Pantanal - the wild side of Brazil

Pantanal - the wild side of Brazil

The Pantanal offers the sub tropical jungle and wildlife in contrast to Rio's concrete jungle and street people. It is a huge area of wetlands that are opening up for ecotourism. 

 

At San Francisco Lodge, we had two night safaris and a day safari.  We saw lots of animals at night and birdlife during the day. Many animals were very close to our cabins. There were rheas or emas that looked a lot like our emus. 

      

We saw baby capybaras feeding from mum and family groups feeding together on the grass. Caimans were in the water and on the banks. Marsh deer sat in the rice paddocks or drank by the stream. 

       

 

We saw an ocelot in the dark, and an armadillo crossed the road. Frogs sang by using their throat as a bubble. During the day we saw giant anteaters waving their big bushy tails like a flag. 

There were also foxes that caught frogs. They were a native animal and different to our foxes. 

The birds were abundant. I was most impressed with the rosy pink spoonbill and the Jabiru Stork that stands over a metre high. 

 

The tour leaders spoke to the Brazilian tourists in Portuguese so we couldn't understand anything. We didn't have Katie to interpret. Luckily, our guide from Brazil Nature tours was great as he taught us so much about the environment.

 

We went Piranha fishing in a boat amongst the jungle and water lilies. We used bamboo sticks, fishing line and hooks with meat. Others caught piranha and one man caught a good sized fish. We caught nothing. After 5 minutes fishing we got soaked by a downpour of rain. Luckily we had waterproof ponchos. 

The boat leader tossed the dead piranha into the air so we could watch the hawks swoop down and grab the fish with their talons. We were most impressed and Katie’s camera captured a great photo.

 

On our way back to camp, we came across a dead cow. It had been killed by a jaguar and its throat had been ripped out. The jaguar drinks the cow’s blood and eats the throat area first. It was only 200metres from our camp and 30metres from the nearest house used by a farm worker. The environmental researchers stationed at the farm set up cameras and sensor triggers. The second day the cow’s stomach had been partially eaten. Adult jaguars can apparently weigh up to 120 kilos. They are big cats! It was unfortunate as we just missed out on seeing one. I think the truck had scared it away as the cows nearby were in a tight circle with eyes wide. An international organisation pays farmers 80% compensation for any cow killed by a jaguar. This means in the future, the number of jaguars will increase. 

The Pantanal is like South America’s Africa.