things to do in brazil,Things to do in South America,world travel, bonito travel diary, botino travel guide, bonito travel trip
Bonito is certainly a beautiful place, and is more about the beauty of the area than the animals. We wanted to go there following the Lonely Planet's advice, and knew that this would be expensive and hard to organise in a timely way. The package we'd booked with Eco Adventures covered Bonito as well, so that we could make the most of our time, with minimal organisational hassle.
Our bus to Bonito arrived in good time, and we said goodbye to David and Mimi who were staying elsewhere in Bonito. We checked into our place, found the supermarket across the road, and Jayna went for a dip in the pousada's swimming pool, while Ken drank beer at the side.
On Thursday 12th we were picked up by our tour guide, Andre, and our driver. We'd expected to be looked after but having a personal tour guide and driver was unexpected
Red Macaw at Gruta Sao Miguel! Our first stop was the Gruta Sao Miguel, a cave in the limestone rock with lots of formations. There are usually bats and an owl resident in the cave, though they were not there when we visited. Where the owl produces it's pellets, there were thousands and thousands of tiny animal bones covering a couple of the formations. We learned about the topography of the Pantanal and Bonito and the different types of forest meeting each other in the Bonito area. It's a very pretty place. The tour also involved a walk through the surrounding jungle and a treetop walk. We saw red macaws hanging out in the trees.
The afternoon stop was at Estancia Mimosa (Mimosa means 'cute' in Portuguese), a series of waterfalls that you can swim in. We had a very nice lunch and hammock time, and admired a caiman with a butterfly on his face, before our tour started at 2pm. This was good timing, as it avoided the heat of the day, but also as you're not allowed to use suncream or insect repellent at all, it avoided some of the sunburn at least! We started with a walk through the forest and Ken did some boating. We were told that we could swim in 7 of the waterfalls, though one was closed on the day. We ended up swimming in three of the waterfalls. The water wasn't very clear so we saw little fish, but couldn't see much else, including the sharp rocks underfoot. This is where we sustained our first significant injury, as Jayna smashed her foot into the unseen rocks beneath
Red Macaw at Gruta Sao Miguel. This was swiftly dealt with through application of a first aid kit, which appeared from nowhere. Some scratches and bruises were sustained, but we think she'll live. After we returned from the waterfalls, the Estancia Mimosa laid on snacks of popcorn and Pao de Queijo. There we were talking to a very helpful and very happy Brazilian guy who found us hilarious, and a helpful Colombian woman, who gave us lots of tips for travel in Bonito and Colombia.
In the evening, we had to change rooms in our Pousada as the shower only gave cold water. Luckily we only moved next door, where the shower proved to be too hot. There's no pleasing some people.
On Friday 13th, we finally managed to pay for the rest of our tour, and we got some washing done in the most expensive washing place. Don't get your washing done in Bonito. We then went to Buraco das Araras, and on the way we saw a baby Armadillo running around in the road! Buraco das Araras is a sinkhole, at the bottom of which are a couple of caiman, and in the walls of which are 246 nested coupled red macaws. We saw some pairs of macaws and we saw some fly around the sinkhole, though this was from quite far away. The weather was baking hot and luckily the place lent us straw hats. We also found some seeds that were used for decoration, and proceeded to cover each other with red dye in pretty patterns
The afternoon stop was at Rio da Prata. This has been voted Brazil's best attraction. It is a river, filled with fish, and is very clear. You simply put on your snorkel and float down the river and enjoy the sights. We had lunch at the farm which was delicious, and enjoyed more hammock time. Andre, our guide, gave us lots of information about travel in Bolivia and Peru, which was really helpful. Unfortunately there was a tropical storm during lunch time. The visibility on a very clear day can be up to 50 metres in the river. When we did our tour, it wasn't quite so clear as that due to the storm. However, the sights there were still amazing as the river is full of fish! We also saw a caiman from underwater and monkeys in the trees overhead. There are also underwater springs, so you could see and feel the fresh water joining the rest of the water in the river. One was a big vertical cave, and the other three were patches of bubbling sand, one of which you are allowed to dive down and touch, which Ken did. Jayna was too buoyant to do so. The river eventually joins another river where the visibility was basically null, so we got out and walked a little way to get the jeep back to the farm. It was a shame that it had rained, but we were still very pleased with the experience and the amount that we saw.
