Lencois, Chapada Diamantina National Park, Brazil

Geoff and I, Duncan and Angela left Salvadore early to have more time in the National Park, so caught a local coach heading north at 0700. We arrived at Lencois at about 2 pm, which is the prettiest of the old diamond mining towns in the Chapada Diamantina, a mountain wooded oasis, caves, waterfalls, and panoramic plateaus in abundance. We headed to the campsite where the group were going to stay. Only one room available, a pokey little place, red hot with poor facilities. The owner wanted 200 rials, extortion, so he was politely told what he could do with his room. We wandered this gorgeous little town looking for accommodation without success. Apparently a local rock festival had caused an influx of people plus all the people who had rented out their flats, in Salvadore for Carnaval, had come holidaying. We headed up the hill and found the only two rooms available in a five star hotel. Geoff threw the towel in and refused to look any further which I thought odd. Having bartered on the price and booked in for four nights we also booked a guided 15 km trek for the following day. Geoff took a turn for the worse and got an upset stomach so pulled out of the trek. ( hence throwing the towel in earlier as normally he's such a tight wad he would have scoured the town for cheap rooms, looking back thank god he didn't ) Over the last couple of weeks I'd also had an upset stomach on and off but thought I was in the clear.
Up early the following morning three of us headed out towards a waterfall following the riverbed into a canyon. The guide was excellent pointing out all manner of shrubs, fruit, and wildlife. As the sun rose higher it got decidedly hotter. I felt like I had no energy and realised I wasn't feeling 100 %. Soldiering on I took regular breaks and cooled off in the many river ponds. We reached the waterfall which was spectacular and stopped for lunch. A welcome swim in the crystal clear but brackish coloured water was wonderful. I headed towards and got under the waterfall which was not only refreshing but exhilarating. As I was swimming back to the lagoon edge for lunch Duncan who was just to my left, about 10 foot above me, shouted " snake" Yeah whatever Duncan thinking he was messing about. " No I'm serious he shouts" my breast stroke increased and I got out and climbed to where he was peering over the edge. Two foot below on a thin ledge coiled up was a 7 foot boa constrictor basking in the sun about 8 ft above where I had been swimming !!! Whose got the toilet paper? We headed back down the trail making regular stops to swim, saw a water snake and had the option to add a further couple of km onto the trek but I declined as getting steadily worse. I ended up with a bug which resulted in being sick and confined to my bed for a few days, no food just water and rehydration salts. The truck caught us up the following day and I was put straight onto antibiotics. Indeed several people were ill with flu type symptoms, sickness, stomach upsets etc I've lost over a stone in weight but feel much better now. Hygiene has increased dramatically on the truck, antiseptic wipes, dettol washes and antibiotics in an attempt to rid us of these bugs. Indeed it was a shame as Lencois was a beautiful area to explore with wonderful shops, some fantastic restaurants and a wonderful national park.
With regards to the truck, Pete took her to one of the many garages and had the suspension rod welded back on, a rough job by all accounts but it will suffice until a new one can be shipped out. Stop press, a few hundred km down the road this weld job gave up the ghost so we're back to square one.
The amount of miles we are travelling on these truck laden roads you'd expect to see a number of accidents. To date we have been extremely lucky but that all changed a couple of days ago when some poor chap came off his motorbike and emerged from under an HGV directly in front of us. He was in a bad way having lost a lot of blood. Mikail, one of our overlanders got straight off the truck to assist followed by Duncan and myself and constantly advised by Pete with regard to protocols. There were plenty of onlookers doing nothing as usual except unbelievably taking photos. Without doubt if Mikail hadn't cut the chaps helmet strap he would have died there and then from choking. However it didn't look good, the chaps injuries were extensive, the ambulance took an absolute age, the police even longer and when they did turn up it was a pretty poor spectacle. Tv crews stomped all over the scene, cameras in the back of the ambulance filming all the gore, people fed up with waiting driving straight through the accident scene, you couldn't have made it up. This had delayed us for so long we ended up staying in a cheap hotel, it was too late to look for a bush camp.
Bush camping strangely enough is an exciting part of the trip, you never know where you'll end up, down some track, behind some trees, out of view who knows. We have had some very long days and the countryside has been spectacular with forest, mountains and rivers giving way to thousands of km of farmland growing cotton and soya and back to forest. I will remember Brasil by way of two colours, the intense lush green against the deep red of the soil, amazing.
Having left Lencois we are heading to Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. Pete and Kirsten reckon half a day here is more than enough before we will be bored stiff and they were right. Brasilia is the result of an ambitious urban project set in motion by President Juscellino Kubitshek in 1955 after years of debate. JK gained enormous personal popularity and in fact was heralded a national hero, he died in a suspicious vehicle accident in 1976. In short the city lacks soul, seems poorly laid out and I'm pleased we're out of here but hey another experience.
Highlight in Brasilia for me was at our campsite watching the owls hunting and chasing the crickets. Beautiful little birds, which with patience and quiet you could get quite near to to observe their antics. Needless to say I spent a good hour or so watching these magnificent birds.
Enough, onwards, westward towards the mighty Amazon.

Tchau

Tony x


1-4. 14 km trek to a waterfall along a canyon / river bed
5. Tough going, regular water stops required
6. Dragonfly
7- 9. Beautiful waterfall in the middle of no where
10. Boa Constrictor perched just above where I was swimming
11. Relaxing in one of many river pools
12. Heading back to Lencois
13-14. Kids playing
15. One of many riverside communities
16. Bushcamp
17-18. Beautiful bat owl
19-20. JK statues in tribute
21-26. Some of the many churches, modern buildings and sculpture in central areas.