Winter 2009 - Lima to Montevideo - Birding Trip Report - Part 7 of many - Porto Velho Home » Forums » Birding » Trip Reports

The overnight bus from Rio Branco to Porto Velho reached a mighty
river, and everyone had to disembark so the bus could be put on a
ferry. I had read that Porto Velho was a city with a broken economy
and a little dangerous, but when we arrived everything seemed normal.
People all seemed busy and with a purpose. Unlike Venezuela and maybe
parts of Lima where I did not stay long, nowhere in Brazil did I
really feel in any danger. The common wisdom is the south of Brazil
is safe, while the north is less safe.

Our first mission was to find a tourist information center. We heard
there was one downtown, and it took several hours to track down the
Ministry of Tourism. Even the people close to the office didn't know
where it was. The friendly manager works until 1:00, and has a part
time job providing tourist services in the afternoon. He was eager to
takes anywhere we wanted to go. In retrospect his rates were
reasonable, but the conflict of interest bothered me, and we generally
travel guideless.

At the tourism office we received literature about this state,
Rondonoia, of Brazil. Apparently it was one rich in nature, but the
literature lacked specifics, such as bus and hotel information. Most
tourists who come to Porto Velho are on their way to Manaus, a city
with a population of over a million in the heart of the Amazon. A
boat takes three days to get there from Velho. Brazil has a plan to
build a road to Manaus, which will surely accelerate the destruction
of the rainforest.

My main goal was to find a 'posada' where I could work online, and find
birds outside the hotel. Manaus was too far. It seemed Sao Carlos, a
town two hours down the river was the best bet. We decided to do a
quick day trip and found a driver with a car who would take us for 40
Real about 80 km. The drive was bumpy but mainly it was difficult I
learned that land around almost the entire stretch of road had
recently been burnt by one landowner. The comforting treeline was
just an illusion left on purpose, and the landowner had burnt vast
amounts of land behind his treeline. Many many years ago I heard rock
star Sting, who once told the world the Amazon was the lungs of the
earth, tell a news reporter that the poor indigenous people of the
Amazon burn it because it is the only way they can survive, and the
problem was with the world banking system. But I believe it is a
cultural problem. Brazilians view the jungle as a place with
mosquitos and spiders, and have no need or appreciation for nature.

On several occassions we mentioned the destruction to the locals, and
every time the first thing said was that the Americans had cut
down all of their trees. I am the biggest critic of the United
States, but environmental stewardship in Brazil struck me as far worse
than anything in the US. But this is a long discussion topic for another
place.

Sao Carlos is a rapidly growing town on the other side of the river
with an average age it seemed of well under 20. A boatman took us
across the river, and we intended to do a 2 hour walk to a local lake.
Finally after reaching Sao Carlos we could see some primary forest,
but the rains and the mud and the hour prevented us from doing much there. For
birds a few Swallow-tailed Kites were seen overhead, and one
Yellow-headed Vulture as well.

We had told the tourism guy that we wanted to see animals, and he
recommended the environmental police station, where they kept
confiscated animals in cages. I was a little curious and no other day
trips seemed available. We were told this suburb was very green.
Indeed, the town of XXX is connected to a few sections of primary
forest, one of which we were told was protected. The police station had a
super friendly young jaguar who ran outside of his cage and played
with the police. We were allowed to take one pic of my wife petting
the cat. Should you plan to stay in Porto Velho, I recommend this
suburb if you are 'birding'. I didn't have time to learn more. The
eco police recommended we stop in Cacoal, on our way, and we decided
to keep moving rather than spend more time trying to find a eco-posada
around Velho.