Favela Tours

One of the best and easiest ways to witness a favela for itself is to
go on a tour. There are many tours throughout Rio de Janeiro, however
Rocinha is the most well known favela considering it’s the largest
slum in South America. Favela tours or slum tourism in general can be a
controversial topic considering it is seen by some as going on a jungle
safari, but there are various types of tours. There are Jeep tours
which many deem as outlandish because you are riding in a jeep through
the favela as if the favela is a big spectacle. With this tour you
receive no connection to the favela but rather a shallow experience, and
the profits from the tour do not go to the community. There are other
tours where the profits go to the community and it is more of a personal
experience where you visit families, hang out at bars, play with kids,
and truly learn the history of the favela and what life is like. This
is good not only for you but for the people in the community because
this provides for a cultural exchange in which the favelados which are
often enclosed in their culture and their community can be exposed to
the rest of the world and different ideas, as well as the tourist be
exposed to the favelado culture.