Ninety seconds on Anavilhanas National Park
Come in the flood and a boat carries you between the treetops of a drowned forest; come in the dry months and the same channels open onto empty white beaches on black water.
The park provides no guides, so you hire the boat, the boatman and the guide yourself, in Novo Airão or through a lodge. ICMBio, the federal agency that runs the park, lists operators and local guides in its visitor guide. In one day a boat can take in some of the main beaches, a run through the igapó and one of the trails.
Boat tours from Novo Airão often stop at an indigenous community such as Tiririca, where lunch is served. A second day suits the Pedra do Sanduíche rock and the trail to the Madadá caves. Night tours by boat or on foot go out for caimans, owls and frogs.
At the Flutuante dos Botos on the Novo Airão waterfront, wild pink river dolphins come in to be fed by the staff at set times through the day, after a talk. You may not swim with them, touch them or feed them yourself. The dolphins are free and still catch most of their own food.
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