Tag Archives: Cuiaba

Getting To Cristalino From The Pantanal (Cuiaba)

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Once you’ve seen the avian wonders of the Pantanal and Chapada dos Guimaraes, what better way to put the icing on the cake than a stay at the wonderful Cristalino Lodge which has to be one of the top ten birding lodges in the world!

You need to get from Cuiaba to the town of Alta Floresta where the Cristalino packages commence.  They have a sister lodge called Floresta Amazonica in town where you can spend a day or two before and after your stay at Cristalino Lodge.  We stayed at both places back in Sept 2012 so I will be doing more detailed photo reviews but for now, let’s just get to Alta Floresta.

CGB – AFL BY AIR

Only one airline is currently serving the Cuiaba – Alta Floresta route – Azul Airlines.  You can use you United miles to redeem flights or book them with Visa or Mastercard on the Azul website.  Depending on the price (which varies widely on Azul website) you may be better off redeeming the miles or paying with money so do the math!

CGB-AFL UA CGB-AFL Azul

CUIABA TO ALTA FLORESTA BY BUS

If you are really on a budget, you can travel by overnight bus from Cuiaba to Alta Floresta.  It’s not one of the luxe business class buses you see on the Sao Paulo routes but it’s a reasonably comfortable bus and when we did it, it wasn’t full so we could spread out and claim a 2 seat bank each.  The good news is that foreigners can now book and pay online.  This wasn’t available back in 2012 so we had to waste time going to the bus station and pre-booking the seats.

I recommend the bus that arrives around 6:15am as it gives you time to grab breakfast and walk around the Floresta Amazonica property which is very birdy!

  1.  Start at Busca Onibus to check times and fares.  Choose the one you want, click on Info and then click on the link to the bus company’s website.

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2.  Once at the Verde Transportes website, put in the route as below and your date, click on the orange Pequisar button.

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3.  In my opinion, the 16:00 departure is best as it gives you more birding time but the 19:00 or 22:00 would get you there in time for the transfer to the Cristalino boat.  Click continuar, and put in your name and passport details then choose a seat.

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4.  After choosing a seat, check that your details are correct and click on Prosseguir button.Cuiaba bus4

5.  Click on the USA flag to get a screen in English.  They have a chat line if you need help but you probably won’t.  There is an option for foreigners, then just fill out the rest of the form, accept the conditions and Captcha, then Complete Your Order and you’re done!

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Bus fare is roughly one third the cost of an airline ticket and it does maximize birding time.  We spent the morning at Chapada, drove back to Cuiaba, had lunch, returned the car and got a taxi to the bus station in time for the 16:00 bus, then had the morning to walk around Floresta Amazonica before lunch and the transfer to Cristalino which leaves after the Azul flight arrives and all guests are present and ready to go.

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Driving The Trans-Pantaneira – Independent Birding

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If you want to self-drive the Trans-Pantaniera in a rental car, the first step is to get from Cuiaba to Pocone.  Pocone is a small town where you can grab something to eat and then head to the Trans-Pantaniera which is a well-maintained dirt road through some prime birding territory.

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Transpantaneira in blue, it’s not that long when compared to the entire Pantanal region but the birds are amazing!

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Well-maintained dirt road.P-01 P-02

This map from the German language Pantanal Portal shows the exact position of the various eco-lodges along the Transpantaniera.  For our trip, we stayed at Curicara Eco-Lodge and made a day visit to Araras Eco-Lodge.  On the last day, we called into Pousada Piuval for a mid-morning snack and to see some more birds in their lush grounds.T-P Lodges P-03

For descriptions of the various lodges, this website has a good list in English, also check the latest reviews on Trip Advisor, paying most attention to people with several reviews who seem unbiased.

Here’s a few pics from our drive from the entrance to Araras Eco-Lodge where we made a day visit.

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Quaker Parrots (Monk Parakeets) were everywhere – check out those humongous communal nests!

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Divided road.P-22 P-23 P-24

Cuiaba – Gateway To The Northern Pantanal, Brazil

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The Pantanal of Brazil is so vast that you could spend weeks exploring it if you had the time and money!  After a look at the southern part, accessed from Campo Grande, now it’s time to look at the northern part, accessed from Cuiaba.

Pantanal

Most people will get to Cuiaba on a domestic flight.  Azul, Gol, Tam & Avianca Brasil all fly here and the most common flights originate in Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Campo Grande though there are routes all over Brazil, including to Alta Floresta (for Cristalino) on Azul.

When we were there, IHG just happened to have the Cuiaba Holiday Inn on Pointbreaks so I jumped on the free room for a mere 5000 points.  It’s a nice enough hotel and the staff were lovely, but the location is the complete opposite direction of the road to Pocone starting from the airport.  I did come prepared with printed Google maps back in Sept 2012 but what I didn’t realize was that the city was full of detours and road works in anticipation of the Soccer World Cup and my map was pretty much useless and we got lost several times just trying to get out of the city!  Wasted time that would have been better spent in the Panatanal!  In desperation, I finally offered a taxi driver 20 BRL ($5-ish) to drive ahead of us and show us the beginning of the road to Pocone.

HI Cuiaba - Pocone

Airport circled in red.HI Cuiaba - Pocone2

Cuiaba is a great place for DIY exploring of the Pantanal as rental cars are reasonable and once you get on the right road it’s easy driving via Pocone to the Trans-Pantaniera – where you start to see the amazing birdlife!  We rented a small car from Hertz and it managed ok as the dirt road in the Trans-Pantaneira is well maintained and we had no dramas returning the car.  I wasn’t thrilled at having to drive a manual (stick shift) but it’s flat country and pretty straight-forward roads once you get out of the city.

If you arrive on a late night flight, I recommend heading left down Route 364 towards the Pocone turn-off and pulling into one of the small motels to pass the night.  Some of them may be geared towards “short term” stays but these people won’t bother you and these kind of motels have discreet car parks that are fenced in and guarded.  I would then get up as early as possible to hit the Trans-Pantaneira by dawn, spend the morning birding and then go to your choice of lodging.  More about this to come!