From one jungle to another
This mornng I flew to Rio, after 4 days in the Pantanal. We landed on schedule and I made my way by taxi to the www.triphostel.com. As you can see from the website, the hostel is pretty nice - an old building that´s been done up and has a really nice atmosphere. The best part, though, is that it´s at the top of a heinously steep cobble street, complete with tram tracks. I wish I had my bike…
The Pantanal was basically amazing. We travelled by bus along the Transpanteria Rd, which is a 150km dead end, dirt ´highway´that juts into the centre of the wetland system. Along the road the pools are dying, given that it´s the dry season here. That means the fish, birds, caiman and other wildlife are concentrated for viewing ease.
The bird list, for those playing at home, totalled around 145 species. Highlights were several macaw species (including the hyacinth macaw), various ibis, roseate spoonbills etc… I also managed to catch a Piranha and glimpse a few river otters.
Over the next couple of days I´d like to check out the Christ statue, the beach, catch the cablecar up Sugarloaf and perhaps, if possible, go to a game of football at Maracana Stadium (apparently no place for the nervous - lol). Safety in the city is questionable at best and it seems you have to watch your back like a black-collared hawk.
August 1st, 2008 at 9:48 am
perhaps have a bit of a party in Lapa. also there was a place called something like casa del matriz/x/s? that was really fun. you can walk up to the top of the first sugar loaf via a maintenance track from the walk to the right of the mountain.. There is also some sweet climbing there if you have not seen them already. Happy IMD4 people. Goals? Aims? Targets?
August 1st, 2008 at 5:29 pm
145 birds… well done!
If you have the time, I would recommend going to the national park around the corcovado (Parque Nacional de Tijuca). It’s pretty good , even though it’s virtually surrounded by the city. There you may have the chance to see some atlantic raiforest specialties like guans, etc.
The big christ and the sugarloaf are well worth going. If you take the footpath to the Pão de açucar look for the crazy looking marmoset monkeys. Party in Lapa is definitely fun… but go easy on the caipis.
As for safety, I found all those warnings a bit exagerated. You should be safe as long as you have common sense and don’t show off your expensive camera or jewelry and don’t be a loud tourist. But in any case I guess it’s safer to stay away from the favelas.