The Pantanal, Brazil

The Pantanal is a massive swamp area that covers about 220, 000 square kms, mostly in Brazil but also in Bolivia and Paraguay. Orginally we wanted to do a trip in Bolivia as its more unexplored and less exploited then in Brazil (and LOADS cheaper) but we couldn´t find a tour operator except for one but they couldn´t bring us as they couldn´t source enough petrol for a 3 day trip! This part of Bolivia is well cut off from the rest of the country altho there is a new road being built which should help open up the region.

Instead we decided to go with Explore Pantanal tour group based in Miranda which is run by Marcello (a Brazilian with 16 years guiding experience) and his wife Mirjam (Swiss) who is the organiser. We paid more then the usual backpacker odds (660 reais ie about 350 eur each), for a 5 day trip as the backpacker tours tend to be much shorter and bigger groups. Bit of a price shock to the wallet after 3 weeks in Bolivia but we reckon it was worth it. Mirjam was really helpful with info in getting there, local things to do and also booking our bus onto Foz De Iguazu after the tour ended.

So off we set on a melting monday morning .. dunno what the temps were but probably mid 30s at least. Its the rainy season so the weather tends to be either very hot, sunny and dry or else very hot, humid and lashing rain. The roads are mostly MUD, large holes of either mud, water or something in between or else dry and bumpy as hell if its stayed dry for a few days.

On the first morning we saw a giant anteater ... for me this was the best creature we saw of the entire trip. They have crazy long hairy tails, big long snouts (all the better for eating ants) and kind of lope along in a cartoon-ish fashion. We also saw LOTS of caiman (alligators) and I mean LOTS. One place we stopped at had at least 200 of all sizes, and this was typical of what we saw over the trip. At this time of year they congrugate in the remaining water holes and eat the last of the fish, smaller caiman and anything else they can catch. We also saw heaps of birds including the massive jabiru stork. The pantanal is flat as a pancake ... actually its flatter so most of it is grass or swamp land punctuated by little islands called capones which have bigger trees and are the only places that dont get flooded in the wet season even tho they´re only about 1-5metres higher then the surrounding land.

We saw lots of cattle being herded by real live and kicking cowboys. This place is seriosuly wild west territory!! The cattle get moved out this time of year to drier plains so its busy times for the cowboys. They ride mules mostly as they have more stamina then horses and ride saddles that are mostly sheepskins with a bit of leather on top. Also they curvy long horns (made from cow horns) to call the cattle, lassoos and drink mate (herbal tea drank cold or hot which is hugely popular in southern brazil, paraguay and all of argentina) like it was going out of fashion.

The first 2 nights we stayed in a very basic fazenda (cattle ranch) which dorm bunk beds, basic facilities which leaked like crazy in the downpour on the second day and eat reasonably basic food (some of it was pretty hard going like dried beef in rice which tasted worse then it smelt and looked - will be giving that a miss in future). Did some walks where we say loads of hyacinth macaws (very cool blue, 1m long macaw), capybaras, deer, loads of birds and a LOT of cattle). On the 3rd day we headed to another fazenda which was much better quality in all respects and run really well. We stayed in hammocks on the 3rd night and it was such a cool way to sleep in the heat. The drive to the 2nd fazenda was a bit more adventurous then we all wanted as we spent 2 hours bogged in a deep waterhole in the track. Thankfully Dunk had some experience (or just a brain) to help get the 4wd out and would have helped it the tour guides had brought a shovel and some better implements (which we would have thought obvious since its the wet season). Digging with sticks SUCKS.

We went piranha fishing on the 3rd afternoon (nice and peaceful after the early bogging) and we all caught some. The caimans were a bit scary thou as they lurked very near us and occasionaly approached us if we had caught a fish. The piranhas were very plentiful, easy to catch and have vicisous teeth so had to be careful taking out the hook not to loose a finger! Very tasty also (or maybe it was relative to the basic food of the prior day or 2).

On the 4th day, the cowboys on the fazenda were doing a cattle muster and we were invited. It was brilliant, spent 7 hours out on horseback watching them working (very skillful and they work so hard under the savage heat of the sun), plodding along on our well trained (bored of tourists) horses, staying well out of the way of bulls and caimans of which there was plenty.

On the last night, the tour guides decided we should go camping (which is fine as that was what we had booked) and it was a beautiful night except for one thing - plagues of mosquitos - the worst I have EVER seen. It was unrelenting and made the whole camping affair pretty awful really (and thats compared to a lot of camping nights we have had). We basically sat in the fire smoke (and sweated buckets), made the occasional dash around to try and lose the mossies and eventually just got in the tent. The tent was melting tho and surrounded by the whine of mossies made it a slow night to sleep. Next morning was just as bad even at 5am (altho at least it was cooler) as we headed back early with another 4wd from the fazenda (so as if we got bogged again we´d have more help).

All in all we had a fantastic trip. In hindsight, we shouldnt have gone camping (sleeping in hammocks under mossie nets is cheap and better fun at this time of year) and the tour guides should have known better altho in fairness they are just still testing the waters with what kind of trips they can do at this time of year. I´d highly recommend the 2nd fazenda we stayed at (Rio Vermelho I think) as the food was fantastic and the people who run the show were brilliant ... really genuine, friendly, helpful. We´d still go with the same tour again altho would hope they could do a few things a bit better (like bring a bloody shovel!, maybe better food on some of the days and less of the husband-wife fighting on the last day would have been good as well). It sounds like the backpacker tours in general are very badly run, we saw some of them and they all stay in a boat on a river in the same place, are brought around in large groups and allegedly feed awfully so considering that I think we picked well.

Would highly recommend a trip to the pantanal, probably to a fazenda. The wildlife is just incrredible. Like every day we say 100s of caimans, birds, lizards, etc and also the lifestyle there is worth a look at too.