Jeep Tour to the Jungle Waterfalls

young man in swimming trunks in front of a waterfall

Jeep Tour

A white jeep

Two men and a woman in the jungle Another hot and sunny morning. We have a relaxed breakfast and make or way to the Paraty Tours office where we meet for our jeep tour.

There are six of us on the tour; two from Brazil, one from China and the three of us. We are seat-belted into the jeep seats and drive 30 minutes on bumpy roads into the jungle.

Giant Bamboo

a close up of a bamboo stalk with red outlined circles on it

We walk on the jungle trail and look at the tall bamboo. The guide points out the red circles on the stalk and says their presence means the air is clean. These circles are not their on the stalks ha grow in the bigger, more polluted cities.

The First Waterfall

a pool with a small waterfall and a larger waterfall going into it

a salamander type amphibian Our first stop is a waterfall. The lower fall is too rough for swimming but Graham goes for a swim in the upper waterfall.

I am startled by a salamander type creature that slithers across our path. I thought at first that it was a snake but realize it was more like a lizard.

Pedza Branca Distillery

the outside of the distillery which is in a white building and agricultural machine in front on the grass
a red Massey Ferguson Tractor
Our next stop is the Pedza Branca distillery that makes cachaca. Cachaca is an alcohol made from sugar cane.

During our tour, I spot an old Massey-Ferguson tractor in a shed. It looks in great shape.

A lady standing at a tasting station bar Over our time in Paraty, we noticed that the hand sanitizer smells strongly of liquor. During the tour, our guide explains that in part of the distilling process, they remove some alcohol that is not the best for drinking. They end up using that part as hand sanitizer.

We go inside for some tastings of the various cachaca products. I especially enjoy the banana flavored and chocolate flavored ones.

Over the Falls

a guy with a shallow wide waterfall in the background

Waterfall with a restaurant on the side Our next stop is for lunch. The restaurant Tarzan e Poco, overlooks another waterfall.

After lunch we walk across a shaky wooden, suspension bridge. The three of us walk across together with Graham bouncing the bridge to get it Man on a suspension bridge over water swinging. Later we realize that a sign in Portuguese says no more than two people can cross at a time. The bridge leads to a path to a lower waterfall. This waterfall flows over smooth flat rocks that allow people to surf down the rock on their feet or backs. There are waterfall surfers who assist in helping people who wants to slide down the waterfall.

Graham volunteers. He moves quite quickly and does go over a few bumps. He has a few abrasions on his back afterwards but otherwise is quite pleased with his adventure.

The Gold Trail

A simple colonial style white church

A map of the old gold trail We move along from the waterfall to the Gold Trail. Up until the early 1700s this was the original trail that slaves using mules would walk to take the gold mined from Ouro Preto in the interior to Paraty. At Paraty the gold was loaded into ships bound for Portugal. It would take them three months to complete this trail through the jungle. Ouro Preto is 545 km from Paraty and today its a 9 hour drive by car.

Too soon our tour was over and we are dropped off back in town. We head back to our pousada and relax around the pool in the courtyard before heading out for supper.

For the second night in a row, we eat at the Istanbul Cafe. I love this small little restaurant that has a really great choice of vegetarian foods and some meat dishes, all delicious.

lush mountains in the distance with clouds over them