Traveling Guide to Brazil Tours - South America

Travel to Brazil is like being in perpetual motion. It's up to you… dancing samba at the world famous Carnival in Rio de Janeiro or experiencing capoeira on the beach with music that evokes its African fight-dancing origins. The musical rhythm is transported into sports…playing volleyball on the beach or watching a football match at Maracana stadium can be more than a sport and become an eternal dance. The pace of Brazil is unique and deep, earning the title given by some as the sexiest and most vibrant nation on the planet, a magnet that attracts thousands of visitors every year.

Brazil's natural wealth is felt in all directions. The vast wealth of the Brazilian Amazon passes through its economic center of Manaus. The city is the door to the Amazon basin, attracting visitors from throughout the world on an Amazon River cruise or to one of several Amazon lodges into the surrounding jungle. A great diversity of wildlife can even be found on the edge of Manaus, home to a variety of rare animals, such as the Pied tamarin, an endangered primate.

Straddling Brazil's border with Bolivia and Paraguay, the Pantanal is the world's largest freshwater wetland, a Texas-sized seasonally flooded plain drained by the tributaries of the Paraguay River. About 80 percent of the Pantanal is in Brazil. In the wet season (Nov-Apr), rivers swell and spill over to cover vast alluvial plain for months. As the waters recede (from May onwards), the land begins to dry and the situation slowly reverses. In winter (Jun-Aug), temperatures can fall at night, however the summers are hot and humid. The annual floods, fed by tropical rains, create a giant nursery for aquatic life, including 260 species of fish, from the giant pintado to the tiny, voracious piranha. The receding waters attract a great influx of birds and other animals - one of the hemisphere's greatest natural phenomena. Over 650 bird species have been spotted, including the hyacinth macaw, jabiru stork, plumbeous ibis, both blue-throated and red-throated piping guans, rhea, toucans, cuarasow and roseate sponbill, making birding in the Pantanal a must. Another impressive sight is the jacaré (Yacare Caiman), a tame relative to the alligator.

After a tour of Rio de Janerio, follow the Route of Gold as it rambles along rugged mountains from the beautifully preserved colonial gold mining towns of Ouro Preto and São João del Rei to the ancient seaport of Paraty. This bounty of gold provided the wealth to build the royal colonial seat of Rio de Janeiro as well as the Old World capital, Lisbon. The richest deposits of gold ever found in the Americas even financed England's Industrial Revolution!

Traveling around this country is more than just sightseeing in Brazil! It is having a time to smell every tropical flower and caipirinha in hand, get to know the warm-hearted Brazilian people!

Select one of pre-designed Brazil tours or a custom tour of Brazil and all South America travel! For more information you can visit our online resource at Southamerica.travel