Last weekend two colleagues (thanks again, Han-Wen and Felipe!) from our Brazilian office took me on short hike near Belo Horizonte. It was a little cloudy and perhaps 15°C. I heard locals complain about the cold winter but for me this was better than the summer I had seen in Germany so far.
At first we drove to a ridge about 15km south-west of Belo Horizonte where we had a nice but a little hazy view of the area around Belo Horizonte.
From the vista point we followed a path parallel to the ridge and the street. It ended after just a few hundred meters and we didn’t feel like scrambling through the bushes cross-country. Felipe suggested another hike he knew south of Ouro Preto.
We returned to the car and reached our destination after about 90 minutes including a short break for a refreshing coconut and a few pictures along the road.
After we parked Felipe’s car right next to a tiny restaurant (which we planned to visit after the hike) we headed downhill towards a lake that was already visible between the trees.
Leafcutter ants
After a few minutes I noticed some movement between my shoes. Leafcutter ants were carrying their treasure over the trail for a few meters (more pictures in the album).
We followed the trail which continued downhill for another 500m. At the lowest point it crossed a nearly dry creek. After the crossing the trail leveled and joined a small dirt road which zig-zagged through a forest of small trees and bushes.
Termites
We left dirt road after about one kilometer and followed a small trail. The next sight was harder to miss than the leafcutter ants before. Right next to the trail we passed about half a dozen termite mounds. All but one looked deserted for some time. But even around the one mound which showed obvious signs of recent “construction” we couldn’t spot a single termite. I learned that Termite are thin-skinned and dry out quickly in dry air or the sun. This explained it but I was still disappointed about not seeing even a single one.
Reservoir and water fall
We could already hear the faint sound of a water fall in the distance when another smaller trail branched of to our right.
This smaller trail quickly descended towards to the north-west shore of a small and as far as I could tell unnamed water reservoir.
Here we turned left and enjoyed some scrambling over tree trunks, rocks and through the undergrowth along the bank until we reached the waterfall which fed the reservoir.
After a short break where we ate some of our rations we headed back along the same way to the trail head.
Overall a pleasant and interesting hike!
Stats accoring to MyTracks:
Distance: 7.37 km (4.6 mi)
Time: 2:12:01
Moving Time: 1:26:01
Average Speed: 3.35 km/h (2.1 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 5.14 km/h (3.2 mi/h)
Max Speed: 8.10 km/h (5.0 mi/h)
Min Elevation: 1162 m (3813 ft)
Max Elevation: 1363 m (4472 ft)
Elevation Gain: 369 m (1209 ft)
Max Grade: 10 %
Min Grade: 10 %