Araras Lodge is likely the best spot for exploring the north Pantanal. The location by the Transpantaneira is excellent, and lodge owner Andre Thuronyi has done extensive work to improve the local wildlife habitat. With only 14 rooms, the lodge is pleasantly small and rustic. No fancy rooms or amenities; each guest room comes with a private bathroom and a hammock on the veranda. The guides are usually knowledgeable. Activities include hikes along a rustic boardwalk through the flooded fields to the lodge's lookout tower. One afternoon as we watched the sun set over the Pantanal, a group of five hyacinth macaws flew right over us, attracted by our guide who sounded a credible macaw call. Other excursions include boat or canoe trips on a small local river known for large hawks and giant river otters (we saw both). On drives along the Transpantaneira, even in a 3-hour time span, you'll lose track of the number of birds you'll see. Fortunately the guide always seems to remember their names. Horse lovers will be in heaven riding through the flooded fields. If you know how to ride, the guides are happy to let you have some fun and gallop through the fields, startling caiman and snakes underfoot. The food is delicious and plentiful, often including excellent local fish. Araras Eco Lodge offers a package deal with a 3-night stay at the lodge and a 1-night stay in the Chapada dos Guimarães for some good hiking and swimming.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.
Reisen mit PONCHO TOURS
by Heinz Niederleitner (Stadl-Paura, 6/3/2005)
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren der Geschãftsleitung,
einmal im Jahr gehen wir auf „grof3e Reise". Und jedes Mal sind es die Kataloge von Poncho-, Kap- oder JumboTours, die uns helfen, eine auf unsere Bedürfnisse zugeschnittene Reise auszusuchen und dann auch zu buchen. Dieses mal haben wir uns für die Rundreise „Naturwunder Brasiliens" aus dem Poncho-"rours-Katalog entschieden. Und auch dieses mal war es so, wie wir es gewohnt sind und weshalb wir uns immer wieder zur Buchung einer Reise aus den o. g. Katalogen entscheiden:
Es klappte alies wie am Schnürchen, sãmtliche vorgegebenen Ziele entsprachen unseren Vorstellungen, Unterkünfte sind vorzüglich und Reiseleiter bzw. õrtliche Begleiter sind bestens informiert, zuvorkommend, freundlich und pünktlich.
Eine Tatsache bzw. Erkenntnis aus dieser Reise mõchten wir aber ganz besonders hervorheben und erwãhnen, weil wir der Meinung sind, auch Sie haben Interesse daran, zu erfahren und informiert zu werden darüber, wie die von Ihnen gewühlten Stationen und Ziele beim Publikum ankommen:
Wãhlt man aus der Rundreise „Naturwunder Brasiliens" die ****Kategorie, dann verbringt man einige Tage und Nüchte in der Pousada Araras im Pantanal. Und der Aufenthalt dort gehõrt zweifelsohne zu den Hõhepunkten der ganzen Reise. Abgesehen davon, dass der Pantanal aufgrund seiner natürlichen Einzigartigkeit für jeden Naturliebhaber ungeahnte Erlebnisse bereit hãlt, ist der Aufenthalt in der Pousada Araras ein menschliches WohlfühlErlebnis allererster Güte. Schon beim Eintreffen in der Pousada hat man durch den besonders freundlichen Empfang durch die Besitzer des „Betriebes" das uneingeschrãnkte Gefühl des herzlichen Willkommenseins. Diese nette, trotzdem aber unaufdringliche, Freundlichkeit des Besitzerehepaares fárbt ganz stark und deutlich auf das gesamte Personal ab. Nette Worte, begleitet von freundlichem Lücheln, begegnen den Gast auf Schritt und Tritt. Man hat das Gefìihl, dort nicht b1o13 Besucher zu .,ein sondem Mitglied einer groRen Familie.
