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Below is Karin van Leeuwen's writing competition entry based on the Brazil – South America’s 'Big Five’ tour in July 2022.
We went to the Flotel in the Pantanal with six other group members and every time it felt like we got what we wished for. On the first afternoon we had a beautiful sighting of a mother Jaguar with two cubs of about one year old. We even saw them running and jumping through the high grass. It was an amazing sighting. We were very pleased with this, but as we knew we had more outings to come, we mentioned to each other what we were hoping for. One of us hoped for a Jaguar walking on a beach at the edge of the river, I was hoping for a male Jaguar. And as if our wishes were heard, the next day there was an impressive male Jaguar walking on the beach! Actually it was even better, he was there together with a female.
On our third day on the Flotel, we went in another direction than during the previous outings. Here there was another chance of Giant Otters. We had seen them before, but those had been quick sightings of travelling otters. We were moving and searching, but saw almost nothing except some common birds. I was feeling ill that day and although I liked the fresh air, I wondered whether it would be worth joining this outing. After an hour and a quarter, we turned, heading backwards. And then, all of a sudden, I saw some heads peeking out of the water. They were quicker than I could point them out, but luckily our excellent guide had seen the same. We all kept looking in the same direction and yes, there were three Giant Otters! We could follow them, swimming through the river. Later it even turned out to be four otters. They were hunting and we saw several of them catching a fish, both a pacu and catfish were eaten. They just kept on swimming, hunting and jumping through the water and we kept on watching and watching. I have always loved being on the water and loved mammals living in the water and to see such playful agile otters for an hour was such a treat. Especially because we were all alone here. For this moment they were ‘our’ otters. I couldn’t find any words for those wonderful sightings. Not because I’m not a native English speaker, also in Dutch there were no words to describe how special it was that we could just watch, from so close, without disturbing these amazing creatures. The clicking of the cameras diminished, even our photographers were satisfied. I was content that I would have some video, so in the silence I smiled and looked around in our boat. I got smiles back and realised once more that shared joy is a double joy. I was so glad that although I was feeling ill, I was able to join this outing. I have never felt so ill and so happy at the same time!
Our guide had a dilemma, waiting for the otters to possibly get out of the water or go back to the other side of the Flotel, looking for Jaguars. My last wish was to see otters out of the water, and I enjoyed the relaxed sighting so much that I opted for the otters. Most of us didn’t have a preference and a few wanted to go to the other side. So we said goodbye to the otters and went to see some Jaguars as well this morning. Within an hour we found a hunting female. She was walking across the edge of the water, looking for either a Caiman or a Capybara. When she couldn’t continue along the side, she even went swimming. None of us had wished for a swimming Jaguar, we just couldn’t imagine we would see that! We followed her for an hour and a half, moving, walking, jumping and swimming. Suddenly we all saw a Capybara, on the path where the Jaguar was going! We all held our breath… and then we heard a squeak and saw the Capybara jumping into the river. The Jaguar didn’t follow, because she knows the Capybara will be quicker in the water. So she continued and so did we.
We were all very pleased by this special morning and I was very thankful that we did leave the Giant Otters to get such an amazing Jaguar sighting on top of it! And later, on our last morning, we did see the Giant Otters out of the water, so even that wish of mine was fulfilled!
See our Writing Competition details to enter for yourself for a chance to win a holiday!
