3 days near Rio - tips? (1 Viewer)

Hi,

I will have three days of free time in Rio and I would like to go somewhere near (but away from the city, I will be locked in Rio for a week later) for birding. My preference would be to go to one area, if possible by public transport, when I could camp, walk around and generally see lots of birds in a peaceful setting (i.e. not amidst a thousand of other birders).

Could someone recomend anything? Thanks!

There are perhaps a few options but it maybe depends on what you want to see and how much you want to spend. I'd always recommend REGUA. It's easy to get to by public transport from Rio (but might take you half a day to travel) and you'll see lots of good birds there. The downside is that it's not cheap and there will probably be quite a few other birders there.

Maybe a good place to try would be Ilha Grande. It's very beautiful, has plenty of places to stay (including camping) and is fairly easy to get to. You'd need to get a bus to Angra dos Reis and then the boat over to the island. There are some nice trails to walk through the forest and a good selection of southeast Brazilian forest birds (though it's probably not as good as mainland sites).

Thanks for the suggestions! I would probably have been more specific, if I knew that places like REGUA do exist in Brazil - gosh, that is indeed expensive for South America (well I haven't been much to Brazil so far, so maybe I am up for my unpleasenat surprises in this respect). Yes, it looks like really nice place, but the accomodation there is about an order of magnitude beyond my budget and the fact that access to forest trails is "by prior arrangement only" doesn't really sound very appealing to me.

I was looking more for something where I can move more freely and potentially wild camp to get more in touch with the nature. The Ihla Grande actually looks promising at first sight, I will be definitely digging for more information about that.

You can camp at Serra dos Orgãos National Park near Teresópolis. It is easy to get there via public transportation: bus from Rio to Teresópolis and taxi from Teresópolis to park entrance (there might local buses that stop at the park, you can check when you get to Teresópolis). The distance from Rio is 95 km, so the bus trip should take 1.5 to 2 hours. There was a time when the only way to see Gray-winged Cotinga was to camp at one of the high elevation camping areas in this Park. The area is beautiful and rich in birdlife, during the week there will be very few campers if any. And it is cheap. There are 130 km of trails inside the park and it is one of the few National Parks in Brazil where you can walk the trails without having to hire a guide.

Now I am seriously torn. Ilha Granda looks so great (I love islands, honestly), but it is a little touristy, whereas this National Park looks much wilder. Is that really so that in most of the Brazillian parks you need a guide to walk? I somehow understand that in scarce places that need utmost protection, but Brazil is huge, so I don't see a couple of free-walking trekkers ruining the nature for eternity ...

The usual explanation for the guide requirement is that it is for the visitor's safety.

So I have spent three days in Serra dos Orgaos and it was quite nice, even though a little different from whatt I expected.

The "public" area in Teresopolis is amazingly dead when it comes to birds. Yes, I know that many birds are notoriously difficult to see in rainforest, but at least they should be heard, particularly at dawn/dusk - I have camped there for two nights and I must say these were the two of the most silent nights I have ever experienced in any forest. I am not sure what is the reason - either it could be because of the relatively high amount of people and proximity to the village (and the amazingly idiotic fact that cars are allowed inside, like if people couldn't walk four kilometers), or because of the "winter" season (there were also almost zero mosquitoes) - but both of these explanations fall short in comparison with my last year's trip to Iguazu where there were five people on every square meter and it was about the same temperature, but the birding was really rich ...

One day, I undertook a hike to the highest point of the area. I decided not to camp up there, as I have seen some pictures showing a very difficult trail on the internet and I didn't want to try that with a heavy backpack in sandals (or in a right sandal and a left boot, as it turned out that both hiking boots I took were left ones) - guess the pictures were dislocated, because the real trail is very easy. Anyway, it was a very scenic trip with unforgettable views, but also not many birds have been seen on the way up.

The way down, that was a different business. Doing the trip without sleeping up, I became dissynchronised with the masses and was almost completely alone on the trail. Also, when descending, I could finally really focus on birding and not on surviving the next minute (I am quite used to steep hikes, but with the heat and humidity, this was really a taxing walk). The number of birds was not stellar, but it was more than made up by how amazingly exotic (for me) species I have seen, the highlight being two brassy-breasted tanagers, the most colourfull birds ever.

Meanwhile, I have also found a couple of nice birds in rio. There are big flocks of frigatebirds visible all around the coastal areas (I will probably have to put them for ID, as I am still not sure which species are they) and yesterday I have seen a Brown Booby flying there and back over the Ipanema beach and a bright red Brazilian Tanager just between the two teleferico stations on the Urca hill.

On Wendsday I am doing a one-day trip to REGUA, so I will report on that later

If you get the chance Rio's Botanical Gardens are worth a visit. Good for Rusty-margined Guan & Slaty-breasted Wood-Rail.

James

Andrew Whitehouse said:

I'd always recommend REGUA.

Click to expand...

Now I see why would you do that. The place is AMAZING. It is the first place I have been that can compete with Esteros del Ibera, only here everything is packed into a significantly smaller scale. Not only is the place incredibly rich in species, it is also rich in individuals, so it feels like walking in a zoo (only it is completely wild, even if not "natural", but the fact that they built using their own hands is also a sight on its own).

Also, the somehow cold impression I got from the website was completelly wrong. The local stuff is great, there are young volunteers to talk to and Nicholas, who runs the place, is friendly and kind even to complete strangers. They also to not collect any fees for day visits (contrary to what the webpage says). The only downside is that as a one-day trip from Rio's Zona Sul it was not very efficient, as from the 16 hours it took, I spent only 7 birdwatching (getting across Rio being a significant part of the problem). But it was definitely worth it.

I did not have the time to go to the botanic gardens, but yestrday I was sick and was just lying on the balcony of the hostel (Rio Nature) and during this activity I recorded several new species to my list, so that kind of made up for that