Wildlife holidays in Brazil, tailormade
| country: | Brazil |
| location: | Amazon rainforest, Iguazu Falls, Pantanal |
| departures: | This trip can be tailormade at a time to suit you except March & April, and can be adapted to suit your interests, budget and requirements as necessary |
| price: | From £2745 (14 days) including domestic flights only, as per itinerary, based on twin share. We can arrange flights from the UK. Please provide full details in your enquiry as listed below |
the amazing things you'll be doing
This trip explores some of the best places in Brazil for viewing fauna, flora and natural attractions.
Our tour begins in Rio de Janeiro with a visit to the statue Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) which rises 38 metres above Corcovado Mountain and offers spectacular views of the city and surroundings.
During a full day guided tour there will be the opportunity to visit Corcovado and visit Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain) by cable car.
Time permitting, we'll explore the city’s Jardim Botanico (Botanical Garden), one of the ten most important of its kind in the world and contains palm trees dating from the Garden’s foundation in 1808, greenhouses, orchid rooms, rose gardens and a water lily-filled pond. A second full day is spent in Rio for relaxation or independent exploration.
Wider than Victoria and higher than Niagara, we spend a full day at Iguazu Falls. Enjoy the panoramic views before embarking in jeep-towed wagons through the rainforest to the banks of the Iguazu River where your zodiacs will be waiting. From here, it a 4 mile journey up the river towards the Devil's Throat Canyon and a mile of rapids – be prepared to get wet! In the afternoon we explore the rainforest trails before returning across the border to watch the sunset.
Our lodge in the southern Amazon consists of double rooms and VIP bungalows. We spend 3 nights here, exploring the rainforest on foot and by boat. There is a large bird (550 + species) and butterfly (2000 + species) list. There is also excellent mammal fauna and mammals often found in the surrounding forest include Brazilian Tapir (usually seen along river banks), Capybara, anteaters, opossums, river otters, Giant Otters (on longer river trips), brocket deer, agoutis, Tayra, and Paca. There are also 7 species of primates - Night Monkey, Dusky Titi Monkey, Brown Capuchin, Red-handed Howler Monkey, White-Whiskered Spider Monkey, and the endemic Red-Nosed Bearded Saki Monkey.
We head into the Pantanal, the world's largest seasonal wetland, which covers part of Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia. During the dry season (mid-April to late September) the water drains from the wetlands leaving dry grassland, small wooded islands and fish filled pools where animals and birds congregate to drink and feed. This makes for incredible wildlife viewing (think Amazon rainforest without the trees!) and during the dry season many of the 700 species of birds, 100 mammal species and 80 reptile species can be seen. These include the metre high Jabiru Stork, symbol of the Pantanal, Hyacinth Macaws, anacondas, Jaguars, Giant and Collared Anteaters, Giant Otters, about 600,000 Capybara (at around 50 kg the world’s largest rodent), and between 10 and 35 million caiman (South American crocodilians)!
Accompanied by a bilingual guide, we spend 3 nights in the heart of the northern Pantanal at Pantanal Wildlife Centre. Activities include horseriding, hikes, canoe rides, photographic safaris and animal night spotting. The Wildlife Centre is a particularly good place to see Giant Otters and Brazilian Tapir, and there are large populations of Hyacinth Macaws nearby. We return to Cuiaba and fly to Sao Paulo for our onward connections.
Our tour begins in Rio de Janeiro with a visit to the statue Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) which rises 38 metres above Corcovado Mountain and offers spectacular views of the city and surroundings.
During a full day guided tour there will be the opportunity to visit Corcovado and visit Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain) by cable car.
Time permitting, we'll explore the city’s Jardim Botanico (Botanical Garden), one of the ten most important of its kind in the world and contains palm trees dating from the Garden’s foundation in 1808, greenhouses, orchid rooms, rose gardens and a water lily-filled pond. A second full day is spent in Rio for relaxation or independent exploration.
Wider than Victoria and higher than Niagara, we spend a full day at Iguazu Falls. Enjoy the panoramic views before embarking in jeep-towed wagons through the rainforest to the banks of the Iguazu River where your zodiacs will be waiting. From here, it a 4 mile journey up the river towards the Devil's Throat Canyon and a mile of rapids – be prepared to get wet! In the afternoon we explore the rainforest trails before returning across the border to watch the sunset.
Our lodge in the southern Amazon consists of double rooms and VIP bungalows. We spend 3 nights here, exploring the rainforest on foot and by boat. There is a large bird (550 + species) and butterfly (2000 + species) list. There is also excellent mammal fauna and mammals often found in the surrounding forest include Brazilian Tapir (usually seen along river banks), Capybara, anteaters, opossums, river otters, Giant Otters (on longer river trips), brocket deer, agoutis, Tayra, and Paca. There are also 7 species of primates - Night Monkey, Dusky Titi Monkey, Brown Capuchin, Red-handed Howler Monkey, White-Whiskered Spider Monkey, and the endemic Red-Nosed Bearded Saki Monkey.
