As Lewis the Lion and Helen were backpacking and on a budget, it meant that it was great if they could visit places for free or do things as cheaply as possible. With this in mind, Lewis, Helen and some of their friends visited some beautiful waterfalls right in the heart of Rio de Janeiro.
Before arriving at the waterfalls, Lewis discovered a statue that he loved of a child being swung around. He loved being swung and especially when he was younger still and this statue reminded him of many happy memories.
Do you like being swung? How does it make you feel?
They then had a 5km walk to reach the waterfalls which proved to be an unexpected delight as it involved a walk under cover of the forest where Lewis saw enormous jack-fruits. This wasn’t an indigenous tree to South America but it seemed to thrive there nonetheless.
The walk then saw them scrambling over rocks and using tree roots as stepping stones as they clambered through the forest undergrowth.
They then came across the prettiest opening with a waterfall shooting down the rocks into a fairly shallow bathing pool. This was welcomed after the walk to get there and Helen’s friends put on their swimming gear and splashed straight into it!
There were a few young families there too with small fishing nets and picnics. Lewis enjoyed sitting in the sun, seeing the light reflecting off the waterfall and rocks and watching some truly beautiful butterflies come dancing by. One in particular was large (about the size of the palm of an adult’s hand) and was an electric blue colour which flashed up against the greenery of the surrounding forest.
This place was so peaceful with just the sound of the gently lapping waterfall, the birds in the trees and the occasional monkey’s call: in the warmth of the sun, Lewis could have quite happily spent the whole day there it was so relaxing!
Lewis the Lion and his friends then climbed even further into the forest where even more gushing waterfalls awaited them still. There were more people enjoying the beauty of nature here and there were many more people taking a soak in the bigger waterfalls or enjoying sunbathing on some nearby rocks. What a beautiful, hidden gem this place turned out to be for Lewis and his friends, as a local Carioca told them that tourists rarely ventured to these parts! Lewis the Lion felt pleased that his sense of adventure had led him to this beautiful place.
On another day, Lewis and his friends had another fantastic adventure around Rio’s huge Lake.
Lewis had seen it from above on the day he’d had the wonderful panoramic views of the City when he’d visited the Christ the Redeemer statue. He wondered if he could perhaps visit it, it looked so pretty? So, Helen and her friends did a bit of investigation on the internet and discovered that they could hire bikes and cycle around the lake as it had a purpose-built cycle path running right the way round it. Perfect!
Lewis enjoyed sitting in the basket on the front of Helen’s bike and watching the world whizz by. Again it was a beautiful sunny day but because Lewis was on the bike, the air rushing past them kept them cool. However, suntan lotion was still liberally applied to make sure that Helen and her friends did not burn. Lewis the Lion loved the sense of freedom that he had, as the bike steadily worked it’s way around the lake and he absorbed the scene of the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro.
However, towards the hottest part of the day, Lewis and his friends had a great idea. They took a slight detour off the cycle path and headed for Rio de Janeiro’s Botanical Gardens.
Inside the gardens the leaves of the plants and trees offered a natural shade against the heat of the day and it felt wonderful to be able to escape this oppressive heat, if only for a couple of hours. Lewis the Lion thoroughly enjoyed sauntering through these beautiful gardens.
Never in his life had he seen such tall palm trees and he tried to calculate their age by counting the rings around their trunks until he couldn’t see anymore: they were obviously very old trees!
Have you ever tried to work out how old a tree is? Maybe you could do some research and find out how?
He saw unusual plants and flowers that he had never seen before, along with others that were more familiar.
One of them reminded him of a Chinese dragon. Take a look at his picture and see what you think?
Another beautiful and free evening was spent by Lewis the Lion watching the sunset over Ipanema Beach. Lewis wished he could have paused time as the wonderful colours swept across the sky and cast light and shadows across the landscape. Here are some of his favourite photos:
When Lewis reflected on the natural beauty surrounding the city of Rio de Janeiro, he realised that sometimes the best things in life are free!
What nature spots do you enjoy visiting and why?
What things do you enjoy doing that don’t cost money or much money?
