Fazenda Rio Real is a vast and green fazenda in Brazil. The actual meaning of the name is “Farm of the Royal River”.
Alongside the estate the river is 70 to 120m wide. After winding its way for about 16km, the freshwater river flows into the saline Atlantic Ocean. At the estuary the river is 1.5km wide. The best known and most impressive dunes in Bahia, called “Mangue Seco” are found there. You can whizz your buggy down the pearly white beaches and visit the picturesque fishing villages in the area. Staying in this protected area of natural beauty is lovely: you can enjoy a brisk, healthy walk along the beach first and afterwards relish a tasty camarão com oleo (shrimp fried in olive oil) and a caipirinha or just have a simple steak with a glass of foamy beer. The sun will give you a beautiful tan, the whole year round.

Brazil is a South-American, multi-faceted country as big as Europe. It has a young and dynamic population. Everybody enjoys a warm welcome, racism is non-existent, the power of nature is overwhelming, everything is always basking in radiant sunshine, the soil is fertile, both blissful peace and swinging music can be found… You name it: the representative of the blue-green-yellow flag encompasses it all.

When we zoom in on the country we find the holiday state of Bahia. That beautiful and peaceful part of the country borders the Southern Atlantic Ocean and is located in the northeast, far from metropolitan troubles as they exist in São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro. Bahia’s culture is green. Multi-coloured birds fly across its hills, all kinds of fruit are grown here, in the ocean whales and dolphins pass by and turtles come ashore to lay eggs.

Brazil	Bahia

The federal state of Bahia is as big as France. The capital city is Salvador. The culture of this pleasant metropolis is 500 years old and the old inner city is unique. The suburbs comprise new apartment buildings, numerous hotels, modern hospitals and big shopping centres. Salvador has an international airport. Flying there from Brussels via Portugal takes 9 hours (Salvador – Lisbon takes 7 hours, Lisbon – Brussels takes 2).

Fazenda Rio Real is at 190km from the airport, i.e. not even a 2-hour ride. The Linha Verde is one of the best roads in Bahia. It goes through unspoiled nature, which explains where it got its beautiful name. It is translated with “Green Line”. This green route is parallel to the azure coast and so a fresh or sunny interlude can always be enjoyed.

Estancia (comparable to the municipality of Lier) is an attractive town with a shopping mall, a number of bigger supermarkets, some beautiful squares and a few older churches. This is where you end up after driving north from the fazenda for about half an hour. When you continue north for another half hour, so at about an hour’s ride (105km) from the fazenda, you get to Aracaju, which can be compared to the city of Antwerp. Aracaju is the capital of the small state of Sergipe. It is a big, pleasant town with a number of shopping centres and streets, cinemas etc. The most modern and reliable hospitals and the best doctors can be found here! There are also an abundance of restaurants and bars. It is a very good deal for a weekend out.

Bahia enjoys 4 seasons, though they are less distinct than in Europe. Because Brazil is south of the Equator, the seasons are opposite to those in the northern hemisphere. Summer in Bahia is wintertime in Belgium, which is ideal for those who do not like the colder months of the year. The day temperature averages 25° to 30°C, the average night temperature is 20° to 25°C. Of course it also rains in this part of the world but it is limited in time and you can easily keep your swimming outfit on. Your warm winter coat is not needed here. The agreeable temperatures and the subtropical climate provide us with a splendid array of birds that soar over the wide plains and that nest in our cashew, palm, mango and banana trees. This playful fauna goes hand in hand with a tranquil flora.