Itinerary

Day 1
Sao Paulo to Itapira

This morning, upon arrival to the airport in Sao Paulo, you will be met by the Barbier’s airport reception and driven approximately 2.5 hours by private vehicle to Itapiru and the Villa Buena Hotel. Joining you on the trip will be Debra and Dominique Barbier and a local Brazilian guide and facilitator. You'll enjoy lunch along the way at a very traditional Portuguese restaurant.

This afternoon will give you the opportunity to visit a real working coffee plantation. This evening you will stay at Vila Bueno, a charming small hotel near to Interagro Lusitanos, where you will visit the next day. Dinner at Villa Buena. There will be snacks and juices available during the trip onboard your vehicle.

Please Note: Over the next two days, you may ride as much or as little as you wish. At each of the horse farms you visit you’ll see a kaleidoscope of Brazilian experience. You will interact with the families, learn how their daily lives unfold, and really have the opportunity to see the layers and feel the rhythm of life that is uniquely Brazilian.
Lodging: Vila Bueno

Days 2 - 3
Sorocaba Area

After breakfast, depart to visit a nearby farm to see beautiful Lusitanos working with their Olympic trainer, Rogerio Clementino, and learn from the Barbiers. Enjoy an “every day” Brazilian lunch: including feijoada, rice and beans with farm-raised beef or pork, fresh bread, and delicious desserts as well as carriage rides across the farm. After lunch drive to a nearby wildlife sanctuary to see numerous birds and other wildlife species and learn about the important work they are doing there. Later drive approximately two hours to your lodging and have dinner.

The following morning you will be driven about an hour to one of Brazil’s most beautiful Lusitano farms to ride some horses and see a demonstration by one of the farm’s top riders. After lunch visit Japu Top Farm for a demonstration (and more riding if you wish) in working equitation. Working equitation has developed into an exciting sport worldwide, with its roots in the culture of the Portuguese and Brazilian riders who work the cattle and bulls. Return to your hotel with dinner along the way.
Lodging: Hotel Pitangueiras

Day 4
Sorocaba to Bonito

Today transfer to the airport for a commercial flight to Campo Grande. There you will be assisted to board a private charter flight to Bonito where your private guide will meet you and take you to visit the Sinkhole of the Macaws. The sinkhole is a collapsed limestone cave with a circumference of 500 meters and a depth of 124 meters. It is surrounded by dry tropical forest and is home to up to 100 Red and Green Macaws that roost in their favorite cavities on the pinkish orange sandstone walls of the sinkhole. Later drive to Bonito and check in to your accommodations at Pousada Olho d'Agua.
Lodging: Pousada Olho d'Agua

Day 5
Bonito

Begin your second day in Bonito with a visit to Recanto Ecologico Rio da Prata. Begin with a 1.6-mile walk along the interpretative trail in the Da Prata river. At the end of the trail enter the lake, which is formed by the many fresh water springs of the Prata River for an extraordinary lake float/snorkel experience. Discover a fascinating world in one of the most transparent fresh-water rivers in the world, rich in aquatic fauna and flora. You may also choose to make a second visit to the Sinkhole of the Macaws today.
Lodging: Pousada Olho d’Agua

Days 6 - 7
Pantanal

Take a private charter flight from Bonito to the Northern Pantanal. On arrival your local expert guide will meet and assist you to check in to the Porto Jofre Hotel which is located at the very end of the Transpantaneira Hwy on the north bank of the mighty, 230-meter-wide Cuiabá River. The 28 room hotel is simple yet comfortable with air-conditioning, pool, telephone and internet access, and a fleet of boats for exploring the rivers.

After lunch at the hotel, enjoy a late afternoon boat outing for 2-3 hours in search of fauna such as Giant Otters, Tapirs, and, obviously, Jaguars in the 800-square-mile complex of private and public protected areas, all of which prohibit hunting of Jaguars or anything else. This un-hunted set of Jaguar preserves are five times the size of the biggest national park in Costa Rica.

The following day take a morning and an afternoon boat outing on the rivers in search of wildlife.
Lodging: Porto Jofre Hotel

Days 8 - 9
Southwild Pantanal Center

After an early morning boat outing on the river, you will be driven north on the Transpantaneira Highway for approximately two hours to the Southwild Pantanal Center. The Transpantaneira Hwy is a raised 145-km-long dirt road that offers the only year-round access to the wildest heart of the 50 million acre Pantanal, the world’s largest freshwater wetland. Along the way stop to view the scenery and spot birds and other wildlife that may be seen along the highway, next to the road and even under some of the dozens of small wooden bridges that you will cross.

Your lodge is located on the banks of the wildlife-rich Pixaim River. From here you can explore 10,000 acres of private nature reserve composed of savanna and riverine forest along the banks of the 60-m-wide Pixaim River. That river and adjacent riverine forest crisscrossed with a scientifically-designed grid system of trails each provide excellent opportunities to spot Capybaras, Caimans, three species of monkeys, Giant Otters, and a large variety of water birds.

Two wildlife observation towers enhance the fun. One unique tower is 12 meters tall at foot level and is 16 meters from an eye-level nest of majestic, white Jabiru Storks, the tallest flying bird of Latin America (the Greater Rhea is the only Latin American bird that is taller, but it cannot fly). The other tower is on the edge of the Pixaim River set in the species-rich riverine forest.
Lodging: Southwild Pantanal Center

Day 10
Southwild Pantanal Center / Pousada Piuval

After morning activities and lunch at the lodge depart north on the Transpantaneira Highway for about an hour to Pousada Piuval. Again you have the chance to see wildlife along the highway and stop to observe. This evening take a night drive in search of nocturnal species.
Lodging: Pousada Piuval

Day 11
Pantanal / Iguassu Falls

Today transfer approximately one and half hours by road to the Cuiaba Airport for a commercial flight to Iguassu Falls and check in to the Hotel das Cataratas. This afternoon take a guided tour of the Brazilian side of the falls. A one kilometer trail from the hotel has a number of lookout platforms, including one near the falls with a view of the most thundering part of the cataract.
Lodging: Hotel das Cataratas

Day 12
Iguassu Falls

Today you will be met and transferred to the border of Brazil and Argentina, 21 km from hotel, crossing the Iguassu River on the 489-meter-long Tancredo Neves Bridge. You will continue from the Argentinean border approximately 15 km to the Falls. Upon arrival at the visitor center of the Iguazú National Park in Argentina, you will walk 400 meters to the train station. Each of the small trains has a capacity of 240 passengers. These narrow-gauge, open-sided, scenic trains depart every half hour for the 3-km-long journey to the start of the walkway out into the middle of the Iguazú River. This 1,100-m-long walkway crosses half of the Iguassu River to the famous overlook point called “the Devil’s Throat”.

Later you will be returned to the Hotel Das Cataratas.
Lodging: Hotel das Cataratas

Day 13
International flights home

Today you will be transferred to the Iguassu airport for your departing flights home.

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