Fish and Birds of the Pantanal

We recently returned from a month in Brazil. With life-long passions for wildlife and fish and birds in particular, a visit to the Pantanal has always been on our wish list.  From Sao Paulo, a couple of hours flying west to Campo Grande, then two hours driving further west towards the Bolivian border, then the real journey started ! Fifty kilometres down a muddy track (took a long time as we kept stopping to look at birds, racoons, anteaters etc) to Pousada Aguape where we were staying for the next 10 days. The ranch breeds superb horses, as well as cattle, and during our stay we saw many fine feats of horsemanship, involving catching and breaking-in young horses.

Rancheros are full of skills, as in addition to being fine horsemen, they double as fishing guides, boatmen, birding guides, carvers at the weekly churrasco (ox-roast) and drivers of the various vehicles on the ranch.

We fished the River Aquiduane.  Pirhanas are abundant and we rapidly developed techniques to avoid hooking them.  We caught many species of catfish. The wildlife of the Pantanal was interesting, capybara, marsh deer, giant anteater, giant otter, crab-eating foxes and caiman. We went out one night to try to bait an ocelot with piranha carcasses. No ocelot, but we saw a puma instead ! Also, late one evening, just before we packed up fishing, we heard a jaguar roar.

The bird life was well up to expectations – Greater Rhea, Seriema, Toco Toucan, and Hyacinth Macaw were obvious and spectacular, and a host of smaller birds kept us busy with identification. The Pantanal itself has that aura of spaciousness that we so love in wild places and we were sorry to come to the end of our stay.

Dave and Norma Park

Sussex UK

An interactive guide to Bonito.

In cooperation with our colleagues of Reef & Rainforest, Brazil Nature Tours organised the succesfull visit of UK journalist Daniel Allen to Brazil. Several pieces of his journey have been published, including 
An interactive guide to Bonito which you can find here.

Pantanal & Bonito trip

I wanted to write a quick note to thank you for your help in coordinating our trip to the Pantanal and to Bonito. The accommodations were wonderful, the guides were very good, and our driver, Isaac, was extremely friendly and helpful. We really appreciated the expertise of all of the guides- beyond their knowledge of the areas that we visited, we appreciated the photography help from Ándré and the pictures and videos that Sergio gave to us. We especially appreciated Manoela both for her bird knowledge and for the interest that she had in our kids. She played and swam with the kids between excursions, and she helped to get them more of the sweets that they really liked from the staff at Refúgio da Ilha. She even got the recipe from them and emailed it to us!

I would be happy to provide more details if you want specific information. I would also be happy to provide an endorsement for your services, and I would be happy to provide detailed endorsements for each of our guides.

Muito obrigado!

Lyle

Thank-you!

We returned from our Brazilian holiday yesterday, and want to say a huge Thank-You.

The birding/wildlife part of our trip was truly amazing. We saw the Harpy Eagles, jaguar, tapir, giant ant-eater, capybara, caiman, crab eating fox & above 200 bird species. Santos, our guide was brilliant & we would highly recommend him. His passion for wildlife & The Pantanal shone through.

In contrast Iguassu Falls were not to be missed, and we thoroughly enjoyed visiting them.

Every aspect of our trip ran smoothly & there were no problems. Our time in Brazil will be remembered for many years to come.

Thank-you again,

Alan & Janice Binder

Some photo impressions:

Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja)

Tapir (Tapirus terrstris)

Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla)

Jaguar (Panthera Onca) 

Jaguar (Panthera Onca) 

Giant River Otter (Pteronura brasiliensis)

Trip report Cristalino Lodge and the Northern Pantanal

The following is an account of a trip that long-time friend (a colleague of my wife), Bill Birkhead and I took to Brazil from August 24^th to September 6^th, 2012.    Bill is a semi-retired vertebrate zoologist with a specialty in fishes and herps.    I’m an obsessed birder that also likes primates and big cats.   But we both like to observe all types of stuff in nature, so this itinerary suited us well.

The trip started at Hotel Amazonica in Alta Floresta.   It was a nice introduction to Brazil and our main target was the Harpy Eagle.    We were fortunate that the immature bird was still in the area (at its nest) and we got extended looks at the fully grown, but not yet fully molted individual.

Things really got cranking when we headed to the ‘nearby’ Cristalino lodge in the southern Amazon the next day.   We stayed there for 4 nights and we were primarily doing some hard-core birding, but we kept an eye out for anything else such as primate, snakes, etc.    We were fortunate to be paired up with Brad Davis as our guide.   He is a good as they come.   We had some great birds including Amazonian Umbrellabird, Blue-cheeked Jacamar, Curl-crested Aracari, Black-girdled Barbet, and a very rare for the region Paint-billed Crake.    Mammalian highlights included primates such as White-nosed Bearded Saki Monkeys, White-whiskered Spider Monkey, and Azara’s Night Monkey, as well as great looks at a Brazilian Tapir.  Bill was thrilled to see a Yellow-footed Tortoise come to a watering hole.

