The Report

Bonito is next to Bodoquena Sierra, in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, circa 250km from its capital Campo Grande. Together with my friends Kátia and Ernani, I spent one week there, visiting many of its attractions. Crystal clear water springs teeming with fish are a trademark of Bonito, but there are also many waterfalls and pools. For the more adventurous travelers, there are cave dives and rappel tours.

The month of September is the end of the dry season in that area. If on one side the water is more limpid, the waterfalls have less water. But by what we learnt, the tourist can enjoy Bonito at any time of the year. In spring and summer, there is more rain, but you are going to get wet in Bonito anyway...

But let's start the report of our trip, with some images that will try to show what this water paradise in Brazil's midwest is. Photos were taken by me, using my Minolta 600si and underwater cameras by Kodad and Canon.

I met Ernani and Kátia in Campo Grande and we went by car to Bonito. We took the route passing through Sidrolândia and Nioaque, where we had lunch at O Casarão, a buffet for R$5. In the beginning, the road goes along soya and corn farms, then we go down Maracajú Sierra, and this was the most beautiful section, full of flowering trees, including violet, yellow and white trumpet trees. The last 28km are of dirt road, with about seven wood bridges. It is difficult to imagine trucks going over them...

We crossed the city to reach the Youth Hostel, where we had a reservation. Later we saw that many of the downtown inns had reasonable prices, probably due to the low season, and we decided to move to one of them the next day.

We had asked the hostel to book us tours for the first five days, but as the reservations were not exactly as we had planned, we decided to rearrange them directly with Ygarapé, the travel agency they deal with. Tour prices are the same in all agencies and have to be booked through one of them, who also make arrangements of a guide for the group. The presence of a guide is compulsory.

We had a snack at Speed Beer, which has a very slow service, despite its name. On the same road there is a per-weight icrecream shop, which became a place often attended by us.

Day 2 - "It was a very light day, which ended even early. Quite relaxing."

We started the day early, also because of our moving. We took our breakfast at 7, a plain one - I missed cheese. After leaving our luggage at our new inn, Pousada Aconchego, we went to Ygarapé for our first tour in Bonito: the rafting on Formoso River. Taking our guide and rower Rudimar in our car, we drove to Cachoeira Farm, where the tour begins. The other participants, most of which staying at the hostel, arrived a bit later. We were about twelve. At around 9:30, after receiving instructions, we started our descent on rapids and falls (the highest was 3m high). It's a calm rafting, partially for being the dry season. The landscape is beautiful, with dense woods in both margins, and we could hear birds and monkeys. We had a stop for bathing in the river, which was very refreshing. The sun was very hot.

The tour finishes at Ilha do Padre (Priest's Island), where we arrived at around noon. Our car had been brought to its parking area. The island belongs to a priest, Father Roosevelt, who opened it for tourism. It is not big, but has waterfalls formed by the river around it, and also some natural pools. The highest fall, 4,5m high, has already been part of the rafting, but as the raft sometimes turned upside down, the tour now ends before it. The island has a restaurant, a bar, camping and picnic areas, and also a little chapel.

Each of us took a different direction. I did a recognition walk, then had a ham & cheese sandwich. I bathed in some falls and pools, walked a bit more (there are short trails, some over wooden walkways, other in the woods), taking many photos, and later I joined the others for a chat.

With easy access to food, many birds stay around. Thus, we could see a tucano and an arara (red macaw) from close. We saw an arara-azul (blue macaw) on a tree, but it was suspicious and soon flied away.

We left the island at around 3:30pm and saw many trumpet trees on the way. Gorgeous. We went to the Balneário Municipal (Town Balneary), but we thought it was not worth paying the entrance fee, given the hour.

Dinner was at Tapera, an excess of food. I shared a picanha with Katia, it was meant for two but could feed well three, while Ernani had a breaded steak, also very well served. We had an icecream and stopped by Ygarapé before returning to the inn. The agencies and good part of the commerce stay open until around 10pm, since it is at night that tourists are more often around, as they are touring most of the day.
3º Dia - "We are back from a day plenty of adventures."

