Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Brief history
The Forte de Coimbra was built in 1775, three years before Corumbá's foundation,
to defend this western corner of Brazilian territory and, more specifically, to protect
the border against invasion from Paraguay. In 1864 it was attacked by the invading
Paraguayan army, which had slipped upriver into the southern Mato Grosso. Coimbra
provided the first resistance to the invaders, but it didn't last for long as the Brazilian
soldiers escaped from the fort under cover of darkness, leaving the fort to the
aggressors. Nearly three thousand Paraguayans continued upstream in a huge convoy
of ships and, forging its way north beyond Corumbá, the armada crossed the swamps
almost as far as the city of Cuiabá, which was saved only by the shallowness of its river.
Nowadays the fort is a pretty dull ruin (except perhaps for military enthusiasts), and it's
the boat journey there that's the real draw.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
FORTE DE COIMBRA
By car and boat
The fort is only accessible by water, and
is most easily reached via Porto Morrinho, just over an
hour's drive from Corumbá's airport. The journey there is an
interesting one along the edge of the swamp, and once in
Porto Esperança you should have little di
culty renting a
boat, or finding a guide, to take you a couple more hours
downriver to the fort (it will cost at least R$60, however).
By boat
It's also possible to approach the fort in traditional
fashion, by following the Rio Paraguai all the way from
Corumbá in a boat (from around R$35/person, depending
on the size of your group), but this takes around seven
hours one-way and involves going through a tour agency in
town. One bonus of going by this route, however, is that
you'll pass two little-visited natural caves, Gruta do Inferno
and Buraco Soturno, sculpted with huge finger-like
stalactites and stalagmites.
7
The Pantanal
Increasingly known worldwide as the best place for wildlife spotting in South America,
THE PANTANAL
is fed by rivers and inhabited by rainforest bird and animal species from
the Andes to the west and the Brazilian central plateau to the north. Essentially an
open swampland larger than France that extends deep into the states of Mato Grosso
and Mato Grosso do Sul, it is massive, running 950km north to south and averaging
around 500km from east to west. Although the area has only thirty percent natural
forest cover, over 4.5 percent of the trees (some 6260 square kilometres) have already
been destroyed by human activity - mainly cattle ranching. The region is a stunning
blend of swamp water with gallery forest, savannah and lakeside scrub forest, and it is
dissected by around 175 rivers into roughly seventeen segments, each with its own
distinctive landscape and micro-ecosystem. It was designated a
UNESCO World Heritage
Site
in 2000 and became a Biosphere Reserve in the last few years; the protected areas
of the Pantanal have expanded almost threefold since the late 1990s. This is one of
those few destinations in Brazil where you're more likely to find wildlife than nightlife.
Capybaras, wild boar, monkeys and yellow anacondas (
sucuri amarela
in Portuguese or
Eunectes notaeus
) are common sights in the Pantanal, and it's probably the best place to
see wild mammals and exotic birds in the whole of the Americas.
There are in fact 124
wild mammal species
, 177
reptile species
and a further 41
amphibian species
in these swamps, plus over 400 bird species. It's quite an experience
spending the afternoon on the edge of a remote lagoon in the swamp, surrounded by
seemingly endless streams of flying and wading
birds
- toucans, parrots, red and even
the endangered hyacinth macaws, blue herons and the
tuiuiú
(giant red-necked stork).
The birdsong and density of wildlife here frequently live up to the exotic soundtrack
of Hollywood jungle movies, and in the middle of the swamp it's actually possible to
forget that there are other people in the world - though it's di
cult to forget the
mosquitoes (although locals say that malaria is no longer a big problem in the Pantanal,
it is advisable to check with your doctor before departure). The swamp has been a
fabulous
fishing spot
for thousands of years and new species of fish and vascular plants