Cristalino is a great place with good facilities and a nice swimming area in the river to relax between outings.  The two 50-meter towers were great as well.   This lodge is highly recommended, especially if you like birding.

The  next part of the trip was spent in the northern Pantanal, switching more to ‘mammal mode’, although we were still looking for any vertebrates we could find!   Our guide was Jean Duval, a free-lance guide originally from Haiti that has been leading trips in the Pantanal for 15 years.   More of a general wildlife guide,  he was very good, very accommodating and a pleasure to be around.

We started off with 3 nights at Araras  Eco Lodge.   Great stuff around the property, which was crawling with Caiman, Coatis, Capybara, and many birds, including nesting Hyacinth Macaws.    The property has 3 towers for viewing.   The most productive is the largest tower, or more appropriately the board walk to it…Along this walk during our stay we had 1 Brazilian Tapir, 1 Southern Tamandua, 2 Giant Anteaters, a troop of Black Howler Monkeys, and several Brown Capuchins.   Other mammals in the area included 6 Crab-eating Fox and 3 Crab-eating Raccoons as well as several Marsh, Red Brocket, and Brown Brocket Deer.   We were lucky to be there on a Wednesday as well, as they do a barbeque once a week after a canoe trip on the Rio Claro.   Here we had great views of Black-tailed Marmosets and a Crab-eating Fox…and the food was good, too.    Araras is a great place for wildlife and a great staff…like Cristalino , highly recommended.

The next phase of the trip was mainly to find Jaguars.   So we headed south from Araras to stay at Hotel Porto Jofre for the next 4 nights.    We were lucky to watch an Ocelet walking down the road in broad daylight on the way down.   We also had many good birds, especially raptors and waterbirds.   Once in Porto Jofre, you set out in a boat and scan the banks of the rivers and tributaries all day and see what you  can find.    The hotel also has its own radio frequency for calling in Jaguar sightings…this helped!   The first day on the Cuiaba River got us 2 Jaguars , including a large male that was actively hunting.   We also saw several Giant Otters.    Day 2 unfortunately produced no Jaguars (I think only one group saw 1 that day).   But we had another Tapir and several more otters.   Day 3 was great…we had 6 Jaguars on the day, including a mother and 2 half-grown cubs (our boat driver spotted these), and a large male that sprawled out on a sandy bank that allowed great viewing…nice!     If you want Jaguars, come to Porto Jofre, namely in the dry season.   It’s that simple.

Our last night was spent at Pousada Rio Claro – this is located not too far south of Araras on the Transpantaneira.    Once we arrived from Porto Jofre, we had lunch and relaxed a couple of hours before taking an evening boat ride on the Rio Claro.   We saw plenty on the ride as we were entertained by Black-collared Hawks taking piranha out of the water, Giant Otters by the boat, a Jacare Caiman that jumped out of the water to take a fish off a stick, and great looks at an Agami Heron.    We also got nice looks at Band-tailed and Nacunda Nighthawks before got back to the dock.   A nice end to a great tour…

On this trip we saw nearly 400 species of birds and at least 30 species of mammals.  The Pantanal is especially good for photo opportunities as well…

Many thanks to John Willemsen of BNT for answering a million questions and organizing this for us!

Walt Chambers

Ellerslie, Georgia

Great time in the Amazon & Pantanal

We had a fantastic time and enjoyed the trip immensely. Thank you for organizing everything so well. The lodges were great and the guides were excellent. (All but one which I'll get to in a moment.) I can't think of anything I'd do differently. Rio Mutum to Juma Lodge to the Amazon Clipper was the perfect order. It was great to be on the boat and have more time to relax at the end of the holiday. The tree climbing was a really fun adventure and the American guy who led it (can't think of his name at the moment) was excellent. The guide, Silvio, at Posada do Rio Mutum was also really excellent. Elcio was an incredible guide at Juma Lodge and Christoph was fantastic on the Amazon Clipper. I would not hesitate to recommend any of them to your clients in the future. 

Thanks again. I have already recommended you to several couples here. 

Sincerely, 

Phil Mastores

Wonderful Pantanal trip staying at Pousada Xaraes

I as just emailing you to let you know that Jeff, Scott and I (the three Canadians) had an absolutely amazing stay in the Pantanal, and it was not due to all of the animals that we saw but the wonderful staff that work at the lodge! Fernando was a fantastic driver and great to talk to on the way out there and on the way back in to catch our flight. And we cannot say enough about Carol, Karen and Wesley, the three of them made our stay and tours during the day absolutely memorable. They are fantastic guides and hosts, and you are extremely lucky to have such knowledgable and fantastic people working at the lodge.

