back to:

Health and safety To allay misgivings about anything you may have heard or read about Brazil, this short article has been written by our UK coordinator, who has spent the best part of a year exploring the areas covered by the tour "Frankly, Brazil is much safer than London or New York; but like anywhere, you need to be aware of potential local dangers, and prepare for them. A sun hat is essential, as direct sunlight is incessant throughout the year. Also, you'll need to drink plenty of water and should, ideally, carry a water bottle with you. Through sweating, and drinking, so much, I always come back to the UK healthier, and slimmer, than when I left! Much has been written of street crime in Rio. However, police patrols in tourist areas have tripled in the last few years, and street crime is now so rare that it makes headlines when it happens. Just use common sense, as you do in your home city. Don't wear, or carry anything, too flashy; don't go exploring the back streets at night; and ask your tour manager for advice Once you're out of Rio, use a mosquito repellant, and re-apply it throughout the day. In the areas covered by the tour, the mosquitos are not malarial, but that doesn't make them any less annoying... We'll stick very much to paths on forest tours, but if you decide to venture into longer grass, do NOT wear shorts; as you'll be bitten by hundreds of low level insects within minutes. Shorts are okay for towns and cities, but not for the jungle! There is an abundance of wildlife in the interior, much of it invisible without a microscope; so do not swallow river water. Having said that, during the river flotation experience you'll find your snorkel slowly filling up with water, and there's a tendency to want to blow it out. However, this will probably be saliva; and if you don't swallow it again, you'll soon start feeling dehydrated Other than the above precautions, much of the animal kingdom has been demonised by Hollywood. Nature is exceedingly beautiful and awe-inspiring here; and as a naturalist, the Brazilian interior is one of my favourite places in the world You may have heard of the poisonous frogs of the Pantanal. Any animal that eats one will quickly suffer constriction of the throat, followed by suffocation; so the rule is to not eat live frogs... The piranha has also suffered much bad publicity, simply as a result of being nature's way of keeping river water clean. They're designed to eat dead or dying flesh, and are not inclined to go after anything alive, unless they are bleeding Alligators (here, we'll encounter caiman) are an exotic part of the Brazilian ecology. They're normally fish eaters, and you'll feel very different about them once you've touched one... Snakes can inhabit long grass. They do this for privacy. If you're walking in long grass, make your footsteps heavy, to give snakes warning of your approach; and avoid them being trodden on, with an obvious reaction. Snakes are fascinating to discover and observe; but I've seen as many, in their natural environment, in the British countryside as I have in Brazil; and those in Brazil were asleep! As stated earlier, we won't be walking in any long grass Many Brazilians live their lives without seeing any of the above creatures; and travel to the Pantanal, with their families, in order to experience them To conclude; in my opinion, you have a far greater chance of being injured in a road accident in the urban jungles of the UK or the US, than by anything natural here" See also Safety in the Pantanal