The Pantanal

A 20 hour overnight bus from Rio took me to Campo Grande where I spent one night before jumping on another bus for 4 hours then a transfer to this not so comfortable jeep for 11/2 hour dirt track ride....

Final destination Santa Carla Farm in The Pantanal - which is the world´s biggest area of wetland (bigger than France) and goes into Bolivia and Paraguay but we stayed in the Brazil side. The attraction here was the promise of even more wildlife and birds than can be found in the Amazon!! Oh and of course some more sleeping in hamocks!!

We didn`t have to go to far to have find some birds as there were plenty in the camp grounds - parakeets, hawks and vultures and one of my favourites was the red headed bird (no idea what it is called!).

First night we went out on a boat safari though we saw a few things it was not good for photos. I had met Adam and Alex in a hostel in Rio and turned out they were on same trip as me to The Pantanal and also to the next stop a few days later - small world!!

It is always nice seeing birds/wildlife in the wild and though I has seen some wild Maccaws before not as close as this.

Chom Poo Moo got very excited about the daytime boat safari!

A Kingfisher.

There was loads of birds about the river especially Cormorants.

I got very excited when I spotted my first Giant Otter swimming in the water as these are an endengeared species - then I saw a second one on the log just about to go in. I even saw one dive and come up with a fish - spectacular.

There were some pretty big Spectacled Caimen in the water as well - what was most surprising was how close to people they would go - these guys were just chilling out around some of the tourists fishing hoping to catch a few scraps!!

A birds nest.

Chom Poo Moo decided to go for a swim but then this big Caiman decided he liked the look of her!!

But don`t worry Fabain our guide fished her out just in time!! Think she would learn her lesson!!

We also spotted quite a few Capybara - the worlds biggers rodent!!

Getting close to the Caiman.

Later we went for a walk through some of the local vegetation - of course I would come to the wetlands in dry season (managed the Dessert during a flood after all!!) Though we didn`t spot much wildlife on the walk due to the time of year it was interesting seeing how dry it gets here.

An old cemetery on the farm.

We did spot some parakeets on the way back - a different type than the one´s at the camp site.

Chom Poo Moo met some distant cousins on the farm.

And we caught the sunset on the way back.

Coatis - members of the racoon family - scavange around the campsite for food.

Up at 4am for an early jeep safari to see what wildlife we can spot.

This little bird is related to the owl and there were a few of them just sitting by the roadside.

Thankfully the sun was up after a couple of hours as it wasn´t very warm driving about in the open sided jeep!! But it was a nice sunrise.

The good thing about being up and about so early is that there is more animal activity - as everyone else walked on to get breakfast I stayed for a last couple of photo´s and got lucky when this Giant Otter came over to play - he seemed to be as curious about me as though staying a bit away in the water he followed me along the lake!

As I was taking some photo´s this hawk just landed on the tree just above me!

A Capybara hiding in the trees. We saw herds of these as we were driving along in the jeep....I even spotted a baby one!

I could hear this Woodpidgeon long before I could see him.

The pony´s have their breakfast before they go to work for the day.

As we were driving past the lakes in the dark and the spot light swung over them they just lit up with the eyes of the Caiman. When the sun came up you could see just how many of them there were....I was surprised to see so many in a small area but then the guides explained that it was because it was dry season they had less water areas to move out to!!

Lots of Hawks.

Some pretty marsh flowers.

A cows skull.

Another lucky spot was this Marsh Deer - the biggest deer in South America at 2m long and 1.2m tall. Not quite as big as the deer we get at home but they are quite hard to find over here now.

A Kingfisher.

We spotted a family of Giant Otters playing in this lake - hard to see but in the top photo there is about 4 heads poking out of the water. Some of them were quite curious as well and came up closer and stuck there heads up for a better look at the Gringo´s!!

The early morning start was all too much for some of the lads who had a kip as we drove along.

We drove all the way up to the River Paragui as the guides wanted to try and spot an Anaconda!

The guides even went wading into the water but there were no Anaconda coming out to play.

The good thing about the drive was getting to see some of the areas that were still wet - a bit more like what I imagined The Pantanals would be like.

Long dusty roads and creeky bridges.

The Jabiru Stork the largest flying bird in South America at 1.4m high and with a wing span about 2.8m - very impressive when you see them in the air. And there were loads of them - in the 2nd photo above look how close the Caiman sit to the birds.

This Capybara cools of in a mud bath.

And the Giant Armadillo another endangered species.

A Heron.

And a cocky little black bird.

I still think this horse was too small for Fabian our guide!

Chom Poo Moo enjoyed her first horse riding trip - at least she didn´t have to wear a construction helmet!! We didn´t spot too much from the horses but at one point the horses upfront got a little spooked and when the guides checked they said they found some small jaguar footprints......they are in this area but hard to spot.

A Hawk hiding in the tree.

Parakeets.

There were a few Toucans about as well.

A different type of Kingfisher.

Another sun set.

Yes he is real......

I got lucky fishing for Pirhana´s again....

But not as lucky as this Cormorant who caught more than all of us put together!!

A game of football to pass some time before lunch.

And the Pirhana did end up on the dinner plate - well not the little one´s that we threw back in.

Colourful jungle transport.


I have to be honest and say I had never heard of The Pantanal before I arrived in Brazil. I debated whether it was worth the visit after being in The Amazon but the elure of more wildlife was too much!! And it was worth it, for me I think the Amazon was more peaceful and picturesque but The Pantanal had not only more types of wildlife and birds but lots more of them. Some of that will be down to the seasons that I visited both but I couldn´t recommend one over the other and I´m lucky to have had the time to do both.

Till next update....

Jack xx