Brazil: The Pantanel

​Brazil : The Pantanel

The remotest part of this trip was visiting the Pantanel, a river/swamp area in southwestern Brazil on the border with Paraguay. The area is a vacation spot for Brazilians who come to fish camps to drink, fish and hunt.  We stayed at an eco-lodge that hosted an animal recovery center and  lots of interesting birds and wildlife.

After a flight and a three hour drive on dirt roads (only 8 miles of it was bumpy), we arrived at our “resort” on the river that had little concrete cabins distributed over a large campus. The big field next to the common areas was full of large birds, and in the trees were several wild macaws.  Unfortunately it was also really hot!

We settled in, and in the late afternoon, went for a walk around the property. Our guide was the owner's son and a naturalist.  One of the blue and yellow macaws followed along for company. A large male Tapir visited us at dinner.

Rafael with his Grandma / owner Senora Alice.

Over the three days that we were there learned a lot about the Pantanal and it's people.

Our day-in- the-life experience was in a small indigenous village. We boated down the river to an island community, located high above the river, where we learned about how the local people lived, farmed, ate, and learned about their customs. We got to make piranha soup, and visited the local school.

One of the women in the village taught us how to make piranha soup and we all “helped” and then enjoyed the results.  Yummy piranha!

There were many day and evening river exploration trips in the two “canoes,” the eight to ten person low power boats that cruised along the river banks. We saw lots of animals including giant river otters and capybara. Another highlight was the many beautiful birds, both along the river and on the resort grounds.

Anteater

GIant river otter

Capybara

Caiman

Sun Bitterns and Caracara

We were very excited to see the elusive hyacinth macaw. We boated to the home of some local people who had them nesting out back in the fields behind their home. It was quite a little hike back the the nesting area, but we were well rewarded for the effort.They are beautiful, and quite entertaining.

Out in the middle of a large bay we fished for piranha and almost everyone caught one, testimony to how plentiful they were and how eagerly they swarmed around at the scent of red meat.

One of the joys of this part of the trip were the quiet times on the river, experiencing seeing the wildlife in their own spaces, as well as the lush vegetation, and some beautiful sunrise and sunsets.

It was a beautiful spot in rural Brazil.