A national park in the Bahia region of Brazil, Chapada Diamantina is a far cry from the white sand beaches and turquoise waters that Brazil is most famous for. A bit further off the usual beach hopping path, the jaw-dropping plateaus and rugged waterfalls were definitely worth the detour.
Hostels and guesthouses dot the area, but most visitors to Chapada Diamantina will base themselves in Lençóis or Vale do Capão. Lençóis, a former diamond mining town, is where most travellers end up since there are quite a few hostels and restaurants in the area. It’s also easy to arrange a trip for any of the park treks from Lençóis. Vale do Capão is smaller with less tourist infrastructure, but you’re also much closer to a few of the hikes, some within walking distance.
We landed in Salvador (the closest airport to Chapada Diamantina) at 10 PM, with the last bus leaving for Lençóis from the Salvador rodavario at 11. It was currently the middle of Carnival, and Salvador was notorious for having a wild one, which means there was exactly zero places to stay for the night.
It’s a half hour drive into Salavdor from the airport, so we had to rush downtown and hope there wasn’t any carnival shenanigans in the way. After a slight hiccup with our uber after leaving the airport that turned into a twenty minute ordeal, we made it to the bus terminal at quarter to 11, ran to the ticket window and then ran to our bus.
We settled in for what Lonely Planet said was a 7 hour bus ride, so we were surprised when we were dropped off outside the closed Lençóis bus terminal at 3:30 in the morning. We hadn’t had wifi since the airport, when we weren’t sure if we’d make the bus. We hadn’t booked anywhere to stay, expecting to find somewhere when we arrived.
We’re sitting on the steps of the bus terminal, somewhat stumped. Until now, google maps has been our best friend. But the Lençóis map hadn’t finished downloading before we left the airport, so our options were limited. Even though Lençóis is small and rural, we decided that wandering around in the dark hoping to stumble across a hostel with a 24 hour reception wasn’t our best choice.
We planned on waiting it out on the steps until daylight. Cue the friendly man in the trekking tour truck who was there to pick up some passengers that didn’t show up, so he helped us out instead.
Obviously getting in a truck with a stranger at 4 am isn’t the best choice, but he was driving a truck with the logo of the trekking company he worked for, and he was speaking English which matched him working with a trekking company catering to English speakers. After climbing in, he dropped us off at the only hostel in town with twenty four hour reception.
By then it was 4:30 in the morning, and while they didn’t have any rooms available immediately, they would once people started checking out. With that, we booked a room for three nights and went for a nap in the backyard hammocks. When we woke up a couple hours later, people had already checked out early and there was a room ready for us.
We ditched our things and headed out on our first hike.
After a hostel conversation about hiking in Chapada Diamantia, I downloaded the app ‘maps.me’. Similar to google maps, it has offline downloading capabilities, but unlike google maps, it has otherwise unmarked trails routed out. So, for hikes that would usually require a guide, maps.me can sometimes stand in. We used it for all the hikes we did in Chapada Diamantia, and it worked out perfectly each time!
Within walking distance of Lençóis, there are a series of waterfalls. You can do the hike with a guide, but it’s easy enough to do on your own with the help of maps.me. It does get a bit confusing when you get further in, since there are a couple different trails, so I probably wouldn’t do this without the app.
The hike begins by heading up from the center of town towards Hotel Lençóis. You can also ask just about anyone in town to point you towards ‘Serrano’, and they’ll point you in the right direction. After an easy 15 minute walk down a cobbled pathway, you’ll arrive at the Serrano.
A section of the Lençóis river, the riverbed is made of smooth rock dotted with hollows that were worn away over time. Families fill the area, since the hollows vary in size and depth, so it’s an easy place to spend the day. If you’re not in the mood for a hike and just want to splash around for a bit, it’s easy find a little hollow and hang out. Enterprising locals also have grills and coolers set up, so you don’t even need to bring your own snacks!
We continued up the hill, where there are a couple of different unmarked paths to choose from. A few young guys are sitting at the base of the hill, ready to guide people to the waterfall. But, maps.me had a well defined trail (we took the one to the left). After about a half hour we reached a viewpoint, and from there it was a half hour to Primavera Waterfall. In between the two, the path passes by another small ‘waterfall’, that’s marked on the map but doesn’t really seem to have a name.
We hung out at the waterfall for the afternoon, then continued on the pathway and followed the river back to Serrano and into town.
Lençóis is great for accomodation options and restaurants, but the one downside is that quite a few of the Chapada Diamantina treks are an hour or more drive from town. It’s entirely possible to organize a trip to just about anywhere in the park, however it can get fairly pricey. Our other issue was that quite a few of the treks and viewpoints are entirely safe to do without a guide, if you can get there. So, our solution? Rent a car.
We lucked out and met a really lovely girl in our hostel who was interested in the same hikes, so the three of us rented a car for two days and split the cost. There’s a couple different car rental places in town, but after asking at our hostel we decided to go with CIRTUR, which was much cheaper than the other options.
The one downside was they only took cash, so even though our credit card has rental insurance, it wouldn’t cover us if there was any damage. We signed a waiver stating that we’d cover any damages up to two thousand US. We checked the car THOROUGHLY before leaving, and took photos of all pre-existing dents and scratches. The roads around the park are fairly rough, but we took our time and didn’t have any issues.
