Pantanal

The Pantonal is an enormous area of flat lands in the basin of the river Paraguay in Western Brazil. Within it areas have been designated as a National Park or Strict Reserves. From Oct to Mar it is flooded and inaccessible to ordinary tourists. At other times it provides a good opportunity of seeing a number of the typically S American animals/birds in what are probably easier viewing conditions than Amazonian forest. It is also quite a relaxing place to visit with a number of Fazendas or ranches offering accommodation for a chill-out stay accompanied by non-vigorous walks or horse rides. You can easily arrange stays at these and transport in/out using local agents in nearby cities.

Since it covers such a large area and transport around/across the region is limited you really have to decide which part to aim for. If you are crossing to Brazil from Peru/Bolivia then you will probably settle for the southern section. If however you are “coming in” from the east and continuing elsewhere in Brazil then you have the choice of 2 main entry points – the cities of Campo Grande or Cuiaba. We chose Cuiaba, and I suspect that this is the more popular. Whether it is the better I cannot say. I can say however that we were satisfied with what we saw in 3 days and in the ease of arranging something quickly on arrival and in getting out (Ciuaba has very good transport connections, particularly by air). Cuiaba …

I visited the Pantanal on a 4-day tour from Cuiabá. Not to the protected zone, but to another nice part where there are lots of animals. The tour included all the local fun, like walking, horse-riding, bird spotting and piranha fishing.

Although at the end of October, it was still very dry in this area. Fortunately, because of that, there were not many mosquitos. The wildlife was still abundant though. We saw a tapir, otters, capybara's and alligators.

I think a bird spotter will find real joy in the Pantanal. In almost every tree you can see a wonderful example of the local birds here. To the more common visitor (like I am), the Tuiuiu (a 1.40 m. high creature) is amazing to watch.