BONITO; muito bonito :-)

It was difficult to decide where to go on our last family holiday in Brazil. We still have plenty of destinations we want to see. One thing was for sure, we were not going to the beach, we wanted to see something else and finally we chose the enormous nature reserve BONITO.

Bonito is in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, in the middle of Brazil, not far from the boarders to Paraguay and Bolivia.

Due to the enormous quantity of limestone in the ground, the water of these rivers passes through a real natural filter where impurities are deposited at the bottom of the river bed, leaving the rivers to be some of the clearest and most transparent in the world. A number of fish and plant species have adapted to this high calcium environment, so that all rivers teem with life. The government of the region is strictly controlling the numbers of tourists allowed. These limitations are aimed at preserving the rich natural beauty of the area, maintaining popular tourist sites as close as possible to their natural state.

On our way we flew right over Foz de Iguacu!!

All people on the plane rised to have a look out of the window, so the pilot had to tell people to sit still in their seats!! We were on the right side :-)

THIS IS BRAZIL !!!!!

I wonder for how long it's possible to fly over this kind of landscape without seeing any life. The country is HUGE!

How many animals are hidden here?

Mato Grosso do Sul is one of Brazil biggest agriculture states. The farms are enourmous!! The biggest farm in Bonito stretches for more than 200 km - I don't know the width.
They raise cattle and grow sugar, mais, soja, mango etc.

Guess if my husband wanted to settle here?

Guess if Anniken agreed?

On the way from the airport (brand new, with 2 flights a week!!!) to the hotel we had to stop for these guys!


HOTEL CABANAS

outside Bonito village, in the middle of the jungle !!

Anniken and Sondre's "hotel room" !

and our's!

This fruit from a palm tree was very common in the area and the liquid inside is 100% antiseptic and can be used to cleaning wounds.

Beautiful area at the hotel.

Luckily this did not visit the hotel this Easter - but last..........!

They can be up to 9 meters in this area!

Anniken getting ready for Boia Cross, when a visitor came to watch her!!

Boia Cross was arranged at Rio Formoso, which was only some few hundred meters from the hotel.

Unnecessary to say that I did not participate in this activity!!

Wonderful breakfast!!

Some friends came flying in from the forest hoping to get some breakfast as well!

This one was too shy and was only looking at us!

RIO DE PEIXE

1,5 hrs drive from Bonito on bumpy dirty roads we arrived at Rio de Peixe

A long and very beautiful walk through the forest.

Crossing the river

An artistic trunk!

A "marriage" of two trees; a palm tree and a fig tree have grown together!

Shall we jump ????????

The bravest girl in the world!

and her crazy brother.

Natural shower!

After a morning full of activities and a good lunch, it was time for a rest in the "dormitory" !!!

The hammocks are handmade of leather. Guess who bought one to bring home?

The owner of the place let us feed the monkeys and they came jumping in from every tree in the forest!!!

Avocados

Acerola - is the fruit with the highest consentrate of vitamin C.

Our guide and we picking bergamotes for dessert before the afternoon trip to the forest!

Look who is swimming :-)
The water is normaly transparent, but due to a heavy rainfall it was colored - just this day!!

There was a cave behind the waterfall, and 2 guys I know had to explore!!

In Bonito centro

Very rustic hotel room - not exactely a 5-star hotel, but very charming and exotic to sleep out in the forest!

Relaxing on the balcony! We have travelled in Brazil before so we always bring some white wine :-) Believe it or not, but wine is a very rare drink in Brazil. If you are lucky to find it, it is for sure not any good!!

At a restaurant. They are counting how many years (tree rings) the table is :-)

Who is eating ALLIGATOR ??

With the caipirinha ready in case I need to wash it down - but it was good :-) Taste like chicken.
Alligator meat was the specialty of the region!

My kids have never been afraid of strange food - alligator, here we go!

And then; MOQUECA of course :-)

AQUARIO NATURAL

In this river the water is crystal clear and perfect for snorkling.

They are very strict in this eco-resort, so no sunscreen or mosquito spray were allowed in order not to pollute!

Fancy family on their way!

Anniken in her right element!

Sondre and his friends!!

Even I, "who never do anything in water" was snorkling down the river. In the middle of the jungle !!!!! I must admit I was close to my limits; quasi-hysterical, but I enjoyed it so much that I behaved! Even when I told our guide that I was scared of anacondas and he answered; "so am I, hope we don't see any!!!!"

It was nothing more than AMAZING to swim among all these fishes!!

We had the same type of fish for lunch afterwards !!!

On the way back, my family could finally get some more action!!

Happy girl!

Tarzan

I suspect this man to be the reason why my kids are so crazy!!

A sweet little creature!

ARVORISMO

The hotel offered an activity called "Arvorismo", which of course, my family was eager to try! I was also in the mood for being fearless - I had walked and snorkled in the jungle for hours, what could be worse?

So, the arvorismo is a kind of hiking 15 meters above the ground with different difficult obstacles.

This one had 18 different etaps between the platforms in the trees.

We did it at night, so I have copied some photos from the hotel to show the trail in day light!

I knew I had done a huge mistake already when we left the hotel and started to walk in the total dark forest in the middle of the night!!!!

Who knows how many snakes could be lying around ? This is not like Norway where it is unlikely to see a snake. In this region it is very LIKELY!!!

Oh, so scared..............!!!

Always smiling to the photographer, but the fact is I was terrified!! I was surprised that I was so scared, I didn't think I should be.

Why do they LOVE everything that is dangerous???

OK, where is my daughter???? She just jumped into the darkness........

After standing on the platform for 10 minutes, I just had to go...............

Did you hear me screaming??

We all landed safely after a 60 meters tiralesa :-)))

The last tiralesa was backward into the river in the total dark!!!!!!

Old ladies had the option of taking the stairs down to the "safe" ground!!

GRUTA DO LAGO AZUL

This cave was discovered as late as 1924 and is one of the biggest in the world. It is 100 meter deep and at the bottom there is a blue lake estimated to be 90 meters deep.

It was very slippery to get down there.

We have experienced during the last 1-2 years that our kids are not very interessted in travelling with us anymore, especially not without friends.

After this trip they both said that they loved it and it had been the BEST TRIP EVER!!!!!!

Even though it was a little boring to stay in a hotel without any comfort in the middle of a nature reserve - they enjoyed all the activities so much!!! It was perfect for them!

I would recommend to everyone who likes unspoiled nature and very little comfort to go there. It's nothing more than amazing. But remember it's not a place for small kids, all activities are for older children!

The only thing that remains now is to see how long it takes before we own a cattle farm up there :-)