So after a loverly time at the Iguazu falls we decided to head up to the Pantanal in Brazil.
The Pantanal is a huge wetlands, mostly situated in Brazil, that is supposed to have the best wildlife viewing in South America. It is one of the parts of the trip that I had been looking forward to the most.
We stayed for three nights in Pousada Santa Clara, a farm deep inside the Pantanal, that is surrounded with bird life.
We took a minibus from Campo Grande, a city in Brazil, to the entrance to the national park where the pousada is situated. From there it was a bumpy open backed jeep ride to the pousada itself. Along the way we saw a lot of birdlife, giant storks and beautiful parrots, and caiman (crocodiles!) and drove through a sea of cattle.*
Our first night had nothing scheduled so we spent the evening relaxing on hammocks. The next morning we went for a horseride on Pantanal horses – they are trained to respond to reins held in one hand, so using two only confuses them. The horseride was fun & along the way we saw Capybara (the world´s largest rodent) and deer. We take a break for lunch (and more hammocking) and head out pirhana fishing in the afternoon. This was great fun – we each get a bamboo rod & head out in two boats down the river. We used chunks of meat (cow?) as bait and cast into the shady areas by the edge of the water. At our first stop we got no bites, and I started to worry that we would catch nothing. We then headed to a different spot where we had better luck. We feel the pirhana nibbling at the bait, and then it is a mixture of luck and timing to get them hooked by jerking the rod up rapidly. Catching the first pirhana is great – they are smaller than I expected, but they still have big vicious teeth. We caught a good few piranha between the two boats, along with another fish that I forget the name of…
The next morning we went for a walk through the Pantanal. Along the way we see more beautiful birds (including various parrots, storks and toucans), howler monkeys (including a mother and baby) and golden coloured coaties.
That evening we set off on a jeep safari, which was excellent. Along the way we stopped to visit some of the caiman – they seem quite large but are actually scaredy cats. When we got into the water with them they ran away from us rather than the other way around. That is if they are bothered enough – many seem happy to ignore us and soak up the sun.
Further along the trip our excellent guide, Carlos, saw an armadillo on the far side of a large stretch of water. Someone mentions wanting a better photo and Carlos was on his feet immediately, ready to lead us in a walk through the water. Trousers wear rolled up, shoes wear taken off, and we wade through water which we could only assume had caiman and pirhana in it. Once we reached the far side of the water Carlos instructed us to be quiet. We walked barefoot and snook up on the armadillo – it is almost blind so didn´t see us coming! He walked into the middle of our group without realising it, so we got to see him very close up.
After this we watched the spectacular sunset, and enjoy a night safari all the way home.
On our final day we go on a boat trip in the morning – we saw more birds (including pretty kingfishers and the giant Javiru), a family of capybara, and lots of caiman. Anyone willing to get in the water got a lovely tire tube drift home. This part of the trip was my favourite – Carlos, in the boat, spots a small anteater in the trees. Apparently they are very rarely seen so he was quite excited. They could not manouever the boat in time to see him, but in my tire tube I was able to swim across to the edge of the water to see him walking through bushes. Beat that David Attenborough…
Overall we had a great time in the Pantanal, thanks to the lovely group we were with, and thanks to our guides Carlos and Trudi, a husband and wife team.
*Most of the Pantanal is privately owned, and it seems much of it is used for raising cattle.