Our first excursion was to Cachoeira Fumaça, a waterfall so tall it actually turns to mist before it hits the ground. About an hour and a half drive from Lençóis, you have to drive to Vale do Capao to reach the entrance. Upon arrival, check in with the entrance gate, and there’s a mandatory donation (we donated 5 reals each).
From here it’s a six kilometre trek to the top. The first forty-five minutes or so are fairly steep, but after that it levels out and gets a lot easier. It gets extremely hot up there and there’s no where on the trail to buy water, so make sure you bring enough! We brought four litres in total, but another litre or two definitely wouldn’t of gone astray.
After about two hours we reached the mountain top. The freezing cold mist blowing at us off the waterfall gave it away, just in case we weren’t sure. The views of the waterfall itself was fairly obscured, however when we were there it hadn’t rained in a couple of weeks. So the waterfall may have been smaller than usual. To get the best view, I shimmied out on what I dubbed the Lion King rock. But since I’m a scaredy cat I only lasted a minute before I crawled my way back to safety.
Once we got back down the mountain, there was a small market across the road from the entrance with a freezer full of delicious mini bags of frozen mango and coconut puree. Absolutely dehydrated from the sun, the frozen mango may have been the best thing I’ve ever eaten. As a bonus, the house next door to the market sold ice cold Heineken, so we bought a few of those for the sunset.
You should try to leave early for Fumaça, so that way you can stop at Morro do Pai Inacio for sunset. Unfortunately, renting the car took longer than expected, so we were late starting out, but we pulled over for the sunset the first evening.
On the road back to Lençóis you’ll see the entrance and sign for Morro do Pai Inacio on the lefthand side of the road. From the parking lot it’s about twenty minutes to the top, then just sit back and enjoy. The colours spread over the sides of the plateaus as the sun sets, washing everything in a bright orange, with the pinks crossing over the valleys. It’s gorgeous, even if you have our bad luck and it ends up getting a bit overcast when you’re there.
The next day we set out for Pratinha and Gruta Azul. Unfortunately, when we arrived it was definitely lack lustre, especially considering the 40 riels entrance charge. From the different blogs I had read about the area, Pratinha looked like an absolute oasis. It was probably amazing at one time, but the entire area has been converted into a tourist centre, so there isn’t a whole lot of natural left to it.
Gruta Azul is a cave where during the right time of the year, the sunlight hits the water properly and it’s a jaw-dropping blue. However, if like us, you end up there the wrong time of year, it’s just a sad looking cave.
Our next stop, Poco do Diabo, definitely made up for Pratinha/Gruta Azul letdown. A half hour drive from town and an easy thirty – forty five minute walk, the thick brush suddenly opens up and you’re on top of a gorgeous waterfall and swimming hole.
Since the path begins at a separate, less impressive waterfall, barely anyone bothers to continue on to Poco do Diabo. We ended up having the place entirely to ourselves for the first hour we were there. We ended up spending the majority of our day there, laying out on the side until it got too hot, jumping in to cool off, and repeat.
The rodoviário (bus station) in Salvador is on Av. Antônio Carlos Magalhães. Buses leave periodically throughout the day. From here it was a four and a half hour bus ride to Lençóis. The same buses to Lençóis continue on to Palmeiras, and from there you can get a colectivo (minibus) or taxi to Capão.
We got the 11 PM bus from Lençóis to Feria de Santana, however it didn’t leave until 12:30. We arrived in Feria de Santana around 5 in the morning and from there bought an onward ticket to Itacare. The bus station was open so there’s no worries about arriving to a closed bus station or having to buy your ticket before hand. The bus left at 6 and it was supposed to be a five hour bus, but we didn’t get in until 2.
The decision was basically made for us, but it worked out well. We had a private room with shared bathroom for 30 Canadian a night. The hostel has a really nice backyard lounge area with hammocks and a large kitchen, plus, a really good breakfast buffet was included.
Açaí na Tijela on R. Miguel Calmon has delicious and cheap açaí. They were only open from late afternoon to early evening, so it’s a great place to stop when you get back from your trek!
There are two larger markets in Lençóis, I thought the one on the pedestrian street had more selection. We went there to get food for our hikes. The same pedestrian street is also home to the fruit and vegetable market. However, definitely stop in the market on R. Álvares de Melo and look for the small pouches of coconut almond butter. They’re the best to take for a snack, plus it’s impossible to find nut butter in Brazil.
When travelling by bus in Brazil, a lot of terminals have a terminal tax. It’s a fee that you have to pay separate from your ticket, usually in cash. You receive some sort of token or receipt that you give to the attendant when exiting the station. I thought the guy was trying to get me to bribe him to leave the station, and I got a little bit agitated.. oops.
Our 48 hour rental was 360 realss and we put in 80 reals of gas, that covered us for two solid days of driving. Split between three of us, it basically worked out to a bit more than what we each would have paid if we had booked Cachoeira Fumaça through a tour agency. Definitely pick up the car rental the night before if possible, it took us a while to get it all sorted out and it would have been nice to leave first thing in the morning.
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