How We Go
Ways Through the Range
Trekking, riding, and overlanding in Brazil’s Serra do Espinhaço
The Story of Brazil is written in trails, dirt roads, kitchen tables, and small villages. Few places reveal it as clearly as the Serra do Espinhaço.
Here, high savannah and Atlantic Forest, river valleys and plateaus, and colonial towns and rural communities are stitched together by historic trails, winding riverways, and little-traveled dirt roads.
In our experience, there’s no richer way to understand the range than to move slowly through it. Its labyrinth of trails and backroads lends itself perfectly to that.
However you choose to travel with us, you’ll feel it in your legs as much as in your conversations.
Caminho dos Escravos (April)
The Trails
Three centuries of movement. Years of rediscovery.
Getting from Point A to Point B has always been an adventure in the Espinhaço. Nowhere is that more evident than along its spectacular network of trails.
Game trails, former railways, little-traveled dirt roads, and other paths abound, but three types of historic trail shape most of what we do in the backcountry:
· Colonial stone paths, built by enslaved Africans to carry diamonds and gold along the
Estrada Real.
· Tropeiro trails, carved by mule drivers who moved goods and stories between towns well into
the 20th century.
· Smugglers’ descaminhos, once used to move contraband, and later walked and
recorded by European naturalists crossing the Cerrado.
Our crew has spent years exploring this network, walking alongside residents, listening to the people who live along it, and charting new ways through.
It’s a pleasure to share it with travelers who want to experience the range, not just pass through.
Trekking in the Jequitinhonha River Valley (October)
Trekking
The way the range has always been crossed.
Trekking is still the way we know the Espinhaço best. It’s also often the most practical way to get to know it. Here, there are stretches of backcountry where your own two feet are the only way between communities.
You don’t need to be an avid trekker or elite athlete to enjoy the trails here. If you’re joining us on an Expedition or Journey, though, you should expect long, active days—typically 15–25 km on foot, with significant elevation gain and loss over varied mountain terrain.
Some days require us to push our legs harder. Other days are gentler. The pattern, however, remains the same: big landscapes, effortful movement, and real terrain.
If that sounds ambitious, Bespoke trips allow for adjustments: shorter stretches of trail, more overlanding, more time in towns or at waterfalls, or extra rest days built in between.
Ultimately, any time on the trail here is time well spent.
Riding in the Black River Valley (April)
Riding
Through the hinterlands.
Horses and pack animals have been part of life in the Espinhaço since diamonds were first discovered here in the early 18th century. They still play a vital role in local culture, work, and transport, and offer one of the most memorable ways to move through the range.
If you’ve ever imagined riding through the Brazilian hinterlands, this is where it happens. The serras around Diamantina are welcoming even for first-time riders, while the remote river valleys and open dirt roads of the Sertão and Berço give experienced riders plenty to work with.
On many Expeditions and Journeys, you can expect a handful of optional riding days, which often double as rest days for tired legs. On Bespoke trips, some travelers choose a single day in the saddle, while others build whole itineraries around riding, with hikes and overlanding woven in.
However you move, we recommend you catch your breath, look up from the trail, and lean into the Espinhaço’s long tradition of tropeirismo and cavalgadas.
Crossing the Rio Pardo (August)
Overlanding
Between backroads and bushwhacks.
Our earliest explorations of the Espinhaço weren’t on foot or on horseback. From 2018 to 2020, we criss-crossed the range mostly by vehicle, piloting a 1989 Toyota Bandeirante named “Gaúcha” from one small community to the next. We’d arrive, grab our packs, walk to local sites, then come back to eat, drink, talk, and take notes.
Today, we still spend plenty of time in vintage 4x4s—leaf-sprung, diesel-powered workhorses that support our crossings and keep the journey moving. Overlanding allows us to cover big distances between valleys and plateaus, connect remote trailheads and small communities, and move crew and support in ways that keep everyone safe.
On Bespoke trips, especially for travelers who value time in communities over long days on the trail, overlanding often becomes the backbone of the itinerary: more villages, more waterfalls, and more stops in less time, with the option to get out and walk when it makes sense.
Travel by vehicle here has its own edge. Washboarded dirt roads, stone causeways, narrow bridges, and the occasional water crossing are part of the rhythm. Further afield, in Sempre Vivas, the “roads” become obstacle courses, with sandpits, jagged rocks, seasonal marshes, and forest-covered double-track.
As your captain speaking, we recommend you relax and enjoy the ride.
