ONE OF MY BEST SECRETS - THE WETLANDS OF MARAPENDI

For bird lovers (like me), for Wild Life lovers (like me), for great travellers (like me) maybe Rio is really a fantastic destination, specially when we see things that we would never expect to see. Well, I have writen about Marapendi so many times that it is not a secret anymore, but for sure when my guests come, this is my most well kept secret and everyone fall in love with this absolutely unknown region of Rio de Janeiro.

The wetland system provides a lush and green mangrove jungles with absolutely beautiful alleys, from many branches we can spot very rare birds like the funny and pink SPOONBILL that every year come from Florida (yes yes yes...the Everglades and Marapendi have many things in common!!!!) and thanks God we can see wuite often another very where huge bird, the ROYAL GREY HERON, and many little egrets that here we call it SOCÓ, and the comorants always come to give us such a warm welcome!!!

Not only that...even alligators can be seen there and by boat we see 7 different island where people life!!!

Some hours exploring the Nature of Rio always make our trip special, and the wetland is a very interesting part of my tours!

We use a boat to explore the area, thanks to the boatman Laerte with his great wisdon always give us the best way to spot many different animals.

Of course we have to give a little help to Laerte, he charges according to the number of people I bring...so with 40 reais when 2 people, 50 reais when 3 people or 60 reais when I have four people we can have a unique experience.

Indeed, Marapendi is really one of my favorite places in Rio!!! :)

Rafael Torres Lopes

donrafainrio@yahoo.es