I’m writing this as we fly onto our next stop and after four and a half days in the Pantanal. We’ve been so busy that I’ve not had time really to post Blogs!! And I think this was supposed to be the relaxing part of the trip!
However, in answer to the question at the end of my last post ‘Was it worth all of that travel?’ the answer is most definitely YES!
The Pantanal is right in the centre of Brazil and is a huge area of 210,000km2 expanding into both Bolivia and Paraguay. It is a UNESCO World Heritage biome and 78% of the vegetation is still natural. It’s famous for it’s different seasons….the wet season running from Jan to March when vast areas become wetlands , perhaps what you think of when you picture the Pantanal. However, we were visiting in the dry season (Jul to Sept) when the land has drained and animals are easiest to find as they have to come out of hiding to find water.
Our lodge was Caiman Lodge a 53,000 hectares ‘farm’ owned by a rich Brazilian Businessman, Roberto Klabin. He has developed ecotourism here which means that cattle ranching works alongside the expanding tourism business. It’s a beautiful luxury lodge employing 120 local people and supporting several different conservation projects. We had one day with the NGO Oncafari Team whose specialist subject is Jaguars! Their ability to track the Jaguar (using remote cameras and collars that transmit VHF and GPS signals, is part of the reason for the success of tourism here. It has meant that the local ranchers realise that they don’t have to kill these beautiful animals , which do sometimes eat their cows, but can live in harmony as tourism provides so many other advantages (schools, healthcare) and income. Part of the deal is that the farmers are compensated if they lose more than 3% of their herd in a year…but so far since Oncafari began in 2012 , this has never happened.
Safaris, under the expert guidance of Carol and local driver ‘Giovanni with the Smiley eyes‘ take place in the early morning (5-30 to 9) and then in the late afternoon (4- 7-30pm). They’re exactly the same as an African safari and we had a wonderful time. There are so many different areas to explore with beautiful trees, waterholes, a vast permanent lake, grasslands, forested areas. Some of our favourite areas were ‘Mango Alley’ (look out here for tapir), Anteater orchard full of termite mounds, Bat Bridge (where at night we’d drive through so many insects attracted by spotter lamp and which in turn meant we had bats flying all around us) and ‘The Armadillo Garden’.
In between game drives we ate wonderful meals and rested up. It was so hot (a stifling 37degrees) outside during the day that we hid in our room mostly with the air con on! However, once we were feeling better we did really enjoy swimming in the lovely pool and had it all to ourselves.
We made new friends on our safari trips , Julie and Suki, who were from Tring, near London! Very similar in age and outlook to us so it made our whole time very sociable and fun.
There were two ‘secret’ special evening meals whilst we were there. The first was held at a ranch where we ate traditional Brazilian cowboy food including steak carved off a great big stick and very rare but tasty. This was Jane’s birthday and we were serenaded by a couple of the old gauchos too. It’s a little uncomfortable as it remains very hot, you’re still dressed in all your smelly safari gear and covered in Deet to fight off the mosquitos but boy the beers (or ‘Chop’) tasted good that night!
The next night we were taken in the safari vehicles, to an open area in the bush which had been lit up with about 200 lanterns and looked absolutely magical. We sat at long tables chatting with fellow guests, several Brits, including a very posh couple in their 80s who were having a ‘super’ adventure all around Brazil! We were also joined by a very nice American couple from Texas and a lovely young Brazilian lady who was accompanying her very elderly aunt.
It is truly a special place, as I’ll try to show you over the next couple of posts, where I’ll focus (or Jane and her camera will)on what we saw. We were not disappointed!!
Where shall we go to next? 