South America - Venture Magazine Issue #2 Pages
8-9
The Natural Road to Rio
Journalist Jim Dickins tours the Brazilian swamp country by overland truck and makes short work of the piranhas on route to carneval.
Travelling around a country bigger than Australia in a converted truck was always going to be an adventure. My Brazilian odyssey began on the border with Argentina, at the spectacular Iguazu Falls, where the waters of the Iguazu River pour out of the rainforest down a string of cataracts nearly 3km wide. The World Heritage site, made famous outside South America by the 1986 film The Mission, was quite an introduction to the continent.
For my travelling companions, however, some of whom had been on the road much longer, joining the Kumuka tour weeks earlier as far away as Bolivia, Iguazu was just another highlight in a string of highlights. And our tantalising destination? Rio de Janeiro, where we were due to arrive in time for the city’s famous Carnival.
Our 12-tonne truck began life in the German army, its origins still visible in an old gun turret welded shut on the remodelled cabin roof. Upstairs, seating for two dozen passengers was arranged in two aisles, with a choice of lounge-style chair and table combinations, or forward-facing seat pairs.
The upper deck also featured a safe for valuables, an icebox for food and drinks, a sleeping bunk for the co-driver, a sound system and a small collection of books and guides. Air-conditioning was provided by nature, through rows of sliding windows. Below, storage for luggage and the tour’s extensive collection of camping and cooking equipment took the form of a series of lockable steel compartments.
Our tour leader handled the logistics like a minor military operation, but the soak-in-the-experience overland ethos has remained largely intact.
Tours are something like a youth hostel on wheels – everyone pitches in to clean the truck and take turns cooking and washing up. That might not be to everyone’s taste, but the camaraderie of the experience and the chance to see parts of the world largely inaccessible to lone travellers prove attractive to a diverse spectrum of passengers.
Those on our tour ranged from a teenager to a man in his 70s, with an average age of around 30. Our accommodation also varied, ranging from small hotels to grassy roadside campsites and rows of hammocks in a jungle shack.
Despite its wilderness location, Iguazu is a major tourist destination, catering to hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. It is possible to view the falls from every possible angle and on both sides of the border – even by helicopter. Jetboat rides under cascading water near a section called Garganta del Diablo – or Devil’s Throat – are especially popular.
Soon, though, we were back on the road, travelling northwest through the broad plains of the Pantanal (another UNESCO World Heritage site), in southern Brazil, to the ecotourism hub of Bonito, where mineral-laden springs pump crystal-clear streams through cave systems in the lush rainforest. Drifting lazily on the current with snorkel and mask for an hour or two is a fine way to witness the region’s distinctive aquatic life.
Moving further into Brazil’s vast tropical interior, the landscape gradually empties. The wide vistas, peopled mainly by cattle farmers and dotted with occasional roadside diners, bring Australia’s Outback to mind. A toucan taking flight across the wetlands stretching to an unbroken horizon was a sight that I will treasure.
As bitumen gave way to dirt, we exchanged our truck for smaller, ageing four-wheel-drives and headed deeper into the wilderness region of the Pantanal, where caiman alligators bask in the sun and piranha feed in the shallow streams. The region is more hospitable than it sounds: mosquitoes and hot nights pose the main threat. Insect repellent, hammocks and mesh huts open to the breeze kept us comfortable.
The caiman we saw were docile enough to approach and even touch, gingerly, under the watchful eye of our guides. Piranha, meanwhile, showed more interest in our baited fishing hooks than our bare legs and feet as we waded waist-deep to catch them. And they proved a tasty appetiser when fried later in the camp kitchen. Outside the Amazon, the Pantanal region is regarded as one of the best places to see Brazil’s abundant wildlife.
After days in the bush, we were back on the road again for a long drive east towards the Atlantic, to the idyllic former gold-mining port of Parati, 200km west of Rio, where cobblestone streets and the whitewashed villas of colonial Brazil cluster around a small harbour. This is the jumping-off point for a cruise industry that plies the area’s tranquil bays and islands – perfect for a cooling dip in the emerald waters. It was also the unlikely venue for South America’s Overland Truck Olympics.
