Chapada Diamantina – dusty ramblings in an oasis
After Busca Vida, a day was spent in other parts of Salvador, along the coastal stretch and bay area, before catching a bus inland to Lencois.
Lencois is a small, old diamond boom and bust town and sits in the national park of Chapada Diamantina, a beautiful oasis in the dry and dusty surrounding sertao.
There is good trekking here, if a touch hot – but this is eased by the refreshingly cold lagoons, tarns and waterfalls.
Interesting rock formations surrounded by tropical flora and drenched in gently flowing water, like natural Japanese gardens, stand all around and are amazing on the eye.
Like so many other places, it would be easy to stay here longer – 10 days to walk the whole region and see the many spectacular peaks, valleys, caves and lagoons would be ideal.
However, getting to Ecuador is a priority and time is short, so a few days trekking will suffice this time.
The executive decision to skip Amazonia and the rest of north Brazil was made, mostly due to time, distance and costs involved. North-eastern Brazil is definitely somewhere I would like to see more of, as is the Amazon (still want to travel the whole thing by boat) – so missing this out gives a perfect excuse to go back at a later date.
HERE IS THE CHAPADA DIAMANTINA PHOTO GALLERY!
For a few samples, click below..
A rare photo of my good self. The waterfall was a little too refreshing, and caused instant ice cream headache.. A drastic contrast to the mid 30s temperature all around:
The aforementioned ice cream headache! If you look closely, I´m grimacing hard and about to clutch my head to stop it imploding..