Die Unterkünfte und die gesamte Umgebung der Lodge sind sehr sauber und üu(3erst gepflegt. Zusammenstellung und Zubereitung des Essens sind so gewühlt, dass man stets die Empfindung hat, brasilianische Kõstlichkeiten zu genie(3en, trotzdem aber auf europáische Gewohnheiten nicht verzichten zu müssen.
Kaum wo haben wir uns wãhrend unserer langjãhrigen und umfangreichen Reisetãtigkeit so ungem und mit Wehmut verabschiedet ais von der Pousada Araras.
Zusammengefasst dürfen wir sagen, die Pousada Araras ist ein Hühepunkt an Gastfreundlichkeit, eingebettet inmitten herausragender und erlebnisreicher Naturschõnheiten.
Wir denken, das sollten Sie wissen und beachten, wenn Sie wieder Reisen und Kataloge zusammenstellen.
Mit freundlichcn Grüf3en
Brigitte und Heinz Niederleitner
TRAVEL AND LEISURE - Inside Brazil's Wild Wetland
by Alex Shoumatoff (Março, 2003)
With more birdlife than the Amazon and more cowboys, too, the Pantanal is the world's biggest swamp. In this vast province—50,000 square miles of lagoons, grassland, and forest—getting in touch with nature couldn't be easier PLUS: 10 FAR-FLUNG SOUTH AMERICAN ADVENTURES Just south of the Amazon lie the vast central.
CNN - Brazil preserves world's largest tropical wetland
by Environmental News Network (November 13, 2000)
The United Nations Thursday created a new biosphere reserve in Brazil's Pantanal region, the planet's largest tropical wetland ecosystem. Biosphere reserves are protected ecosystems where priority is given to conservation, research and sustainable development. They are recognized under the United Nation's Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation's.
FROMMERS
Araras Lodge is situated right on the Transpantaneira Highway, making it one of the best spots for exploring the Pantanal.
Owner Andre von Thurony has a long history of environmental work in the region and finally started his own lodge to provide others with an opportunity to see the Pantanal. With only 14 rooms, the lodge is pleasantly small and rustic. No fancy rooms or amenities; each guest room comes with a private bathroom and a hammock on the veranda. The guides that Araras works with are excellent, either university-trained or with many years of experience with the local animals and birdlife. Many have an excellent command of English. Unlike other lodges where guests are lumped into one big group, Araras assigns each party its own guide, even if there's only two of you. Activities include hikes along a rickety boardwalk through the marshy fields to the lodge's lookout tower. One afternoon as we watched the sun set over the Pantanal, a group of five hyacinth macaws flew right over us, attracted by our guide who sounded a credible macaw call. Other excursions include boat or canoe trips on a small local river known for large hawks and giant river otters (we saw both). On drives along the Transpantaneira, even in a 3-hour time span, you'll lose tack of the number of birds you'll see.
Fortunately the guide always seems to remember their names. Horse lovers and experienced riders will be in heaven riding through the flooded fields. If you know how to ride, the guides are happy to let you have some fun and gallop through the fields, startling caiman and snakes underfoot. All meals are included; though simply cooked, the food is delicious and plentiful, often including excellent local fish.
THE BEST LODGES IN BRAZIL
Araras Eco Lodge (Pantanal; tel. 065/682-2800): This eco-lodge is the best in the Pantanal for wildlife-viewing and experiencing the lifestyle of the pantaneiro cowboy. Accommodations are rustic but the quality of guides, the amazing food and unparalleled wildlife are worth it. The owner has a history of environmental work in the region and runs an excellent program.
LONELY PLANET
The Amazon may have all the fame and glory, but the Pantanal is a far better place to see wildlife. This vast area of wetlands, about half the size of France, lies in the far west of Brazil and extends into the border regions of Bolivia and Paraguay.
