Chapada do Veadeiros – Goiás - Brazil

 

Planning

I bought a GOL flight to Brasilia on a promotion. The itinerary was to arrive on April 30 and return on May 4 (early morning). I did some reach on places to stay over the internet and based on the offered packages from travel agencies we decided to rent a car and book a Pousada by ourselves. The Chapada Park entrance is around 280km from Brasilia.

 

There are a lot of Pousadas in Alto Paraiso de Goiás, that is the 1st city when you arrive, but it stills 40km away from the park entrance and the main attractions, we decided to stay on Sao Roque village, that was only 2km away from the park entrance and would save us a lot of time on transfers.

The Sao Roque Pousadas are more expensive than the Alto Paraiso ones, but is the end is better because after walking all day long and tired get in a road to get back to the Hotel is not nice… 

Since we were traveling on a holiday all the prices were higher. We choose a Pousada that had a good price “Pousada Flor do Cerrado” compared to the others, you can book by e-mail, but a 50% deposit for reservation will be required (http://www.portaldehospedagem.com.br/seusite.asp?id=9499 - pousadaflordocerrado@gmail.com)

We rented a car on Movida Rent a Car, that was the one with the better price.

I don't think that English is easy spoken in Sao Jorge, so it would be better to try to find a English speaking Pousada that can give you support while there

 

1st Day

The flight delayed 1 hour, so we arrived in Brasila around 22:30, we kept looking for the Movida box, but they didn’t had an office on the Airport, after sometime searching we finally found the Movida’s employee, signed the papers and caught our car, we went straight to the road, it was more or less a 3 hours ride and we want to wake up early to enjoy the day.

The road itinerary you can get on Google maps using Alto Paraiso de Goias as end point (since Sao Jorge is not listed) just before arriving to Alto Paraiso there is a exit to the left, Sao Jorge is 40km away…

Inside Brasilia follow the speed limits all the time, there are a lot of photo radars and the trip can become very expensive! The road is a highway in the beginning after around 30km it becomes a 2 way road in very bad conditions, You have to pay a lot of attention in the intersection between BR-020 and BR-010, there is a road work and a total lack of signalization, you could get lost and enter the wrong road, make sure that you enter BR-010 (DF-345) after this point there is no way of getting lost. The road only gets better after you pass inside the city of Sao Joao D’Aliança. The last 12km to Sao Jorge are on dirty road

The trip took us around 3:30 hours, Sao Jorge is a village, so was very easy to find our Pousada, we arrived there around 3:00, took our stuff and went to sleep

 

 

2nd Day

The second day started raining a lot, looked like was going to be a lost day, we stayed on the Pousada waiting for the rain to stop, when to the market to buy water and food for the trekking and waited… Around 11:00 the rain stared to stop we spoke with a local guide, since to entry the National Park a guide is mandatory and decided to take the risk and go to the Park when the rain stopped.

The Guide charges R$60,00 for the day divided by the number of people in the group, if the group gets bigger than 6 people he charges R$10,00 per person, the park entry costs R$3,00. When we were entering the park started raining again, but we decided to move on.

 

 

We did the waterfall trail to the 80m and 120m waterfalls, it is around 4,5km each leg (9km in total) with rain all the way, when we arrived in the waterfalls valley the rain started to stop and we could see the valley and the waterfalls as you can see in the pictures.

We took around 1:30 hours to arrive in the valley and the first 120m waterfall, the place is beautiful, maybe even more with sun… Then we kept walking following the river until reached the second 80m waterfall, the water level was very high and the waterfalls were very strong we couldn’t swim there (We didn't wanted also because was cold).

We started to return, during the whole trail there were lots of flowers around, even with all the rain we could notice  their beauty, with different sizes and colors and we rain drops gave an especial touch, that we could never have imagined and we could stop staring at them!

After the trail in total took us around 5 hours and despite all the rain it was very nice and gave a special touch on the flowers. We returned to the Pousada and had some coffee and local cakes, very good.

At night we went to a all you can eat pasta restaurant, You can chose the ingredients and the pasta, but I didn't found it very good, but by the price we were paying we couldn’t demand very much… We close the trail that we were going to do on the next day: the Mirante da Janela

 

3rd Day

  The day was perfect, lots of sunshine; we took breakfast and went with the guide by car until the trail start, this was a shorter trail, around 3km each leg, but with lots of ups and downs… After 1 hour walking you reach the first belvedere, you can see the whole valley and the 2 waterfalls, but you still see them from the side and from a very higher perspective, we still have to walk a little more to arrive in the best spot.

