OUR
STORY

OUR STORY

History of the occupanancy of Pantanal

• 250 years ago, with the first white occupancy, Pantanal was divided into 10 families.
• Traditionally, the son, when he got married, left his parents’ house with an ox cart at sunrise, traveled the whole day and, at sunset stopped the trip and settled to raise his new family.
• Because of that, originally the farms were a travel day apart from each other.
• Until 1976, before the construction of TRANSPANTANEIRA , the whole transportation was done on horseback, ox cart, canoes or on foot. Slowly, with time, the vans and small airplanes appeared, with an airport in Poconé today.
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Ocupação do Pantanal

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Pioneering

We have been involved with nature tourism (Expeditions, Eco-Tourism) since 1974, being acknowledged as pioneers in Brazil, in this activity. I started exploring the Marajó Island, on the Amazonas river delta, and included the whole extension of the Amazonas river, until Tabatinga, frontier with Peru. In Pantanal, we have been present since 1976. For having had the experience in inbound tourism at the time of Expeditours in Rio de Janeiro, experience in the outbound tourism as owners of Brasitour in Belgium (Main outbound operator to Brazil from that Country) and having been awarded with several trophies and mentions such as Opaxoré (BA), Selo Verde (dia da terra 92 – SIGMA), tourism highlight (Folha do Turismo 92), among others, we have the conviction of being able to offer the Safety and Quality of services that our visitors deserve.

In a 1987 report ordered by OEA, ECO-TOURISM was identified as one of the most promising and possible options of sustainable development for the regions of Legal Amazon and Pantanal.
In 1992, with the conduction of RIO 92, the eco-tourism theme started having a certain visibility in the Country, and the first “green tourism” product manual was produced, organized by our company and operator EXPEDITOURS, aiming at presenting the participants of this worldwide encounter with a scenario of Brazilian possibilities, in this sector of national tourism.

At RIO 92, and in acknowledgement for its pioneering, EXPEDITOURS was awarded with the AÇÃO VERDE diploma, for the implementation of the concepts and of the eco-tourism routes in our Country, in favor of our environment.
In 1994, EMBRATUR gathered a selected group of people from the governmental, environmental and tourism areas, and created the BRAZILIAN ECO-TOURISM GUIDELINES, defining the concepts of this activity.
Eco-Tourism, or Ecological Tourism, or Responsible Tourism, is: The touristic activity that preserves the nature and culture of the visited places, while sharing environmental awareness and creating harmony between visitor and visited area, thus leading to the well-being of all the parties involved.

Some suggestions to identify these products and their best practices:

Promotion of low impact activities

Attention to eventual changes in the neighboring environment

Treatment of garbage/scrap and recycling practices

Involvement of the local work force

Inclusion of the local cultural inheritance

Sharing of an amicable attitude in relation to the environment

Provision of assistance to the visitor’s limitations

Total attention to the safety measures

A Brief History

1945 – Mr. Antonio Constantino da Silva Campos inherits a 3000 ha area from his mother. Dismemberment of the land grants of Carvoazinho, city of Poconé, then starting the Sta. Rosa.

1952 – Marries Ms. Adelina Siqueira, future heiress of part of the 10000 ha of the Capão Alto Ferm, from the same land grant.
Until 1965, the main economic activity of this owner was in the purchase and sale of cattle and conduction of “retinue”, complementing their income with the exploration of the skin of wild animals, such as alligators (average of 3000 skins per year), ocelots, jaguars, giant otters and peccaries, among others.
Thanks to this complementation, he gradually manages to establish his own cattle breeding, reaching 1500 raising cows.
Until 1973, before the beginning of the current construction of the TRANSPANTANEIRA Park-Road, the transportation was done on horseback or ox carts. Little by little, the minitrucks and air taxi planes arrived, to the extent of existing 12 airplanes in Poconé. Today, we have 2.

1976 – When completing a year of existence of the Transpantaneira, Antonio Constantino starts receiving, in his headquarters, sporadic visitors to Pantanal, welcoming them with the well-known hospitality of people from Pantanal.

1983 – With the partition of the ownership of then approximate 7000ha, among its heirs, the son Vicente Aurélio receives approximately 350ha and the headquarters of the Sta. Rosa Farm, where then, with resources from Banco do Brasil, he builds and annexed to the house where he was born, 10 apartments, thus founding the Araras Inn.
Without the necessary experience, also allied to the small promotion of the Pantanal destination, Vicente is forced, by the undertaken bank commitment, to sell the property and the Inn to then neighboring farmer Mr. João Nunes Rondon.

1994 – EXPEDITOURS of André Thuronyi, already with relevant action, since 1981, in the activity nature tourism in the region of Pantanal in Mato Grosso, decided for the lease of the semi-abandoned structures of the Araras Inn, starting its recovery, both from the structural and the environmental point of view.

2000 – The purchase of the property is finally accomplished, aggregated to the previously acquired 600 ha, thus completing 715 ha.
Since 1994, the conceptual and structural bases of the ARARAS ECO LODGE project have been developing and improving, elevating it to the reference level, as a project for implementation of eco-tourism in Pantanal.

Pioneirismo

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Breve Histórico

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