|
Accommodation |
There are many diving centres throughout Brasil.
|
| South America
|
|
You shouldn't need to worry about mosquitoes along the Rio Negro. The river is too acidic for them to reproduce |
|
| The Pantanal is Brazils wilderness. It is an area to observe wildlife in its own environment, including jaguars. The dry season ends in October. By January the Pantanal will have received enough rain to fill the vast alluvial plain, nearly all of the Pantanals 240,000 square kilometers will be under 3ft/1 metre of water. There are caimans and river otters. |
None (yet). Have you been up the Rio Negro? Please let us know when the flood season starts and ends. Are the giant Amazon Turtles really that big? Are there many caimans (alligators) and what does piranha soup actually taste like? Or have you dived the freshwater reservoir created by the construction of the Itaipu dam on the border of Brazil and Paraguay? The water is 100metres deep and covers an area twice the size of Chicago. The dam was built with 40,000 people. Over 300 conservationists surveyed the area and saved over 30,000 birds, animals and mammals to a new conservation area and to relocate 8,500 human families. The dam started filling in Oct 1982 as the diversion channel was closed. It took 14 days to fill to 100 metres deep. The spillway, which takes the overflow as the dam fills takes 64m litres of water per second which is 22 times greater than Niagara Falls. The dam includes 18 giant turbines to power Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro and started generating electricity in 1984. On Jan 21st 2001, 13 of the turbines ground to a halt without warning. A power line had overloaded and tripped the off switch! |
These
centres may also provide air:
