The Favela Tour; Not a Safari

Why would you do favela tour? Isnīt it just a safari to see the poor? Well these questions always come from people when they hear about them. The fact is that it has nothing to do with showing misery, it is rather an attempt to show the alternative society it is; A reality for so many people in Rio. The bank clerks, waiters and maids you meet down in the city, most of them live in so called favelas.

What is a favela?
Since the middle of the 50īs there has been thousands of people coming to Rio every year in search of work and a better life. These people are mainly from the poor North East and today most taxi drivers and shop assistants have their roots maybe in Ceará or Bahia. One of the problems from the start was that all the jobs were in Zona Sul where the price of living was really high. So high that the salary they got from these jobs never could afford an apartment in say Copacabana. The solution? On the hillsides people started to build their own houses, all illegal and without any infrastructure. With time these favelas grew more organized and nowadays you have schools; In Rocinha, the biggest, you even have banks and a MacDonalds.

Crime and the Favelas
The drugtrade has a firm hold of many of these favelas. It started more innocently when the then small time drug dealers joined cause with the during the dictatorship politically oppressed socialists. It was easy to hide in the winding alleys and it made it hard for the police. These gangs many times protected the ordinary people living in the favela from the at the time very abusive police. Today the innocense is lost and automatic weapons nowadays kill innocent people almost everyday. The amounts of money involved is huge. Itīs the police against the bandits and bandits against other bandits.

Hard workers
The big majority in the favelas are not criminals, they are hard working people that get up every morning to go to work. The many problems like young mothers and neglected children are dealt with by different social projects. Most of the time these projects are run by people from that particular favela.

Why a Favela Tour?
You will get the oppurtunity to see how these societies work. You visit social projects and get to see how these communities are warm and welcomming. The absolutely stunning views together with the improvised absolutely unique buildings is an attraction itself. These tours bring money to the favela Rocinha everyday and also gives the visitor the opportunity to observe the reality of so many Brazilians.

How to get on a Tour to a Favela?
All hotels and hostels offer these tours; They vary in scope and content a little bit but in general they are alike. In all the guidebooks you also recommended tours. The pioneer was Marcelo Armstrong with his Favela Tour.

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