The Pantanal & Bonito: 9-16 November

The Pantanal had been on our list of things to see in Brazil since the very beginning. It struck us as a fascinating place: the world's biggest inland wetland and one of the best places in the world to spot wildlife. We were visiting at the height of the dry season so, according to our research, we would be easily able to see the vast numbers of Caiman alligators and birds clustered in and around the remaining wet areas. We were unsure of what to expect of the land animals though; there is more land at this time of year so they'll be more widely spread, but then they must also come to water at some stage. We would have to wait and see..

We flew from Salvador into the city of Campo Grande and stayed just long enough to pick up a tour heading out into the Pantanal. It was a 4-5 hour drive out from the city centre to our camp in the wetlands. We drove through farmland that gradually flattened out and grew wilder as we entered the Pantanal itself. We transferred to a pick-up truck for the last 20km or so, to negotiate the dirt trails heading deeper into the swamp and were immediately struck by just how dry it was. We crossed bridge after bridge over dry river beds and flood plains with only a few small pools of water next to the track. In that short drive alone though we saw about a dozen large Caiman lounging on the banks of the pools right next to the road. We also saw our first Capybara, the world's largest rodent. They're quite sweet looking for a rodent, though they are pretty hefty animals, the adults weighing in at up to 60kg.

We were the only people arriving at the campsite that day and we had the place to ourselves for a couple of hours as the people all ready staying there were out on their afternoon excursion. We were paying £30 each per day for this tour, for which we were getting bed and full board and all of our travel and guided activities. Obviously then, "simple" was the operative word to describe the facilities and, yes you've guessed it, we were looking at another three nights in hammocks. Yay! It was scorching hot, so we sorted out our stuff and hid out in the shade. Behind the camp was a river, the water way below the top of the muddy banks, so we wandered down there for a look at the alligators doing their thing (ie lazing around).

Everyone turned up just before dinner time, so we got to meet the people we would be spending the first day with and were introduced to our guide who told us a bit about what we would be doing tomorrow. Before sunset, a Hyacinth Macaw landed in one of the trees in our camp. These are endangered birds that can fetch US$10,000 on the illegal pet market; we had hoped to see one in the Amazon, but were told by our guide there that they just don't see them any more. To see one in camp on our first day was therefore pretty special.

We all ate dinner together (standard fare of rice, spaghetti, beans and meat) before turning in for an early night once it got dark. We set up the mosquito net over Sue's hammock (because she gets chomped the most!) and I took my chances with the mosquitos - fortunately covering up and sleeping with a t-shirt over my face seemed to keep them at bay, though they were buzzing annoyingly around my ears all night..

We were woken up at around 6am for breakfast and our first excursion: a riverboat ride. The river running beside camp is just too low, so we took the truck a short distance to a larger river before jumping into a small boat. Almost immediately we saw a family of capybara at the water's edge (our first sighting of many) and there were caiman seemingly every few yards, lurking on the river banks or keeping an eye on us from below the surface as we passed. There was abundant birdlife too and it wasn't long before we saw our first Jabiru, the large stork that is the symbol of the Pantanal. They stand about four feet tall so are quite difficult to miss. Although 'Jabiru' is a good name, the Portuguese name is 'Tuiuiu' which is even better I think!

Even though we left early in the morning, the sun was beating down on us and we stopped for a quick swim in the river to cool off (despite the alligators and the relatively fresh Jaguar prints on the bank where we moored the boats!) before heading back to camp for a refreshing shower before lunch. Everyone else was leaving that day, so we were on our own for the afternoon activity: Piranha fishing. To be honest, we weren't really looking forward to going fishing again but gave it a go and both of us caught a fish in our first couple of go's. Unfortunately they were both too small, so had to go back in. Our guide took care of Sue's, but had disappeared when I caught mine, so I had to man-up and take it off the hook myself without being bitten.. We gave up not long after - it was too hot and the guide caught a few so we wouldn't go back empty handed. While walking back to the track to get picked up we spotted a large Horned Owl in the trees briefly, before it was shooed off by smaller nesting birds.

Our new companions for the remainder of our stay here had arrived: a Spanish chap and four Dutch guys/girls. We were all up at the crack of dawn again the next morning for a trek this time. We slapped on the sun lotion and insect repellent and stepped out. There are large wooded/jungle areas in the Pantanal surrounded by flat areas that flood in the wet season. At the moment though, these areas resemble large flowering meadows interspersed with ponds complete with lillies (and lurking alligators!). We were walking for three hours through the varied scenery and added a few more animals to our 'have seen' list, including Howler Monkeys, Red and Green Macaws, wild pigs (we had to avoid a big group of them at one stage) and a group of Coatimundi - inquisitive raccoon-like creatures who put on a bit of a show in the trees around us.