The view from there is amazing, as you can see in the photo, we sat on the rocks after going up a big hill and just kept admiring the view…

Then we started the way back, that still had a stop on the Abismo waterfall, a waterfall that goes over the hill and make some natural pools, we stopped there for a bath and to eat something, there were some mosquitoes and wasps (the wasps were inoffensive just looking for you sweat salt, but are particularly annoying) so if you have some repellent is very useful there.

 

On the way out there was a guy camping there and charging R$5,00 for passing on the land, we found it abusive but there was no other way to pay him and keep going.

 

We still had some daylight and we decided to go to the Vale da Lua (Moon Valley), it was a 12km drive to the place, were you pay R$5,00 and walk around 2km in total. You don't need a guide, just follow the path all the way to the river, it is called moon valley because of the rock formations sculpted by the water. The place is amazing the contrast of water and rock is really out of this world, there is also a natural pool were you can bath, but the water is very cold…

 

4th Day and Return

Sunday, the last day on Chapada. We woke up very early to start the trail around 8:30, we were going back to the Park and do the canyon trail, it was around 5,3km each leg, but is very plain crossing some rivers and  little bridges

There are 2 canyons in the Preto river named canyon 1 and canyon 2, very original right? We didn’t knew but during the raining season canyon 1 is closed and unfortunately we could go there! So we went to the canyon 1 and after if to the carioca waterfall. I had in my mind that it was a big canyon that you could see the river from above, but when we arrived there the place was very beautiful but in a very small scale, nothing impressive as I was expecting, at the end of the canyon there is a place that you can swim and also a platform that you can jump into the water.

We moved to Cariocas waterfall, is a very nice and wide waterfall, you can enter below it and there is also a place to take a bath. We stayed there for a while and moved to the rapids. The rapids were not so beautiful because the water level was very high, there is a spot called hydro massage, the name speaks by itself, but since the water level was high we cannot enter it…

We returned back to the Park entrance and was around 13:00, we had enough time to go to our last attraction the Raizama

 

 

We passed over the village to leave the guide and buy some water and hit the dirty road to Raizama, it was at about 5km on the road until and entry, then more 3km until you reach the farm. They charge R$5,00 to enter and you don’t need a guide. The trail is a little dirt and the first stop is a little waterfall with a pool, then you continue thru the river bank until you reach the big waterfall that fall into the canyon, the place is astonishing the view from the waterfall top and the very narrow canyon gives you a very nice and refreshing sensation; you keep walking on the canyon edge until you reach the spot on the photo at the right (you can see the other waterfall on the background), the place is simply perfect! On dry season you can swim on a natural pool. We sat on the rocks and had lunch admiring the perfect landscape, some rapids sculpting the rocks leading to a natural pool that turns into a waterfall and drops in the canyon!

We returned to the Pousada and took a shower and hit the road back to Brasilia, on the road between Sao Roque and Alto Paraiso there are some nice belvederes and landscape.

In Brasilia we did some sightseeing on the monuments illuminated at night on the Eixo Monumental, the picture on the side is from Brasilia Cathedral. I this that the city is more interesting during the night, because of the illumination.

We found some place to eat and a hotel to sleep, our flight back was only on the next day morning .

 

 

Hints / Tips

When to go:

I suggest the low season (I always travel on low season) less people and better prices High. High Season is from December until Carnival and July. The best time to visit is during the dry season so you can visit all attractions.

How to go:

You can rent a car from Brasilia or take a bus to Alto Paraiso. I strongly suggest the car so you can go to the attractions by yourself there. Without having to look for transportation there.

Where to stay:

There are a lot of Sao Jorge Pousadas available on internet, I suggest the one we stayed, but I don’t think they speak English there. On this site there is a list, just send an email to verify if English is spoken there.

http://www.portaldesaojorge.com.br/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=15 

Money:

There is no ATMs or Banks in Sao Jorge, so please withdraw some money in Brasilia or Alto Paraiso

In Some Pousadas and Restaurants credit card is accepted, but is good to take some money with you for the Tours and attractions entrance

What to take:

- suncream, the sun is very strong there 

- Comfortable shoe (take 2 with you, because you can one wet and use the other in the next day)

- Repellent 

- Sunglasses

- swimwear

- backpack to put some food and water

- waterproof/rain jacket

Security:

- Sao Roque is a very pretty safe place, but please follow the usual caution

- Brasilia is also relatively safe, but also don’t look too tourist and don’t call attention!

- Be very alert in the road, since a hole or bad signalization can cause an accident

Other:

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Any suggestion or comment please let me know

Please send your comments or doubts I will be glad to help 

Regards