Wildlife Of The Pantanal, Brazil

The Pantanal is the world’s largest wetland area that spreads across Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. We visited the Pantanal area of Brazil in August 2016. Sao Paolo to Cuiaba by flight and Cuiaba to Porto Joffre by safari 4×4 vehicle. In Pouso Alegre lodge we woke up to the singing and squeaking of at least ten varieties of birds. Here we also saw a giant anteater, tapir at night and lots of birds, mammals and reptiles. This post is composed of mainly photographs as they tell the story better than words…. Enjoy!

Along the Transpantaneira highway (gravelled, not tarmac) one can see farms, lodges and wildlife too.

After 4 hours drive from Pouso Alegre we arrived in Porto Joffre Hotel, Pantanal. A great place to stay in the area – comfortable and right next to the river for the daily boat trips in the wetlands. We had four days out in the wetlands and experienced countless encounters with wildlife. The elusive jaguars live here and we were able to see five of them and hear more roaring in the bush. The giant otters seemed undisturbed by the tourists like us. After a long day out and on our way to the hotel we caught a rare sight of tapir crossing the river. On one of our morning boat trips we caught sight of caimans and otters feeding on fish, eagles on eels and snakes, and birds on insects, fish and fruit … The capuchin monkeys were trying to crack nuts high in the trees. We saw a puma in the distance, too (it was too fast for our cameras though). The capybaras are numerous here and the main food for jaguars. We saw anaconda snake twice – it was the yellow anaconda type, not the green (the latter is the largest and apparently lives in the Amazons only).

And finally, Piranha fishing topped up the overall excitement for me!

 

Above is the pier of a local farm that we visited for a barbeque lunch. The locals live in harmony with nature and care for the environment a lot. Live here is simple and hard at the same time. We are grateful that they allowed strangers like us to experience their world. Obrigado!

LE