We will definitely recommend this tour to any of our friends who consider going to Brazil!

Thanks again for everything!

Sincerely,
Tim Wozney

Our gratitude to you and Juma Lodge

I have been eager to write you since our return from our absolutely wonderful travels in Brazil. My Brazilian friend, Flavia Fontes, had done a little search for me and suggested we look into BNT.

I am indebted to Flavia and very grateful to you. You were so informative and responsive. So my 17- and 13-year-old grandsons and I were at Juma for 5+ days. The first awesome experience was seeing the parallel path of the Rios Negro and Solimoe. Following are some of the highlight activities:

tree climbing

visiting a gargantuan tree (following a long water journey) fishing for and eating piranha trekking deep into the jungle in order to see a broad variety of flora and fauna (including tarantula) up close touring on Juma Lake with stops at a charming farm and at the original tourist lodge in the Amazon (floating on gigantic logs that seem petrified by now) lounging in the circle of hammocks paddling in canoes through mysterious waters with entrees through the jungle into other bodies of water dining sumptuously and resting comfortably in our own thatched cabin complete with porch and hammock having elusive fauna and flora pointed out viewing sunrise and sunset from the water …and much more.

I compliment Juma Lodge on a superbly organized program and large staff of gracious and very well informed guides. (I did not take enough time, just before departure, to fill out the evaluation form adequately.) We were lucky to have Kendrich--so exuberant, talented, deeply informed, and accommodating. Evo was our regular waterman and he was a gem too.

So we give 10 stars to Juma Lodge. Wish we had met you. Thank you for all that you did to facilitate a wonderful adventure for the three of us.

Yours with gratitude, Beth DuMez

P.S. Our one regret: we returned to the lodge from an expedition only minutes too late to witness a big fight between an alligator and an anaconda (alligator was still there, seemingly resting while digesting); anaconda skin was floating next to the alligator.

A delightful family trip

I just wanted to drop you a quick email to say how delighted we were with our trip, and particularly to recommend the guides that we had. 

At Amazon Tupana Lodge they were clearly picking up the pieces from Juma Lodge being flooded, as most people we spoke to there had originally been booked in at Juma, but they managed really well.  Walter, who I think is the owner, was amazingly kind and knowledgeable, and very patient with us too, as I think our group was a bit out of the ordinary for him, being both older and younger than he was used to.  We were so well taken care of, and the Lodge was in a beautiful spot, with lots of tame animals for the kids to look at and play with - and Walter made our stay really enjoyable.

In Lencois Maranhenses we were looked after by Juan, who was also fantastic.  He spoke great English, was really knowledgeable about the area and the plants and animals, and was helpful and as flexible as he could be.  We didn't take up the option of any activities on the final day of our stay, but he made sure to check in with us, to make sure we were OK.  A really nice guy, and definitely someone I would recommend!

The pousadas were all great - the only thing is, I think you could let people know that there is a sloth in the tree at the Sao Luis pousada - Porta das Amazonas, I think.  We didn't know this until after we'd left, and although we probably wouldn't have seen it as we had such a short time there, it's an additional selling point!  The pousada at Manaus (Pousada Chez les Rois) is pretty far out of the centre, and all the taxis had trouble finding it, which was our main difficulty there.  That said it was lovely, the staff very helpful, and it was very peaceful, so a great place to stay.

Thanks again for sorting this all out for us - I will also continue to recommend your company to my friends!

best wishes

Jenny

Some impressions:

Brazil with comfort

So below is my feedback for you....and thanks again for all your help and great choices!   

• Hotel Porto Bay Internacional was a fantastic choice!  Great location, great views of the ocean and Christ the Redeemer....doesnt get much better!  Wonderful staff....greated with glass of champagne and all were very helpful with suggestions for restaurants etc.  Buffet breakfast was amazing!  we felt like spoiled little princesses here!

• Rio was great.  If a client has only time for either Corcovado or Sugar Loaf I would pick Corcovado tour.  Would skip overall tour of city as downtown not that interesting.  Our tour guide was very knowledgeable but we really enjoyed exploring St Theresa on our own and enjoyed both Copacabana and Ipanema beaches.  All the hype over it being unsafe is highly exaggerated....we did lots of things at night on our own (including mistakenly having dinner at 'the spot in Rio for nightime prostitution'.....an accident of course...but very entertaining!!!.... never felt threatened....same for on the beaches...we just didn't take our cameras out as we were warned by many about kids that run by and grab them...but never witnessed anything like that

• Hotel San Martin in Iguassu was also great! Staff was amazing and in fact the hotel manager fell in love with us and wined and dined us the entire time.....this was a saviour as there is NOTHING to do in Iguassu at night!  We were fortunate to connect with the manager as well as some other staff and guests and so enjoyed plenty of night fun but without that it would have been way to long to stay!  ....also for any guest that count on using 'spa facilities' (which we had no interest in anyways so didn't matter) the spa area is in a state of renovation that looks like it will take a year to complete and so there are no services available at this time.