As if it wasn't already cold at night, with the air conditioner on I was forced to use a blanket. But what really disturbed my sleep was a group of boisterous tourists in the room next to ours - early in the morning they were already making noise. We had breakfast at around 7:30 and it was fine, with good options of fruits, bread and cakes.

We left Ygarapé at 8:30. Our guide was Assis, and he went in another car. There were others waiting at the reception of Baía Bonita River Natural Acquarium, where we would have our first flotation tour. Our group was exceptionally big, I think we were eleven. We took the gear (wetsuit, flotation vest, boots, mask and snorkel, all included in the price) and had a practice in the swimming pool. After a short hike, learning about the trees of the region, like the bacuri palm-tree and the ximbuva, used by natives to build canoes, we arrived at the river spring. Water is transparent, fantastic. But we have to be careful not to lift up sand from the bottom as we swim - stepping, if needed, only on rocks.

First we stay a bit at the spring, so the guide can see our behaviour with the equipment. This is certainly the best place to see the fish, because as we go downstream, taken by the current, the water loses part of its transparency, though still very clear. The most common fish are the piraputangas and the curimbatás, and also some dourados and piaus. Piraputangas are silver, with a black stripe on the middle of its body, and orange fins and tail. The tail usually shows signs of bites made by the dourados. The curimbatá, or simply curimba, is blue with a thick lip, fit for eating licquens on rocks and woods at the river bed.

The flotation down the mild current lasted around 30min. A support boat follows us. At the end, another trail takes us to waterfalls and to a carretilha (pulley-jump, a cable crossing the river, with a pulley on which one hangs himself to jump in the middle of the pool). Being with my contact lenses, I didn't venture in such things... We went back to the reception later, changed our clothes and had a quick snack, going back to town a bit after noon. We passed at the inn and then I had an icecream. The day, until then sunny, began to turn overcast.

And it was under rain that we went to our afternoon tour, Estância Mimosa (Mimosa Ranch). It was only the three of us with our guide João, leaving Ygarapé at 1pm and taking around one hour on a dirt road to the farm. It stopped raining just before we arrived, but it remained overcast. We were greeted by Hugo, who takes care of the place, and by Dona Ladir, who bakes the delicious bread and cookies we had before and after the walk.

After that, we spent two hours walking in the woods near Mimoso River. Birds and other animals, especially monkeys, are a common sight. Ranch personnel place corn in strategic places to keep them around. It is necessary to keep a certain distance from the animals, in order to not scare them. We saw a small tamanduá-mirim (collared anteater) on the way in and macacos-prego (capuchin monkeys) and cotias on the way back, besides some birds.

There are three stops for bathing on the way, by waterfalls. We weren't very stimulated on the first, but we went on the second, with the Wish Fall. The water was less cold than we had thought from outside. Following João's orientation, we swam to the fall, made a wish and looked into the nearby grotto, where we would have a revelation. I won't tell what we saw in the grotto, but I can say it wasn't any mystical experience... The third fall has a pool good for swimming. It is possible to stay under the fall, but again I feared losing my lenses.

At the farthermost point of the trail, we climbed to a platform overlooking the woods. There is another similar tour on the other side of the river, at the Parque das Cachoeiras (Waterfall Park). The vegetation along the trail, like other trails we hiked later at Bonito, is varied and we were introduced to trees such as aroeira, peroba-rosa, piúva or pink trumpet tree, embaúba, among so many with medicinal properties that João described us. We saw orchids and butterflies. The sad chant of juriti dove was a constant. Near the ranch's house, we saw a family of quero-queros, a corrupião and a joão-pinto.

Back to the house, we indulged ourselves with cookies and heated some bread on the wood stove. The tea made of cinnamon leaves was also delicious. We went back to town at the end of the afternoon and again we got some rain on the way. Our hope was that the rain would allow us to do the tour to Aquidaban River, but people said that this would be only possible if there was a lot of rain. This river, 54km from Bonito, has many waterfalls, and one of them, 120m high, is one of the highest in the area. In photos, it is gorgeous, but at this time of the year it is too dry.

We had dinner at Taboa, famous for its cachaças (white rum) of many flavours. With the night chill, I wanted a soup, but it was being prepared and, as much later it would still take long to be ready, I decided to have a hot-dog. It was good.