Responsible tourism on Brazil wildlife vacations
Brazil wears its challenges on its sleeve. Its president is zealous about removing rainforest – and the indigenous people who live there – for cattle farming and plantations. The palatial mansions in Copacabana neighbour favelas. Cities like São Paulo and Brasilia leak into rainforests, while wealthy cruise ship passengers sail into cities with slum dwellers without spending a single real locally. You’ll be familiar with these issues just from reading the news headlines, but you won’t really understand them until you go on a wildlife vacation to Brazil that’ll help you understand the complexities of this country.
Our Brazil wildlife Vacations
Pantanal wildlife vacation in Brazil
Wildlife safari in Brazil's stunning Northern Pantanal
From
£3995
10 days
ex flights
Rio to Iguazu Falls tour in Brazil
Fully escorted group journey of natural southern Brazil
From
£2964
12 days
ex flights
Brazil vacation, tailor made
Wildlife & culture roundtrip through Brazil, all tailormade
From
€3495
23 days
ex flights
Brazil wildlife vacation, tailor made
From the world’s largest jungle to wild empty beaches
From
£6645
14 days
ex flights
Brazil wildlife vacation, Amazon and Pantanal
Thrilling wildlife safari combining Pantanal and the Amazon
From
£5575
11 days
ex flights
Small group tour in Brazil
An in depth discovery tour of Brazil including the Amazon
From
US $5870 to US $6560
15 days
ex flights
Amazon deforestation
The statistics that explain the scale and importance of the Amazon are staggering. It represents over half of the planet’s remaining rainforests, and is the biggest and most biodiverse tract of tropical rainforest in the world. The Amazon region stretches across nine nations, with 60 percent sitting within Brazil.
The Amazon rainforest is seriously under threat from deforestation, with cattle farming to blame for around 80 percent of all deforestation in Brazil. Illegal logging plays its part, too. Powerfully, the go-ahead comes from the top, with President Jair Bolsonaro green-lighting the razing of swathes of Amazon rainforest under the guise of economic development.
Guy Marks, from our tailor made vacation specialists Tribes Travel, explains:
“The biggest issue in Brazil is that they’re cutting down the rainforest faster than you can blink. It’s just a massive environmental issue. If you fly into Manaus during the daytime, you get to the edge of the forest and you just see hundreds of miles of forest burning. There’s a very distinct line between the soya fields and the forest – and the line is moving on a daily basis. So it’s fairly staggering.”
“The biggest issue in Brazil is that they’re cutting down the rainforest faster than you can blink. It’s just a massive environmental issue. If you fly into Manaus during the daytime, you get to the edge of the forest and you just see hundreds of miles of forest burning. There’s a very distinct line between the soya fields and the forest – and the line is moving on a daily basis. So it’s fairly staggering.”
The extinction of tribes
Brazil is home to more isolated and uncontacted tribes than any other country in the world. FUNAI, the National Indian Foundation, is a government body responsible for monitoring and protecting indigenous territories, and preventing the invasion of this land by outsiders. FUNAI claims that there are 67 tribes which remain uncontacted. Many of these have less than 100 people left, so they are likely to disappear completely. Some tribes are aware of outsiders and have had minimal contact, but choose to remain isolated, while others are cut off entirely.
The greatest threat posed by encroachment on their land is disease. Entire populations have been killed by common colds – which the indigenous population has no resistance to – and malaria-bearing mosquitoes are now present in areas where they previously did not exist. As well as that, their land is being rapidly repossessed by loggers, farmers and miners – both legally and illegally. Enormous hydroelectric dams also cause widespread flooding of territories.
The logistics of policing the Amazon are hard to comprehend, and while there is such high financial value in its natural resources, spending a fortune to protect it poses something of a conflict of interests to the Brazilian government.
The greatest threat posed by encroachment on their land is disease. Entire populations have been killed by common colds – which the indigenous population has no resistance to – and malaria-bearing mosquitoes are now present in areas where they previously did not exist. As well as that, their land is being rapidly repossessed by loggers, farmers and miners – both legally and illegally. Enormous hydroelectric dams also cause widespread flooding of territories.
The logistics of policing the Amazon are hard to comprehend, and while there is such high financial value in its natural resources, spending a fortune to protect it poses something of a conflict of interests to the Brazilian government.
Protecting the Pantanal
While the Amazon steals all the attention, the open marshes of the Pantanal quietly gets on with being the most biodiverse place in South America. Few people live here, but the ones that do are ranchers in a tug of war with the tides that waterlog the land for one half of the year and are home to jaguars during the other half. The best responsible vacations support the farmers, funding schemes that provide them with income that champions coexistence with wildlife – like learning to guide or steer boat trips.
Responsible tourism tips
More about Brazil wildlife
Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, and its wildlife regions experience a variety of weather patterns and temperatures, with the Pantanal flooded for much of the year.
The samba dancers at Rio carnival have a mesmeric effect on all who see them, and Brazil’s wildlife does the same. Read on to learn more about Brazil’s wildlife, and where’s best to see it.
South America’s Pantanal region, a vast and biodiverse wetland that lies mostly in Brazil, is home to a huge number of unique creatures – including the jaguar.
Overwhelming in its size and dazzling in its biodiversity, the Amazon is hopping with wildlife.
Big cat safaris in the Pantanal focus on the Cuiabá riverbanks from Porto Jofre because cruising by boat affords superb opportunities to witness jaguars on the hunt or at their leisure in their preferred habitat.
From packing tips to camera considerations, we have all the Brazil wildlife vacations travel advice you need.
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