Recommend March 2012 - (Page 58)

PANTANAL the brazilian serengeti continued from page 56 ﬁsh included) from nearby suppliers. Guest facilities also include a pool and three observation towers within walking distance of the lodge for viewing birds and beasts at dawn and dusk. where the wild things are Consider day #1. It’s a 3-hour drive from Cuiaba, airport gateway to Mato Grosso, to one of the most amazing stretches of road anywhere: the Transpantaneira highway, a dirt-road running 90 miles from Pocone to Porto Jofre. The Transpantaneira starts in the picturesque colonial town of Pocone, where you roll onto a rather high dirt levee that becomes a linear wildlife refuge, almost a national park itself. It’s paralleled by watery channels that attract countless birds and beasts, and linked by 126 rickety bridges that span piranha-infested streams. You drive slowly, for clusters of capybara rest mid-road, caiman share watering holes with myriads of herons and kingﬁshers, rheas graze next to herds of zebu cows, and clouds of bright pink spoonbills drift by overhead. And on any one of the road’s 126 wooden bridges, families and friends gather to ﬁsh, chat, and picnic. the resort unparalleled views. Its corner location affords And we haven’t even reached the Araras Eco Lodge, which lies not far off the roadway. Following check-in and sitting on our verandah sipping a cool caipirinha cocktail, we spot two endangered, hard-to-ﬁnd blue hyacinth macaw pairs arguing right up in the tree, while a capybara family forages around the lawn. Come sunset, the howler monkeys are out in full force, and it’s time for the evening brieﬁng on plans for the next dayand-a-half. Those include a boardwalk hike to the observation tower to catch the sunrise avian frenzy, playing cowgirl on a horseback ride through the marshes, and a late-afternoon canoe trip on the river. This editor’s paddle partner is a shy 11- year-old girl, here with her parents. We exchange lists of critters we had seen and hers included a jaguar passing right across the Transpantaneira. Oh well, she’d been there four days. Seasons are important in planning Pantanal travel, and they say that July to November is prime-time for jaguar spotting. More broadly speaking, during the wet season, running January to June, some twothirds of the land is ﬂooded, and road embankments become a refuge for a menagerie of wildlife. This is the season known for its brilliant sunsets and enjoyed particularly by water birds, butterﬂies, capybaras, and grey-brocket deer. But the best wildlife viewing time is the July to December dry season when ﬂooding recedes, trapping river ﬁsh in thousands of ponds, lagoons and oxbows that offer up the feedingfrenzy banquets for birds and beasts, making for guaranteed wildlife sightings. This is also the breeding season for birds—their plumage at its best—and the season when it’s easiest for visitors to travel about by 4x4 transport. While the Pantanal has World Heritage Site status, nearly 99 percent of the region is privately owned. A few conservationists bought up cattle farms to protect the lands from increasing development and poaching. One of those was Araras-owner Andre Thuronyi (a.k.a. Crocodile Dundy), whose eco-lodge celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. “We never lose sight of the environmental protection our corner of the Pantanal requires,” Thuronyi explains. “Our special projects include monitoring nesting macaws, preserving the giant otters, inhibiting the capture of animal cubs for trade, and educating the local people as to why this is important and how they beneﬁt.” 58 march 2012 The excellent bilingual guides, horseback leaders, and kitchen team on the Araras staff seem to have gotten the message. Other new environmental programs now in place include treatments of wastes and efﬂuents and bee-keeping. Certainly a 3-night stay is the minimum at the Araras Eco Lodge. The all-inclusive price of a 3-night package starts at $1,329 pp dbl, covering airport pickup and return, lodging, all meals, and nature activities with English-speaking naturalist guides. This is a perfect place for a family vacation, and kids 10 and under stay free in their parent’s room. The lodge also offers special interest tours for photographers and birdwatchers; for horseback riders, who want to explore in the most traditional way, tours that include Pantaneira Cowboy Day: riding Pantaneira horses, driving cattle, and sleeping out one night at Bafo da Onca Camp. add-on: chapada Chapada dos Guimaraes National Park is the tableland sector of the greater Pantantal region, and while in the area, clients shouldn’t miss its breathtaking sandstone cliffs, canyons and plunging waterfalls. It’s got a lot in common with the desert buttes of Arizona or Utah, with the added beauty of the afternoon parrot show as brilliant red macaws ride the air currents up and down the cliffs. The best seat in the house is Morro dos Ventos restaurant, and the regional home cooking as impressive as the scenery. Right at the edge of the parkland in its own preservation area, where the Eco Park Lodge offers the perfect base for hiking park trails to the Bridal Veil Waterfall (the highest in the park) and to the lodge’s own breathtaking falls with cool pools to swim in below (December to July). The lodge, nicely designed by the resident-owner, resembles a Mexican hacienda, and its eight rooms have private bath, air conditioning, and verandahs with hammocks. There are grand views from those verandahs and from the pool, as well as from the open-air Teta da Loba restaurant, where simply delicious meals are prepared in a ﬁrewood stove. Lodge excursions include the Mirante da Geodesia, the lookout marking the geodesic center of Brazil; the vista of the lowlands below is grand, with the city of Cuiaba in the distance (50 miles). An all-inclusive 4-night package, three nights at Araras Lodge and one night at Eco Park Lodge is priced from $2,019 pp dbl. An even better option: add another night at Eco Park and have time to explore the caves of Nobres and swim with the colorful river ﬁsh. n of note Cuiaba is the air gateway to the Pantanal. Most travel to the Pantanal originates on ﬂights from Sao Paulo or Rio to Cuiaba. However, with nonstop ﬂights available now from the U.S. (Delta Air Lines from Atlanta, American Airlines and TAM from Miami), Brasilia makes an alternate and more direct gateway from/to the U.S., with frequent ﬂight service operating between Brasilia and Cuiaba. Archived related articles (available on recommend.com): Brazil Travel Planner (June 2011) contact information Araras Eco Lodge: araraslodge.com.br recommend.com http://www.recommend.com http://araraslodge.com.br http://www.recommend.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recommend March 2012

Editor's Notes/Agent Speak
Hotel Desk: Vikram Chatwal Hotels
Tour Talk: SITA World Tours
From Zambia to Zimbabwe
Small Ship Cruising in the U.S.
All-Inclusive Resort Guide: The Caribbean & Mexico
Alaska: New Action in an Old World
Sandpearl Resort, Clearwater, Florida
European River Cruising 2012
Pantanal: The Brazilian Serengeti

Recommend March 2012