In the afternoon, the two of us were off to go horse riding while everyone else went on the boat trip. We drove to a nearby farm where we mounted up and were led out by a guide on his own horse. As we were heading out of the gates a large flock of Hyacinth Macaws flew over our heads and settled in a tree in front of us. I counted 15 as we passed under. Unfortunately Sue's horse obviously felt it was too hot to go for a walk and was stubbornly refusing to keep up, before becoming a bit skittish under persuasion. Sue had told me beforehand that she wasn't keen on going horse-riding and as her horse played up, she decided that enough was enough and she was walking back, leaving me and the guide to (guiltily) continue.

The ride was nice, though the sun was blazing again. We saw more Capybara and wild pigs and waded through a couple of the lakes/ponds before turning for home. The highlight though was the flock of Macaws at the start (as I obviously told Sue several times!). Fortunately she wasn't too annoyed at me for abandoning her and we enjoyed a couple of cold beers in the shade while waiting for our lift back to camp.

We picked up another couple of cold ones to enjoy with dinner and as it got dark a fire was built and we sat around with a drink having a chat with the guides. The camp was starting to feel a bit more full now with another 5 people having arrived that day. We actually slept well that third night, the beer, sun and two nights of poor sleep combining nicely!

On our final day, we had a pick of three activities: walking, horse riding, or piranha fishing. It wasn't a tough decision for us! We pulled on our boots and set off on another hike in a different area from our previous outing. Almost immediately we were treated to relatively close up views of Howler Monkeys in the trees directly above us, followed by more Macaws and wild pigs. It was a great way to round out our visit to the Pantanal; we saw loads of stuff here, though the Jaguars and Tapirs kept a low profile unfortunately (and unsurprisingly!).

We had arranged onward transportation to a small town called Bonito, a couple of hours drive south of the Pantanal. Bonito is surrounded by caves, lakes, rivers and forest so is a centre for all sorts of outdoors activities. It's really popular with Brazilian and foreign tourists and we soon discovered that we'd arrived on the first day of the high season and were treated to the subsequent price-hikes as a result. All activities are heavily regulated, you have to visit with a guide, numbers are limited and have to be booked in advance. We booked up tubing and a canopy tour for the first day and a visit to the Gruto Lago Azul (the Blue Lake Cavern) followed by some snorkelling on the second day.

Unfortunately the weather turned overnight and it was pouring with rain when we were picked up to go tubing - the downside to having to book in advance! We still had fun though, drifting downstream through small rapids and over small waterfalls in our big rubber rings. The rain developed into a thunder storm before the end though, which resulted in our canopy tour being cancelled. We ended up spending the day hiding from the rain in our hostel which was a shame.

Fortunately, we were treated to sunshine and blue skies when we woke the next morning. We drove out to the Blue Lake Cavern - a big cave with an impressively huge opening in the side of a cliff. There's an underground lake in the cave that is crystal clear and shimmers a bright blue. The sun only directly hits the lake for 30 days a year (or something like that), at which times the lake is stunningly blue. This wasn't one of those days (we were just glad it wasn't raining!), but the effect was still pretty impressive.

The snorkelling was one of the main reasons we decided to come here. There are a number of springs around Bonito that draw water from a huge underground reservoir. The water is filtered on the way to the surface and is amazingly clear when it bubbles through at a surprisingly fast rate to form the streams and rivers. We were kitted out in wet suits and buoyancy aids and entered the river right by the spring - we could see water bubbling up through the sandy bottom beneath us. We were in an area called 'Aquario Natural' and it really was like getting into an aquarium. We could easily see 30 metres all around us and despite the water being seemingly so pure, there was a huge amount of fish and plant-life. Some of the fish were pretty large and weren't fazed by us at all, swimming up for a closer look and, it seemed, to peer through our masks! We spent some time floating around the spring area, drifting over the plants and among the fish, before floating downstream for a couple of hundred metres. We were in the water for the best part of an hour and were pretty chilly when we got out, but would happily have gone back to the start and done it again!

Having finished all of our activities, we walked up to the bus station (handily only two blocks from our hostel) and booked tickets to Foz Do Iguacu to go and see the waterfalls. The journey is going to take 18 hours unfortunately! Won't miss these long bus rides when we get home..!

See you soon,

Dan & Sue.