What is a Tapir?
So a tapir, what is it? A pig cross pygmy hippo cross pygmy rhino?
Travelling through Brazil, I stumbled across one if its most beautiful ecological paradises and within that paradise I met one its coolest animals, the tapir. This incredible place is called Bonito, which in Portuguese translates to ‘beautiful’. Rather fitting really.
But if you want to get up close with this ecotourism hub, otherwise known as Bonito, and snorkel through crystal blue rivers and see hundreds of species of fish, explore thousands of years old caves, bath under waterfalls, trek through jungle, stumble across a few monkeys, kiss a macaw and of course play with a tapir, then I definitely recommend going to Bonito. Getting there is simple and only requires taking a bus, or two, depending where you are in Brazil.
So, back to this giant pig, small hippo, and kind of eat-eaters trunk animal, we have the tapir! In Portuguese it’s known as ‘Anta’.
How to meet the Tapir?
I actually stumbled across this animal by accident. It was on a tour called ‘Rio do Peixe’ (TripAdvisor reviews on the tour here)
It should also be noted that no one owns him either. He’s free to roam through a large nature reserve which is also home to thousands of birds and hundreds on monkeys. The tapir is free to roam around the reserve and if you’re lucky he’ll come give you a hug. He’s very gentle, so just treat him like a big puppy and he’ll love you back. During this tour you’ll go on a walk through the reserve, stumble across a few waterfalls and even visit a cave, which in order to get to you need to swim under a waterfall! It’s incredible.
(See the entrance to the cave??)
One really cool experience was when I got to see some monkeys. Our tour guide performed this show for us where he offered the leader of a troop of monkeys a banana. The monkey came and collected it, then as he walked off he signalled to the other monkeys that it was safe to come and get the other bananas which we were all holding. This experience was like no other. I had monkeys jumping all over me just to get their hands on some of these bananas.
When to go?
I’d recommend visiting this place sooner than later as with increased tourism, like everything it will eventually fade. The Brazilians however are very good with maintaining the quality and cleanliness of this area and are very strict on littering so I think they’ll have it well preserved for a very long time to come. And if you’re lucky you might even score a kiss from one of the wild macaws there 😉
If you haven’t already, check out my blog here on how and why I turned my proposed 2 month trip to South America into a one year adventure. Maybe you’ll get some inspiration and then get to meet a tapir for yourself 🙂