As we neared Rio, our tour intersected with a growing band of fellow overlanders, including another Kumuka truck. In February of each year, most of South America’s overland industry is converging on Rio for Carneval. Tour leaders, crew, and passengers, mostly from Australia, New Zealand and the UK, gather in Parati and compete in a series of novelty events, including the truck push and tyre races.
It’s a time to catch up with news and sink a few caipirinhas (Brazil’s national cocktail made with rum, lime juice and sugar) ahead of the main event in Rio, now just a half-day drive up the coast. While most overlanders stay on for at least a few days in Rio, Parati marked the end of our trucking life. From now on, it would be hotels and plane rides home.
First published in The (Australian) Sunday Telegraph’s Escape Magazine.
SPOTLIGHT BRAZIL’S WORLD HERITAGE
Brazil
has a wealth of UNESCO World Heritage sites within its vast
borders. UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organisation) awards this special status to
sites – cultural or natural – which meet strict
definitions in terms of their significance and the protection
offered to them by the government of the country. Some of
Brazil’s finest Baroque architecture is preserved
in the old centres of towns like Ouro Preto and Olinda,
while Salvador’s heritage includes some outstanding
Renaissance buildings, dating back to its period as capital,
from 1549. Natural sites include unusual places like Serra
da Capivara, with its 25,000-year-old painted rock shelters,
and conservation sites of global importance like the Amazon
basin and the Pantanal.
Cultural Sites
- Brasilia
- Historic centres of Diamantina, Goiás, Olinda, Salvador de Bahia and São Luís
- Historic town of Ouro Preto
- Ruins of the Guarani Jesuit Missions
- Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Congonhas
Natural Sites
- Atlantic forest southeast reserves
- Atlantic islands: Fernando de Noronha and Atol das Rocas Reserves
- Central Amazon Conservation Complex
- Cerrado protected areas: Chapada dos Veadeiros and Emas National Parks
- Discovery Coast Atlantic forest reserves
- Iguazu National Park
- Pantanal Conservation Area
- Serra da Capivara National Park
KUMUKA'S BRAZIL
Our
experience and resources in South America mean we have established
a wide variety of overland truck tours covering most of
the continent, including Brazil. Many of them are designed
to be linked with each other, allowing you to build exactly
the overland combination you want. Most activities and all
national park and reserve entrance fees are included. Roughly
half our nights on the tours selected below are spent under
canvas and on those days all meals are included. Optional
extras include snorkelling in the Pantanal, with equipment
provided, an eye-opening favela tour in Rio and a helicopter
flight over Iguazu Falls. Hold on tight for the ride of
your life!
WHY NOT TRY:
PATAGONIA
HIGH ROAD 51 DAYS
Santiago, Pucon, Lake District, Bariloche, Torres del Paine,
Punta Arenas (Chile) El Chalten, El Calafate, Moreno Glacier,
Tierra del Fuego National Park, Magellan Straits, Ushuaia,
Puerto Madryn, Valdez Peninsula, Buenos Aires (Argentina),
Montevideo, Colonia, Salto (Uruguay), Jesuit Ruins, Iguazu
Falls, Bonito and Pantanal wetlands, Campo Grande, Parati,
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
ANDES,
FALLS AND BEACHES 28 DAYS
La Paz, Rurrenabaque, Sucre, Potosi, Uyuni Salt
Flats, Tupiza (Bolivia), Humahuaca Canyon, Salta, Chaco
(Argentina), Jesuit Ruins, Iguazu Falls, Parati, Rio de
Janeiro (Brazil).
PIRANHA
EXPRESS 21 DAYS
Buenos Aires (Argentina), Montevideo, Colonia, Salto (Uruguay),
Jesuit Ruins, Iguazu Falls, Bonito, Campo Grande, Bauru,
Parati, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
