Into Each Heart Some Water Falls

Brazil, land of dreams, endless beaches and incredible nature

Brazil is an amazing country when you love nature, as we do. On different trips to this huge country, we saw several waterfalls, though not yet the most famous Iguaçu Falls on the border with Argentina. Instead, we saw cataratas in the Chapada Diamantina (Bahia State), in the Chapada dos Guimarães (Mato Grosso State), in Pirenópolis (Goiás State), in the interior of São Paulo State and near Ouro Preto (Minas Gerais State).

Chapada Diamantina

The Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina is one of the highlights of the State of Bahia and can compete with its beautiful beaches. We hired a small car, called Chapadinha and headed for the interior of Bahia. We drove around the Chapada, a giant 'bread' with steep cliffs all around. We visited the small villages of Palmeiras, Mucugê, the Poço Encantado (the enchanted well), a grotto with beautiful blue water, and finally the typical town of Lençois.

waterfall on the Rio Preto the river isn't deep the night-blue waters of the Black River
a small waterfall on the Rio Preto, south of Palmeiras


waterfall on the Paraguaçu kissing at at the Paraguaçu waterfall Touché at the Paraguaçu waterfall view from the bridge more dark blue water
the waterfall on the Rio Paraguaçu near Andaraí
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Brotas

Brotas in the interior of São Paulo State, is the 'capital of extreme sports'. Nothing for us... We passed here twice (2004 & 2010), the second time on our way to the Pantanal wetlands. There is a beautiful waterfall in the Parque dos Saltos on the Rio Jacaré-pepira.

sunrise on the plane above Brotas exuberant hibiscus flower the water comes tumbling down yellow and white waters bridge over the well-behaved waterfall bridge hanging over the waterfall confluence at the waterfall flowers overlooking the waterfall Touché below the falls whitewater white and black, shade and light turbulence confusion action painting Touché next to the Jacaré-pepira showing off
check him out! another flower above the turbulence
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Riberão Preto

Another town in the interior of São Paulo State, on our way to the Pantanal. In an old open mine site, a recreation park has been organized, including a waterfall...

turtles baking in the sun artificial waterfall on an old mine site the brook coming over the edge brook running on top of the wall

Barra do Garças

After the Chapada dos Guimarães, we continued our tour to Barra do Garças (Mato Grosso State) and the federal capital Brasilia. On the mountain facing the town of Barra, we found a few waterfalls and rapids.

little spooks of water waterfall on a tributary of the Rio das Garças big pool beneath the fall waterfall in two stages, Touché with friends rapids on the rocks before the cachoeira

Minas Gerais

After Brasilia (and a visit to our family there), we flew to Belo Horizonte, where we rented a car, Mineirinha, to make a tour around the Historic cities of Minas Gerais, the old mining region of Brazil.
We found only one big waterfall here, on the train ride from Ouro Preto to Mariana.

waterfall along the Ouro Preto-Mariana train track it's still there on the way back
All photos, movies, and texts (except those signed by Touché Guimarães) were made/written by Guy Voets, and everything is published under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license (attribution, non-commercial, share-alike).

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creative commons by-nc-sa license
photos from
Chapada Diamantina: 2007, Brotas: 2004 & 2010, Riberão Preto, Barra do Garças, Ouro Preto: 2010.