G'day
Following on from my sweet 'n' short intro to Chapada Diamantina Beautiful Brazil , It's my pleasure to share a gem within the Chapada Parque Nacional - Vale do Pati
Here is my story. I hope it helps inspire you.
First stop was Palmeiras
- A small workers town in the heart of the Chapada desert. While not at all touristic, the town itself was fairly pretty in a rugged wild west kind of way. We spent the night here as it is a good starting point to venture deeper into the Valley.
Streets of Palmeiras
Day 1
We had hired a local guide to take us on a 3 day trek through the Vale do Pati. You can do treks with agencies but I would recommend a local guide. There is clear animosity between the two groups, each with their own opinion of who deserves your $ - More on this later. I would also not recommend doing these treks alone or without a guide. The trails are not marked and there are dangerous animals inside the Vale, without a local you're exposing yourself to a lot of risk. Around 10 people go missing here each year.
In the car heading to the start of the trail. They use horses to resupply the locals living within the vale. Notice the environment shift during the course of the trek
Still on day one, the trek begun early morning under the relentless Chapada dry heat. After an initial ascent, it settled into a long 20km flat across the desert scrub land.
Me, Our Guide Vou and Marina. All in high spirits before the sun had it's way with us
Example of the terrain on the first day - Flat, exposed to the sun, scrub land with ruggedmountains dotted in the distance.
The prize After about 15km flat trek across the scrub land, completely out of the blue emerges a fissure in the earth. Upon approaching the edge what revealed itself was majestic canyon, containing a tropical rain forest! The diversity here is incredible, to be in a desert and then descend into a rain forest within 30mins.
Marina from her desert lookout marvelling at the jungle awaiting us*
We descended down into the jungle. The path us very dangerous, steep and slippery. Once inside we began traversing down a river, switching sides occasionally if necessary.
The afternoon on day 1 saw us in the jungle, heading downstream
Deeper inside the canyon, we crossed the river many times and saw many beautiful waterfalls
Around 5 pm, we finished trekking for the day and stayed at the house of some locals within the Vale. I don't have photos of this as my phone was robbed in Salvador.
I'll leave it there for now and continue with Day 2 tomorrow.
Feel free to ask me any questions if need tips for your trip
Tchau
Riche