Almost everyone I had met in Brazil had told me what a beautiful and expensive place Bonito (literally “beautiful” in Portuguese) is to visit. Although it wasn’t until I'd spent some time there that I realised just how beautiful, and expensive it really is.

Bonito is located in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, and is being discovered as the "Caribe do Centro-Oeste" (Caribbean of the Central-West) due to the unbelievable blue colour of its waters. Owing to the enormous quantity of limestone in the ground, the water of these rivers passes through a natural filter where impurities are deposited at the bottom of the river bed, leaving the rivers to be some of the clearest and most transparent in the world.

I arrived on Friday night after a few hours drive from my lodge in the Pantanal. During the drive I met a couple of guys from France who ended up staying in my dorm, so the next day we hired some bikes and rode to Balneario Municipal. Whilst a beautiful place in itself, here we barely scratched the surface of what Bonito has to offer in terms of stunning nature and wildlife.

Back at the hostel that night I met Luiza, a film director from São Paulo who invited me out with some friends to a local bar for some Cachaca and live music.

On Sunday Luiza and I visited Estancia Mimosa with a few others from the hostel. What struck me on the drive there was not only how beautifully serene the countryside is in Bonito, but it is actually spotless and extremely well preserved. All of the tourist spots in Bonito are located on privately owned farms, so the tours generally consist of small groups and include private transport to and from the farm, as well as a delicious Brazilian buffet lunch and dessert usually cooked over a fire from locally grown ingredients.

A local guide took us on a walking tour of a trail around the farm's forest, where we stopped at countless waterfalls to swim, dive and even explore a few caves. What helped was some beautiful weather, and having Luiza around to take photos like this:

Monday was another big day. In the morning we visited Rio da Prata where we snorkelled about 2 kilometres down a river so clear that it looked like the fish were floating in thin air. Then in the afternoon we visited the nearby Lagoa Misteriosa for some scuba diving.

Lagoa Misteriosa (Mysterious Lake) was discovered in 1992, and in 1998 a Brazilian named Gilberto Menezes de Oliveira dived down to 220m - and still didn’t find the bottom. Only having our Open Water Diver certification, Luiza and I could only dive down to 200m less than what Gilberto did, yet the beauty of it still blew us away.

Scuba diving with Luiza in Lagoa Misteriosa

My last full day in Bonito was saved for what was to be the the most breathtaking of all the activities here - Abismo Anhumas. The easy part was rappelling 72 metres down into the cave; the fun part was scuba diving in an underground, crystal clear lake 80 metres deep, with the area equivalent to the size of a football field; the hard part was rappelling back up out of the cave, manoeuvring around some of the largest underwater stalagmites in the world, up to 18 metres high.

It felt like you would need two weeks to complete all the activities here in Bonito, and they would all be stunning. You’d be broke by the end of it - but you know you’re really enjoying a place when you don’t give a second thought to the huge amounts of money you’re spending there. Bonito came with high recommendations and it’s probably one of the most, if not the most visually pleasing place I’ve ever visited. And I just so happened to get lucky again and make friends with a special person in Luiza who could not only take brilliant photos, but was great company to have whilst enjoying this 'bonito' part of Brazil.