The Panoramico (Peter Dunn)

When I was asked to accompany this tour to Brazil’s famous Pantanal, I jumped at the chance as, having failed to see Jaguar on Belize and Guyana tours, I knew this was a hot-spot.

The pioneering group of Naturetrek clients met up at Cuiabá airport and headed down the famous Transpantaneira Highway to Porto Jofre to join our well-appointed and comfortable ‘cruise’ flotel – the “Panoramico”. The 12 spacious cabins had efficient air conditioning, comfortable beds and nice hot private showering facilities – most welcome after the hot sticky heat of the days.

The first part of the tour concentrated on the ‘Jaguar Zone’ area of the Pantanal to the north-east of Porto Jofre. The big advantage we had here was being able to sail the flotel right into the heart of the area, whereas most other tours have to take the 30-40 minute ‘speed-boat’ ride from the port. This meant for the three days we were there, we woke to the sounds of the forest and marsh – howling Howlers, many different songbirds and of course chachalacas! Our days were split into early mornings and late afternoons with some down-time during the middle (and hottest) part of the day. We would use two small, faster boats to search channels and backwaters for the wildlife sightings and had some great encounters with Giant Otters eating armoured catfish, troops of Howler Monkeys, bands of Capybaras and lurking Yacare Caiman.  One boat even had a brief visit from a South American Tapir! However, it was the Jaguar that everyone (especially me) wanted to see and we were not disappointed. Over the three days we saw seven individuals (all named by the locals) – sleeping, yawning, swimming and hunting, many were with groups of other boats but one particular morning was special. We had just left the flotel and were sailing along the Cuiabá River when, after not more than half a mile, our sharp-eyed boatman spotted two Jaguars asleep on the bank. They were known as ‘the brothers’, Kim and Tore. We spent at least 40 minutes alone with these animals before any other boat made it from Porto Jofre – this is why this Naturetrek tour is special!

Another unique feature of this tour is access to the remote Pantanal National Park, bordered by the Amolar Mountains and Bolivia to the west. This area is not often seen by wildlife groups and it was the first time Naturetrek had visited. The wildlife here is not accustomed to the boat traffic of the Jaguar zone and is therefore a little more retiring, but the huge expanse of marsh and grassland is spectacular. To the west is the mighty Rio Paraguay which floods over during the rainy season into the grassland, bringing renewed life and plants to the area. One of these plants is the huge Amazon Water Lily (Victoria amazonica) which is located in the some of the many pools when the flood water subsides. These huge lilies are so big they can be seen on Google Earth imagery and we paid a visit to one of these pools. We also saw ancient rock carvings of the indigenous Guatós people, living some 2,600 years ago. We came across Giant Otters, Howlers, Caiman and many species of bird here and spent some time visiting little undisturbed backwaters in search of these, plus taking an afternoon hike up a hill to savour the views and find a few more bird species.

The final day of this tour was spent at the SouthWild Pantanal Lodge halfway up the Transpantaneira Highway. The lodge has comfortable facilities and is well located on the banks of the Rio Pixaim, having busy bird feeders and a huge Jabiru nest and Hyacinth Macaw nests in its grounds.  One of the highlights here is the Ocelot which comes to be fed most nights in front of a hide and we were not disappointed, enjoying prolonged views. For those interested in snakes and tarantulas – even they were catered for!

Overall this was a fabulous and privileged visit to the world-famous Pantanal and the Pantanal National Park. We recorded 12 species of mammal including seven individual Jaguars, as well as 178 species of bird, including Agami Heron, Sunbittern, Toco Toucan and Hyacinth Macaw, all from our base on the traditional Brazilian ‘houseboat’ with good food and sundowners on the deck!

To book, or for more information on this intrepid cruise, click here.