Complexo do Alemao Cable Car

As recently as 2010, the vast Alemao complex of favelas (slum communities) was a no-go area for tourists thanks to fierce gun battles between drug factions and the military police. Since police wrested control from the drug traffickers it is a different story, and the cable car that was installed to transport residents up the steep slopes of the favela has become one of Rio's biggest tourist attractions. Offering a dizzying ride and dramatic views over the sprawling community below, the cable car is a world apart from that which whizzes passengers up to the top of Sugar Loaf mountain, and offers a view of Rio that would few would have had the chance to witness just a few years ago.