Travel article: Chapada Diamantina

From Salvador de Bahia we joined Chapada Diamantina, a large national park that reminded us of Australia! (A mix between the Blue Mountains and the Australian Top End for those who know).

The reason for our stay: this park is beautiful with varied landscapes and sites between mountains, canyons, plateaus, caves and especially hundreds of waterfalls of pure water! Amazing to discover a new type of landscape in Brazil that really has many faces.

The park has been over the years exploited for its gold, its diamond mines (one can still find some nuggets apparently and 70% of the resources are still in the rock and inaccessible) and later its coffee. If the diamond industry has destroyed a large part of the park with explosives, the government has made it a national park today to protect this special ecosystem in Brazil.

We stayed in Lencois, a charming little village with orange-roofed houses and cobbled streets, perfect base for discovering the park. The descendants of the diamond seekers have converted themselves into tourist guides and for good reason: there are things to discover in this park!

The 3-day trek is the best way to discover the surroundings and Vale do Pâti. Unfortunately the 40 degrees and 80% of humidity have slowed us down and we day hike were enough for us.

We avoided all tours that 1/were very expensive and 2/ we did not like their choice of destinations and format; to rent an old golf car, probably older than us ...!

First stop the Cachoeira de Mosquito, we drive on a track with holes for 2 hours, we got scared the car would break down, everything got into vibration.

We then went on a 4-kilometer mini-hike (pleaseremember the 40 degrees ...!) To discover a superb waterfall of 20 meters high. The stone is red / ocher, the water flows at an impressive flow, we are happy to refresh there before taking the car to discover a new waterfall: Poco do Diablo. Once again we walked among cactus and forest before reaching the top of the waterfall and natural pool and dominate the valley! It is really nice.

Then we end the day with other travelers at the Morro do Pai Inicio to watch the sunset. The valley and the Canyon remind us this time of the United States, there are cactus, the canyon is deep. We love it ! The region is also known for the presence of aliens and we had a good laugh when we heard a guide saying that he was afraid of nothing except aliens ...!

The next day, let’s go exercise: 19 kilometers to reach the Cachoeira de Sossego. It is at 6 o'clock in the morning that we started to avoid hot weather (we recall again the 40 degrees ...). We sweat a lot and after 3 hours of getting lost, walking along the river, jumping from rocks to rocks we come to another beautiful waterfall! We swim there with our new Australian friends and we are happy to be the only ones there for an hour.

Brazil is full of beautiful landscapes but it is time for us to face a new sleepless night and reach the city: Rio de Janeiro!

Some recommendations:

# Lencois is a good base to discover the surroundings.

#Travel Salvador -Lencois: 7h bus for 88 real per person. 4 buses a day.

# tours are expensive - 200 to 230 real a day per person to discover 2 caves and a waterfall. We preferred the car rental option at 150 real day to visit less accessible places and feel more free. There is a rental agency on the main square.

# The hike for Cachoeira de Sossego can be done without a guide although the road is not really indicated. Rely on maps.me and instinct!

# unfortunately we could not discover the waterfall Fumaca, 400 meters high, because we were at the end of the dry season and it was super dry!

# there is an impressive number of Italian restaurants in Lencois, we recommend lasagna in the main street. Very good!

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