He
described an animal found in the NP that came down to the river to poach trout.
It was very furry and had a long tail and was the size of a small dog. Was it a
jaguar? An ocelot? An agouti? It was only when we had finished our meal that
someone spotted a huge poster on the walls with pictures of the creatures found
in Serra dos Orgaos NP. It became clear that it was an otter.
It was an otter
of immense size though. It was also obvious that we had little chance of seeing
it. Most animals in the parks of South America are nocturnal and seeing them is
very rare. The continent has the world's biggest profusion of wildlife, with
more species being discovered all the time. The park is 11,000 hectares of
jungle and mountains. It makes a worthy excursion from the 'Cuidade Marvelosa'
and was our overnight stop between colonial Paraty and the buzzing chic resort
of Buzios.
The Serra dos
Orgaos NP is the closest national park to Rio de Janeiro. It lies in the north
of the state and borders the beautiful Imperial city of Petropolis. It gets its
name from the strange vertical peaks in the park that resemble the towering
pipes of a church organ. The most famous is 'Dedo de Deus' (God's finger) which
rises to 2,000m. The highest peak in the park is Pedro di Sino (Bells Rock)
which has a 14km path to its peak. Its sheer west face is one of the hardest
climbing pitches in Brazil.
It is
exceptionally remote and the journey is not for the faint-hearted. We arrived
in the dark and my heart was in my mouth as we traveled dirt switchback roads
and crossed rivers on rickety bridges. To reach it without a tour takes some
doing. Frequent buses from Rio stop at Petropolis, from where you can hire a
car. Direct buses head there from the closer Teresopolis but these are
infrequent--generally one every two days.
There are good accommodations inside
the park and the whole facility is very well done. At the lower end is hostel
(20 reals a night); there are also beds in cabanas with en-suite bathrooms
(about 40 reals). The main building is beautiful, with superb food and a
well-decorated lounge area. The staff is helpful and will arrange 4-hour
rafting expeditions (about 80 reals).
But it is the
jungle that you come to the Serra dos Orgaos to see. Our trip included an early
morning walk in the forest led by a guide who spoke no English. Another guide,
Marcelo, translated for us but even she had difficulty understanding his thick
accent and was often completely baffled. They took us into the park at 6am. Our
first obstacle was a boulder-strewn river. A rope was thrown across the river
and, one of our group, a 70-year-old Melbournian, did us proud by swinging
across the river.
Then through an
enormous grove of bamboo and parallel to a stream where otters poached trout.
All around us were birdcalls and the whoops of howler monkeys. Our guide
pointed out the plant-life including natural pineapples and flowers that my
mother buys at the nearby garden center back in Essex. Wait till I tell her
that I have seen the originals in the Brazilian jungle.
Our 2-hour walk
finished at a photogenic boulder-strewn river where huge spiders hung cobwebs
across the trees. The guide overturned a log to produce a huge red-kneed
tarantula that wasn't pleased at being disturbed so early in the morning. The
park also includes armadillo, agouti, and peccary, which are preyed on by
ocelot. There are no jaguars in the park.
I asked whether
there were any piranha. No, but a member of staff had seen a 10-foot anaconda
in the vicinity the previous week. With that in mind we backed up, scuttled
down the trail, and headed back to the mini-van
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