Birds are the most frequently seen wildlife, but the Pantanal is also a sanctuary for giant river otters, anacondas, iguanas, jaguars, cougars, crocodiles, deer and anteaters. The area has few people and no towns, and access is often by plane into Cuaibá, Campo Grande or Corumbá, then overland to the gateway towns of Cãceres, Barão de Malgaça, Poconé or Aquidauana; or by road via the Transpantaneira, which ends at the one-hotel hamlet of Porto Jofre. Boat trips are available along the Rio Paraguai from the Bolivian border.
ROUGH GUIDES
Explore the reaches of Pantanal, a swamp larger than France with remarkably varied wildlife: exotic birds, anacondas, capybaras, wild boar and millions of alligators await visitors.
The southern gateway into the Amazon, CUIABÁ has always been firmly on the edge of Brazil's wilderness. Following the discovery of a gold field here in 1719 (one version of the town's name means the "river of stars"), the town mushroomed as an administrative and service centre in the middle of Indian territory, thousands of very slow, overland miles from any other Portuguese settlement. To the south lay the Pantanal and the dreaded Paiaguá people who frequently ambushed convoys of boats transporting Cuiabá gold by river to São Paulo. The fierce Bororo tribe, who dominated the Mato Grosso east of Cuiabá, also regularly attacked many of the mining settlements.
Northwest along a high hilly ridge - the Chapada dos Parecis, which now carries Highway BR-364 to Porto Velho - lived the peaceful Parecis people, farmers in the watershed between the Amazon and the Pantanal. By the 1780s, however, most Indians within these groups had been either eliminated or transformed into allies: the Parecis were needed as slave labour for the mines; the Bororo either retreated into the forest or joined the Portuguese as mercenaries and Indian hunters; while the Paiaguá fared worst of all, almost completely wiped out by cannon and musket during a succession of punitive expeditions from Cuiabá.
The most important development came during the 1890s, when a young Brazilian army officer, Lieutenant Cândido Rondon, built a telegraph system from Goiás to Cuiabá through treacherous Bororo territory - assisted no doubt by the fact that he had some Bororo blood in his veins. By 1903 he had extended the telegraph from Cuiabá south to Corumbá, and in 1907 he began work to reach the Rio Madeira, to the northwest in the Amazon basin. The latter expedition earned Rondon a reputation as an important explorer and brought him into contact with the Nambikwara Indians. Since then, Cuiabá has been pushing forward the frontier of development and the city is still a stepping stone and crossroads for pioneers, with a population approaching one million. Every year, thousands of hopeful settlers stream through Cuiabá on their way to a new life in the western Amazon.
The established farmlands around the city now produce excellent crops - maize, fruits, rice and soya. But the city itself thrives on the much larger surrounding cattle-ranching region, which contains almost a quarter of a million inhabitants. Future prosperity is assured, too: a large lead ore deposit is being worked close to the town, and oil has been discovered at Várzea Grande; but it is more sustainable industries, like rubber, palm nuts and, of course, tourism, that will provide income in years to come.
Topographically, and in terms of its tourist potential, the Mato Grosso will always be dominated by the Pantanal, one of the world's largest swamps, which extends into both the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, and is renowned as one of the best places for spotting wildlife in the whole of South America. Between two million and five million cayman alligators are "culled" annually from the Pantanal, though it's better known for its array of birdlife and its endless supply of piranha fish - the latter used in an excellent regional soup dish. So far it's proved impossible to put a road right through the Pantanal, so travelling anywhere around here is slow.
With more birdlife than the Amazon and more cowboys, too, the Pantanal is the world's biggest swamp. In this vast province—50,000 square miles of lagoons, grassland, and forest—getting in touch with nature couldn't be easier PLUS: 10 FAR-FLUNG SOUTH AMERICAN ADVENTURES Just south of the Amazon lie the vast central.
The United Nations Thursday created a new biosphere reserve in Brazil's Pantanal region, the planet's largest tropical wetland ecosystem. Biosphere reserves are protected ecosystems where priority is given to conservation, research and sustainable development. They are recognized under the United Nation's Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation's.
