hours late. Luckily it seemed that all was not lost and my visions of having to stay overnight and missing our tour were unfounded. It seemed that Cascavel is an interchange station and coaches only leave when the passengers arrive. We
then set off to Campo Grande at 945pm.
We arrived in Campo Grande at 745am after a better overnight trip than the one from Sao Paulo, we had both managed to sleep, quite amazingly for Sam. Brazilians do know how to do bus travel, the seats are comfortable and can ¾ recline, its just the road surface, noise from other passengers and the number of stops through the night the bus makes to let people off places that is disturbing. However, we arrived on time surprisingly as Campo Grande is one hour behind and we were met by an Ecological tours agent who took us to their hostel for an amazing breakfast of loads of fruit, cakes, bread, jams, cheese, ham, juices and coffee. Brazilians certainly know how to do breakfast and their variety of tropical fresh fruit never ceased to amaze me. We also showered, thankfully then set off in the a/c mini bus 4 hours north then taken by pick up truck and then a hour down dirt road to our camp in the Pantanal. The Pantanal is a vast wetland the size of the UK and although is mostly privately owned by farmers it has a
huge wealth of wildlife.
We were shown around the camp, our bedroom of hammocks and relaxed under the shade of a mango tree laiden with fruit. The heat and humidity was the highest we had encountered but the freshly picked mangoes made things better as long as we got there before the horses did. They were so juicy! We made the transfer with a Canadian girl – Su, and Dutch guy – Roy, who we then went for a walk with along an almost dried up river bank. We had our first encounter with Caiman (crocs) who eyed us up but were not hugely bothered by us. The mosquitos made us turn back.
As the sun set the other groups came back from their activities and we all sat around eating the home cooked food, a variety of beans and rice( to my delight) salad and various meat dishes were had each lunchtime and at night all washed down with some refreshing juice. That evening our activity was the spotlight safari , basically a nighttime truck ride down the dirt road to look for the Caiman eyes, which we saw lots of as well as a huge hairy spider,
sleeping toucans at the top of the tree and water pigs. Although my favourite thing was just lying on the back of the truck looking up at the stars which seemed to be everywhere.
The next morning after a surprisingly comfy night in the hammock we were up at 530am to get our activity in before it got too hot. After breakfast we set off in the truck and as the sun rose we saw many sleeping toucans in the tops of trees with the sun radiating through their beaks. We went on a 2 hour nature walk through forest, farmland and dried up swamp as our guide pointed out a range of birds, monkeys and water pigs. As the heat of the day increased we had an early lunch then rested until the afternoon activity, which was a boat ride down the River Miranda. We boarded the rather noisy boat, which I’m not sure how it didn’t scare away all of the wildlife. It was great being on a different mode of transport and it was such a peaceful journey with no one else on the River as it was spawning season for the fish so fishing was
River Crew
Kjersti, Ron, Susan banned and surprisingly no other tourists. Half way down the heavens opened and did so for about 20 minutes, whilst we remained in bright sunlight. This didn’t really cool things down, but it was quite an experience! Our guide told us how he had seen Jaguars along the riverside last month but that the waters were too high now to see any big cats or Anacondas, thankfully! The vegetation and birds were our only companions.
We had a slight lye in the next morning, as we left camp at 7am for our Piranha fishing. Gabriel our guide’s eyes light up when he picked our spot to fish for the Piranha at this lake to the side of the dirt road. He made it look easy but there was a definite technique to catch anything with the basic bamboo cane rods, hook and cows heart bait. The fish would nibble very quickly around the bait before you even knew it. I caught 2 baby ones which were thrown back, then after some tuition I caught a bigger one that was kept for lunch. Sam also struggled to keep up with Gabriel’s tally which I think totaled all of our groups catch
put together. The Piranha were fried simply and had for lunch and although boney with little meat on, they were extremely tasty.
After lunch it was time to leave and we were hoping to get to Bonito, as we had been told that this would be possible. The guides however, were not so sure as it was Sunday. We left at 12 arriving at the drop off post and left in the hands of a crazy Brazilian bar owner, who even a Brazilian had said that he was incomprehensible. Luckily also in the makeshift roadside bar was a Brazilian who spoke English who told us where we needed to get to and then get a bus to Bonito the next day. He even waited outside under the shade of a tree to help us look for the coach, with it arriving 2 hours later. After a 3 hour bus journey and an amazing thunderstorm witnessed from the safety of the coach we arrived in our overnight stop place, Anastacion. We made the journey with Katie, a teacher from Bristol, so we all got a room in a local Pousada then headed to the only place open for food, a
Parrot
The Parrot that attacked our hut! small café that seemed to be someones front room where we ate burgers and watched a Brazilian game show where dog owners had to make their dogs walk past these plates with cuts of meat on without being straying.
We got the bus at 630am the next day to Jardim where we got a connecting bus to Bonito arriving at 12pm. We got to the hostel, thankfully close to the bus station. We headed out to research our options for trips for the next day. Bonito is surrounded by natural springs which make up amazingly clear rivers and lakes with lots of snorkelling and swimming options, but all the sites are privately owned and transport is arranged separately so this makes the price a little extortionate. This deters most backpackers, but it seemed like a once in a lifetime experience and the reason why we had made the journey, as well as having a free night at the hostel. The heavy rain the previous day did limit our options.
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