Richard Watson is one of our guest speakers who came onboard right before we entered Brazil with a group of performers, lecturers and musicians called Oi Brasil! This means “A taste of Brazil.”
He has lived here in Brazil for at least 20 years mostly in the Rio de Janeiro area. His main focus when coming to Brazil was as a Cartographer. But now he studies all the geography and music and is a musician with the group too.
Brazil is vast and it is the third largest mass area in the Americas and largest in SA. There are different biomes here which make it so unique and amazing! Of course the disappointing part for us is that we get to see but a fraction of the wonderment and amazement.
The different biomes of the region
The Savannah areas
Brazil is mega diversity within the world with 3.3 million sq miles of unique land. It touches the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn. And we know there are famous rivers here which he has named by size.
Strong winds barrel off the coast to the sea which are common in the spring and winter.
The flat southern plains give way to mountains which covers most of southern region.
There are a variety of trees on the high plains with one of them being the Monkey trees that favor colder climates.
The trees of the forests
The sheer cliffs where one could easily come to their demise
The famous falls.
Falls seen from above
The mountainous regions and the colorful varieties of species!
The canyon lands are challenging to visit where the Tablelands feature beautiful mystic waterfalls that are often misty and hard to see. They can present real dangers with sheer cliffs and thick fog. One could easily misstep and over the edge they go losing their life.
In the winter it gets very cold and snow and ice along with frost can dip to temperatures -15 degrees. The homes in these areas have no heating which means gathering wood and working strenuously to stay warm enough.
The Macaws
Different monkeys
Can be smelly and hungry!!
The unique wetlands area that we didn’t see due to the drought.
The amazing birds and storks!!!
The giant ant eater who lives all the giant termite nests which we did see!
Brazil is famous for food and drink so if you are a foody you could come here and never want to leave!
One of Brazils biggest attractions is the 275 ft water falls there. At its peak 15 million liters per second of water falls. Iguazu Falls straddles both sides of Argentinian and Brazilian borders. Most of the river is in Brazil but most of the falls in Argentina.
The Atlantic Rainforest is a coastal region that has been over exploited for centuries with only 7% of it left!!! Its proximity to Rio is a fantastic backdrop for the city. It is the largest urban rainforest and has been regrown about 200 years ago when the rulers noticed that it was being destroyed and not replanted.
The Pay-Brasil tree is naturally opened with a bright red color inside.
These are everywhere and a pest
These big guys are plentiful and can even be taken down by the pink dolphin!!
The red roads but look at the crops!!
And can you imagine seeing these on the banks!!!
Or seeing the Jaguar take down the alligator!
Giant termite hills. We even saw some of these in Australia
Munching on a red termite hill!
SE region did have sugar plantations and coffee plantations at one time. But other countries and markets have given them more competition.
Birds here are some of the most colorful and plentiful in the world! You can see sloths hanging quietly camouflaged from trees if you are observant along with tree frogs, and if in very remote locations the jaguar and golden marmoset which are highly threatened.
Parakeets here too are plentiful and noisy! When you hears lots of chirping it’s probably a group of them. The Manchukin monkey can be found in Brazil along with the Capibara which are hungry and smelly along with being a bit of a pest. It really is an incredible region with a huge basin fed largely by the amazing Amazon River. The basin is 68,000 sq miles which is half the size of France! It’s a unique and not to be replicated Wetland system with 260 species of fish and a notable dry season.
You can really see things here like the Jabiru and the enormous stork. They can be hard to spot!!
The Cerrada region is the most dry with red roads and high plateaus where it is more humid in the lower areas. Sizable rivers feed into the Amazon and it seems trying to count them all might be an insurmountable task. The Fire flies take over abandoned termite pillars and at night produce quite a show!
The fire flies taking over a termite hill at night!
And these two love birds at one time were almost extinct but have made a great come back now that their feathers are not taken and they are protected.
“ You do not travel if you are afraid of the unknown. You travel for the unknown that reveals you within yourself”. Ella Maillart
A sunset on the Amazon….
The Region is challenged by agriculture as there are huge iron mines that they have to deal with.
1 comment:
I think this place would have been one of my favorites with all of the birds and wildlife. Looks beautiful. The fireflies at night also would have been fun to see. Great post
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