The journey back was uneventful, and we said goodbye to our tour guide and driver. In the evening, we went for a wander into the centre of Bonito (which is on the outskirts of the city...). There's a water fountain of two enormous ceramic fish. The centre was happening, with a party bus shaped like a train, lit up in neon lights, driving children around, and a similar bike set up. For low season, there were lots of people around. Our hunt for batatas fritas (chips) was eventually successful.
We'd been due to return to Campo Grande on Saturday 14th, as this was the end of our tour. However we opted to stay in Bonito, as Campo Grande has nothing to offer for tourists. So on Saturday we did mostly chores and indoors stuff. We did venture to the pousada's swimming pool, and whiled away a happy hour, practicing walking on our hands in the pool, from one end to the other! The extremely happy Brazilian guy we met on Thursday had recommended an evening activity for us, which was a talk about snakes, where you get to hold a snake as well. We ate pizza and made our way to the snake guy's place, where he told us that the previous day he'd been shut down by the Brazilian government due to a 'technicality'. There was no snake holding for us.
On Sunday 15th we wished our mothers' a Happy Mother's Day, and Jayna's mum a very Happy Birthday
Hammock time. We hired bikes and cycled to Balneario Municipal, which is basically a place where you can float down the river and look at fish as you do so. It also has food, bars, volleyball, swimming, sand banks, jumps, and other fun stuff for people to do. We had a mask and snorkel and floated down the river a few times, taking in the fun of the current and the huge amount of fish close up in the water. We had ice cream and ice lollies and snoozed in the shade. It was a lovely relaxed day. We cycled back to the city and dropped off our bikes, and spent the evening getting ready for the following day's bus journey to Campo Grande. We ate chocolate. It was good.
Bonito is certainly a beautiful place, and is more about the beauty of the area than the animals. We wanted to go there following the Lonely Planet's advice, and knew that this would be expensive and hard to organise in a timely way. The package we'd booked with Eco Adventures covered Bonito as well, so that we could make the most of our time, with minimal organisational hassle.
Our bus to Bonito arrived in good time, and we said goodbye to David and Mimi who were staying elsewhere in Bonito. We checked into our place, found the supermarket across the road, and Jayna went for a dip in the pousada's swimming pool, while Ken drank beer at the side.
On Thursday 12th we were picked up by our tour guide, Andre, and our driver. We'd expected to be looked after but having a personal tour guide and driver was unexpected
Red Macaw at Gruta Sao Miguel! Our first stop was the Gruta Sao Miguel, a cave in the limestone rock with lots of formations. There are usually bats and an owl resident in the cave, though they were not there when we visited. Where the owl produces it's pellets, there were thousands and thousands of tiny animal bones covering a couple of the formations. We learned about the topography of the Pantanal and Bonito and the different types of forest meeting each other in the Bonito area. It's a very pretty place. The tour also involved a walk through the surrounding jungle and a treetop walk. We saw red macaws hanging out in the trees.
The afternoon stop was at Estancia Mimosa (Mimosa means 'cute' in Portuguese), a series of waterfalls that you can swim in. We had a very nice lunch and hammock time, and admired a caiman with a butterfly on his face, before our tour started at 2pm. This was good timing, as it avoided the heat of the day, but also as you're not allowed to use suncream or insect repellent at all, it avoided some of the sunburn at least! We started with a walk through the forest and Ken did some boating. We were told that we could swim in 7 of the waterfalls, though one was closed on the day. We ended up swimming in three of the waterfalls. The water wasn't very clear so we saw little fish, but couldn't see much else, including the sharp rocks underfoot. This is where we sustained our first significant injury, as Jayna smashed her foot into the unseen rocks beneath
Red Macaw at Gruta Sao Miguel. This was swiftly dealt with through application of a first aid kit, which appeared from nowhere. Some scratches and bruises were sustained, but we think she'll live. After we returned from the waterfalls, the Estancia Mimosa laid on snacks of popcorn and Pao de Queijo. There we were talking to a very helpful and very happy Brazilian guy who found us hilarious, and a helpful Colombian woman, who gave us lots of tips for travel in Bonito and Colombia.