We head into the Pantanal, the world's largest seasonal wetland, which covers part of Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia. During the dry season (mid-April to late September) the water drains from the wetlands leaving dry grassland, small wooded islands and fish filled pools where animals and birds congregate to drink and feed. This makes for incredible wildlife viewing (think Amazon rainforest without the trees!) and during the dry season many of the 700 species of birds, 100 mammal species and 80 reptile species can be seen. These include the metre high Jabiru Stork, symbol of the Pantanal, Hyacinth Macaws, anacondas, Jaguars, Giant and Collared Anteaters, Giant Otters, about 600,000 Capybara (at around 50 kg the world’s largest rodent), and between 10 and 35 million caiman (South American crocodilians)!
Accompanied by a bilingual guide, we spend 3 nights in the heart of the northern Pantanal at Pantanal Wildlife Centre. Activities include horseriding, hikes, canoe rides, photographic safaris and animal night spotting. The Wildlife Centre is a particularly good place to see Giant Otters and Brazilian Tapir, and there are large populations of Hyacinth Macaws nearby. We return to Cuiaba and fly to Sao Paulo for our onward connections.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Arrive in Rio de Janeiro and transfer to hotel. |
| Day 2: | Guided tour of Rio including Sugar Loaf and Corcovado. (B,L) |
| Day 3: | Free day. (B) |
| Day 4: | Transfer to airport and fly to Iguazu. Arrival and transfer to hotel. |
| Day 5: | Visit Brazilian and Argentinean Falls. (B) |
| Day 6: | Transfer to airport and fly to Cuiaba. Transfer to hotel. (B) |
| Day 7: | Fly to Alta Floresta and transfer to Lodge. (B,D) |
| Day 8-9: | Lodge activities. (B,L,D) |
| Day 10: | Transfer to Alta Floresta. Fly to Cuiaba and transfer to hotel. (B) |
| Day 11: | Transfer to Pantanal Wildlife Centre. (B,L,D) |
| Day 12-13: | Pantanal activities. Overnight Pantanal Wildlife Centre. (B,L,D) |
| Day 14: | Transfer to Cuiaba and fly to Sao Paulo for onward connections. (B) |
tailor made holidays
As this trip can be tailormade to your requirements it would be helpful if you could you provide the following information: Rough budget per person (stating with or without flights), your address and postcode, contact phone number, preferred date of travel, length of trip, number of passengers, preferred countries and areas within those countries, specific interests & type of accommodation.highly commended
This tourism business was Highly Commended in our 2007 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards - the largest awards of their kind in the world, and organised by responsibletravel.com in association with The Times, World Travel Market and Geographical Magazine, of the Royal Geographical Society.Since 2004, the Awards has recognised individuals, companies and organisations in travel making a big commitment to the culture and economies of local communities and helping to conserve biodiversity.
how this holiday makes a difference
 In order to protect against the ever increasing ‘arc of deforestation’ to the south and add to the corridor of protected areas in Southern Amazonia rainforest is purchased by the owners of Rio Cristalino Jungle Lodge as it becomes available to manage as a Private Natural Heritage Reserve. The land the lodge is built on and some of the surrounding forest (a total of 700 ha) is in private ownership, and 7,150 ha of rainforest on the opposite side of the Cristalino River is currently being purchased. Including in the cost of the stay at the lodge is a $25 per person ‘wildlife preservation fee’ paid to the Cristalino Ecological Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the conservation and development of sustainable practises in the southern Amazon. We were voted most responsible tour operator by UK NGO Tourism Concern. On average 75% of the cost of your trip with us - excluding flights - remains in the destination. Flights are automatically carbon offset through The Travel Forest, which plants 10 indigenous trees on your behalf (currently in northern Tanzania). Whilst the primary motivation for planting the trees is to offset carbon emissions, the project also works as a poverty alleviation and environmental improvement scheme. Our local operator in Brazil reinforces practices considered fundamental for environmental conservation and works to inform visitors, local staff and the population in general. They are one of the country leaders in ecotourism and one of the company directors is president of the Brazilian Bureau of Ecotourism. The company was founded to supply nature studies trips for students in the preserved areas of the country such as the Amazon and Pantanal. Though the company now also has an incoming tourism department there is still a very active study trips department. They strongly believe that these trips should promote the sensitivity of students towards nature preservation, present and promote models and techniques of sustainable exploration of natural resources and stimulate the sponsorship of local projects. The contact between urban students and local communities brings a possibility of development of other social and economic relations that value cultures and, at the same time, their peoples. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |