18 Years of Adventure

Brasil Raft Park celebrates 18 years of history today… It took years of a lot of inspiration, sweat and work to offer the best adventure routes in the Paranhana Valley. In this special anniversary feature, we invite you to discover how our adventure began and discover what BRP’s own headquarters has to offer. Pay a visit to our park and plan your first adventure with us!

Athlete’s Dream

The 18-year trajectory of Brasil Raft Park is intertwined with the experienced CV of its founding partners, Cristian Krummenauer and Cristiano Arozi. Coming from canoeing, they built the company with vast experience as recognized and awarded athletes in Brazil and abroad.

Krummenauer was champion of the Conesul Canoeing Cup (slalon category) in 1992, represented Brazil in trials for the Atlanta Olympic Games (1996) and in many other international championships. Cristiano Arozi was a ten-time Brazilian canoeing champion (downhill category), Pan-American and South American champion and was present on the international circuit for more than 10 years.

The Turn of Three Crowns

In 1996, Três Coroas hosted the World Canoeing Championship for the first time. Krummenauer and Arozi were among the group of athletes who would represent South America in the competition. Cidade Verde entered the world canoeing circuit and became aware of the promising adventure tourism and ecotourism market.

But the historic 1996 championship would not be a milestone just for Três Coroas. His routine as an athlete, representing Brazil in Europe and the USA, led Krummenauer to get to know the giants of adventure tourism throughout the 1990s. He noticed how well the business was developing and how this market could flourish in Três Coroas.

Krummenauer matured the seed idea that had been with him for a few years: setting up his own company and developing rafting in the city. “I knocked on Cristiano’s door and asked: ‘Do you want to be my partner? If you help me, we can make the business work’”, he recalls. In the beginning, to get started, the duo had financial help from a friend (and baptism godfather) of Krummenauer, a shoe store owner in Igrejinha. In a short time, the seed was sown and the initial conditions were also met for the emergence of what would be one of the first companies to professionally explore the rafting route in Brazil.

Beginnings in Estrebaria

In September 1996, Brasil Raft Turismo e Aventura was born, initially installed in an old horse stable in Parque das Laranjeiras. The place was poorly structured, making starting the company quite challenging.

With the help of the family, hammer, nails and “hands on the boards”, the first operational base followed a homemade model. “In the 1990s, there was no equipment to set up this type of business. No boat, no oar, no helmet”, recalls Krummenauer. They took advantage of the routine of championships abroad to acquire their first equipment. “We started the company with 3,500 dollars, enough to buy the first boat, 8 oars, 8 vests and 8 helmets.”

First Flights

The partners had experience in rafting and the intuition of how to format rafting as an ecotourism itinerary, but they did not have the commercial structure to run the company. And here again, they received the incentive they needed to take off: the “loan” from the marketing department of their godfather’s company as Brasil Raft’s first call center. “Before, the business telephones were at my house and at Cristiano’s house. His mother had a sewing studio and helped us as a secretary.”

In a short time, they began to stand out among the companies in the city that already served the segment. Brasil Raft’s positioning within Parque das Laranjeiras favored access to customers eager for the novelty of rafting. “In a matter of three or four months we were able to pay off the first investment and we felt the need to expand our service capacity”. They contacted suppliers in the USA and signed partnerships to purchase new equipment, even designing and producing their own life jackets.

Own Park

Brasil Raft Turismo e Aventura was based in Parque das Laranjeiras for seven years. The expansion of service and the increase in demand for rafting led the members to think about new strategies. The structure of the park no longer supported the company’s growth, which had to take a new and decisive step in its trajectory: the purchase of 10 hectares for the construction of its own park.

In 2003, Brasil Raft Park was established in Vale do Paranhana with rafting routes in full swing and also with a second option for adventurers, the zip line. Little by little, paintball, canopy, archery, abseiling, kayaking, quad biking came along… Each year, something new guaranteed the diversification of the company, which became popular with tourists and adventurers in the region.

The lack of support material led BRP to develop its own methodology in relation to technical aspects and ways of serving the public. “We had access to privileged information on how to operate adventure itineraries, especially rafting,” recalls Krummenauer. The teams of instructors were made up of canoeing athletes with great navigation and defense skills in the water.

When BRP positioned itself as a park, the owners became genuinely concerned about the viability of the business. There was also a need for Três Coroas to initiate collective action to increase service, based on the expansion and repositioning of companies in Parque Municipal das Laranjeiras.

The expansion of BRP favored the growth of the sector, expanding business opportunities related to adventure tourism in Três Coroas. “This period in which we built the park transformed our company and adventure tourism in a very significant way”, says Krummenauer.

In addition to the diversification of adventure itineraries, Brasil Raft Park has placed itself on the market by investing in a complex logistics and structure that guarantees the adventurer precious moments close to nature. In rafting alone, BRP’s main activity, the company operates 15 vessels, involving up to 80 people in a single service.

Corporate Events

Another differentiator of Brasil Raft Park is the offering of business training and the organization of events. The demands range from leisure programs to the development of skills, competencies and leadership training.

This service has roots in the early 1990s, when Krummenauer imported his first childhood ideas as a Boy Scout. “We had a trail inside the park to serve companies. They came to us because they wanted to motivate their employees.”

At this time, companies such as Vivo and Dado Bier sought out Brasil Raft to plan leisure moments with their employees. For Krummenauer, although leisure events currently represent the majority of corporate demand, motivational training is on track to lead this segment.

Expanding the Visitor Experience

Brasil Raft Park comes of age, conquering its maturity as a park. However, his challenge at the age of 18 is not related to expanding service capacity, but to the idea of ​​making visitors increase their time spent at the site. “We want to look for alternatives so that people can stay longer in the park and also come to the park at different times in their lives.” Visited primarily by the public from the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, the park also receives tourists from Serra Gaúcha, Caxias do Sul, other states and even other countries.

For the future, Krummenauer plans to focus on adapting to Brasil Raft Park’s different abilities. “I would like a better adjustment to this reality we have today. I prefer to serve the same 80 people and achieve a value of recognition for the activities, a value that adds more and better results.”

Long Live Brasil Raft Park!