In the evening, we had to change rooms in our Pousada as the shower only gave cold water. Luckily we only moved next door, where the shower proved to be too hot. There's no pleasing some people.
On Friday 13th, we finally managed to pay for the rest of our tour, and we got some washing done in the most expensive washing place. Don't get your washing done in Bonito. We then went to Buraco das Araras, and on the way we saw a baby Armadillo running around in the road! Buraco das Araras is a sinkhole, at the bottom of which are a couple of caiman, and in the walls of which are 246 nested coupled red macaws. We saw some pairs of macaws and we saw some fly around the sinkhole, though this was from quite far away. The weather was baking hot and luckily the place lent us straw hats. We also found some seeds that were used for decoration, and proceeded to cover each other with red dye in pretty patterns
The afternoon stop was at Rio da Prata. This has been voted Brazil's best attraction. It is a river, filled with fish, and is very clear. You simply put on your snorkel and float down the river and enjoy the sights. We had lunch at the farm which was delicious, and enjoyed more hammock time. Andre, our guide, gave us lots of information about travel in Bolivia and Peru, which was really helpful. Unfortunately there was a tropical storm during lunch time. The visibility on a very clear day can be up to 50 metres in the river. When we did our tour, it wasn't quite so clear as that due to the storm. However, the sights there were still amazing as the river is full of fish! We also saw a caiman from underwater and monkeys in the trees overhead. There are also underwater springs, so you could see and feel the fresh water joining the rest of the water in the river. One was a big vertical cave, and the other three were patches of bubbling sand, one of which you are allowed to dive down and touch, which Ken did. Jayna was too buoyant to do so. The river eventually joins another river where the visibility was basically null, so we got out and walked a little way to get the jeep back to the farm. It was a shame that it had rained, but we were still very pleased with the experience and the amount that we saw.
The journey back was uneventful, and we said goodbye to our tour guide and driver. In the evening, we went for a wander into the centre of Bonito (which is on the outskirts of the city...). There's a water fountain of two enormous ceramic fish. The centre was happening, with a party bus shaped like a train, lit up in neon lights, driving children around, and a similar bike set up. For low season, there were lots of people around. Our hunt for batatas fritas (chips) was eventually successful.
We'd been due to return to Campo Grande on Saturday 14th, as this was the end of our tour. However we opted to stay in Bonito, as Campo Grande has nothing to offer for tourists. So on Saturday we did mostly chores and indoors stuff. We did venture to the pousada's swimming pool, and whiled away a happy hour, practicing walking on our hands in the pool, from one end to the other! The extremely happy Brazilian guy we met on Thursday had recommended an evening activity for us, which was a talk about snakes, where you get to hold a snake as well. We ate pizza and made our way to the snake guy's place, where he told us that the previous day he'd been shut down by the Brazilian government due to a 'technicality'. There was no snake holding for us.
On Sunday 15th we wished our mothers' a Happy Mother's Day, and Jayna's mum a very Happy Birthday
Hammock time. We hired bikes and cycled to Balneario Municipal, which is basically a place where you can float down the river and look at fish as you do so. It also has food, bars, volleyball, swimming, sand banks, jumps, and other fun stuff for people to do. We had a mask and snorkel and floated down the river a few times, taking in the fun of the current and the huge amount of fish close up in the water. We had ice cream and ice lollies and snoozed in the shade. It was a lovely relaxed day. We cycled back to the city and dropped off our bikes, and spent the evening getting ready for the following day's bus journey to Campo Grande. We ate chocolate. It was good.
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| Brazil-Bonito Travel Diary-Guide-trip- 2021 |
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| Brazil-Bonito Travel Diary-Guide-trip- 2021 |
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| Brazil-Bonito Travel Diary-Guide-trip- 2021 |
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| Brazil-Bonito Travel Diary-Guide-trip- 2021 |
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| Brazil-Bonito Travel Diary-Guide-trip- 2021 |
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| Brazil-Bonito Travel Diary-Guide-trip- 2021 |
Wow! such a nice piece of information.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post!!! I truly believe that there is much more to explore new places. The world has incredible beauty which makes us visit new places for sure.
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