Rio de Janeiro's favelas, or slums, are legendary. Take a tour for a deeper, fuller insight into what makes into what makes these widely misunderstood communities tick.

You can now visit Rio de Janeiro's favelas, or slums, in safety on organised tours. It is a fascinating cultural experience.

What Are Favelas?

The 750 or so separate favelas surrounding the city house around 20 per cent of Rio's population. Most inhabitants are poor – many work in the city as cleaners or builders or bellboys for Brazil's tiny minimum wage and a lot are unemployed.

Some of the bigger favelas now have a main road, working shops and occasional rubbish collection. But the majority are simply collections of higgledy-piggledy houses built by the inhabitants, who add another floor every time a family member gets married.

Rio de Janeiro: City of Contrasts

Favelas are the contrast in Rio’s so-called status as ‘city of contrasts’. Right next to the favela of Rocinha, for instance, is Rio’s wealthiest residential area, Gavea. The fine houses and immaculate gardens are fiercely protected by electric fences and security cameras. The people of Rocinha, many of whom help to build and maintain the houses of their wealthy next door neighbours, generally work for the minimum wage of R$350 (under US$200) a month. The residents of Gavea send their children to the local private school for R$4000 (US$2,265) a month.

Few things in the favela are legitimate in any official sense. Electricity and water pipes are illegally tapped, planning permission is unheard of, and police don't venture into the areas without shots being fired and, more often than not, people getting killed.

Cleaning Up Brazil's Favelas

It's a source of constant worry to visitors and middle-class cariocas (as the residents of Rio are called) alike. Favelas are blamed as the source of the city's reputation for violent crime - if you have watched the cult film City of God (Cidade de Deus) you'll have an idea of their dangerous, drug- and gun-dealing side.

President Lula has recently promised to 'clean up' the favelas and injected $1.7bn into the project.

The Other Side to Brazil's Slums

But the dirty, dangerous side to favelas is not the only way to look at them. By taking a tour from Rio, you'll see the slums from a different perspective – as communities of poor but often hardworking people struggling to make the best of the poor lot they were dealt at birth.

You'll see how, despite the lack of official legitimacy, the local communities work as efficiently and strictly as those in the city centre. The leaders are the drug barons, true, but they are often far less tolerant of petty criminals within the community. In one of Rio's largest favelas, Rocinha, there is a small bank which two military policemen once attempted to rob. They were caught and thrown out on the orders of the drug lords. It's not just the houses that are topsy-turvy.

Favela Tour: Organised Tours of Rio's Favelas

Favela Tour offers twice daily minibus tours to the large favela of Rocinha and the smaller nearby community of Vila Canoas.

Three-hour tours are in English or in other languages by arrangement and are run by knowledgeable guides. You and your camera will be perfectly safe, and you’ll have the opportunity to buy original paintings, jewellery and crafts produced by residents of the favelas, some of whom are undertaking courses as part of social welfare projects.

Para Ti: Social Projects at Work in Brazil

One such project, Para Ti, provides extra schooling and support for children living in the favela of Vila Canoas. Other projects help residents use recyclable material to create useful or beautiful objects – bags and belts made from ring-pulls off drinks cans, for example.

Brazil has a lot more to offer the visitor, from beaches to the Santa Teresa tram to the Theatro Municipal and the Botanic Gardens to countless other heart-stopping sights and attractions.