• Iguassu falls - AMAZING! not sure why our Niagara Falls is even on the list of wonders of the world after seeing that...however, coudl  easily have done both Brazil side and Argentina in one day....we filled the remaining time by doing a white water rafting excursion and also had our great guide (Eduardo) drive us to a small Argentina village to look around and have lunch.

• Anavilhanas Lodge.....wow! who would think the amazon could be so comfortable!  beautiful eco friendly buildings, great extremely knowledgeable true amazon guides and excursions, amazing food....we shall ever be remembered by the guides as 'those Canadian girls'.... only ones who took out regional canoes on our own for long paddles down the Rio Negro, up at 4 to see the sunrise and only ones to swim in the river and successfully catch pirannhas......we felt we had to live up to Canada's reputation for the outdoors!  We also arranged on our own with one of the guides to take a private boat to the meeting of the waters and also to see the giant lily pads and a local village on the river complete with a family that had their own anaconda and sloth.

• Poussado dos Pilar was very quaint.....would not bother to have a view of water next time as it is all industrial below and the view out to the street is far more quaint.  The location was fabulous and we walked everywhere day and night.  Again, I would not bother with a guide for the historical tour next time, as although he was very knowledgeable, it was very easy to see everything on our own.... 

• Overall......it was a wonderful trip and far more luxurious than I had originally planned.....I still miss the crisp white sheets! 

Thanks again for everything!

Shelley

A unique and and beautiful place!

I'm sorry for the delay in my reply, but Susan & I were in Yellowstone National Park here in the states for the last several weeks.  Like the Pantanal, it is also a unique and beautiful place!

Firstly, thank you. Our trip went seamlessly and all our connections and transports were easy and well done.  To run down the list...

The Bahamas Apart Hotel: easy, nice, pleasant.

Jefferson, our driver: A great overland adventure even without a common language. We sent him photos via email that we hope he enjoyed. We are not sure if he received them, but can send them again if he mentions to you that he was unable to download them.  I can compress them further if that was a problem.

Barranco Alto: Hugo and Carol were the perfect hosts/naturalists for us. Excellent birding-guides and enthusiastic naturalists. The anteater researcher resident there, Lydia, added to the wonderful education and adventure we had.  We had one of them to ourselves every day and did great hiking, boating, canoeing and drives. This truly is the number one outpost in the Pantanal. A very well run lodge and as a bonus we feel that these people are now our friends!

Embiara:  a great number 2 destination. Enthusiastic owner/guide and lovely locations. Even a macaw nest on the walkway to our chalet. We did a horseback ride and a full afternoon hike in pouring rain - two adventures that could have been awful but instead were highlights!  The food was excellent and chalet very nice.

Between the two lodges we saw over 130 birds and 18 mammals. The hands-on care we received was just right. We experienced very hot weather, a rainstorm followed by quite cold weather, all in a week. Susan posted reviews on TripAdvisor for both lodges if you are interested. Her user name is "abbykel".

As you requested, I have enclosed several photos of our trip. Let me know your preferences if you are interested in more.

John- you and Brazil Nature Tours did a fabulous job for us. Thank you again.

Very sincerely,

Jan Kelley

4x4 ground transfer to the lodge

Fazenda Barranco Alto

Greater rhea (Rhea americana)

Boat trip at Barranco Alto

Hyacinth macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus)

Giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla)

Embiara Lodge

 Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)

Air transfer back

Pantanal through the lens of a wildlife photographer

Many of BNT’s clients have a passion for nature in combination with wildlife photography. Some are professionals though most are hobbyist. Being an amateur photographer doesn’t mean that one is not capable of taking amazing pictures.  An example is Dirk Wahl, who traveled together with his wife Sylvia, to Rio de Janeiro, Ilha Grande and Pantanal. We would like to thank both for sharing some of the high quality images taken during their trip:

Southern Tamandua ( Tamandua tetradactyla)

Campo Flicker (Colaptes campestris)

Rusty-margined Flycatcher (Myiozetetes cayanensis)  

White-winged Swallow  (Tachycineta albiventer)  

Yellow Armadillo (Euphractus sexcinctus)

Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)

Feedback Fiona McGuinenness & family

Just to let you know, we are all back safe and sound from our trip and wanted to thank you for organising it for us.  We had a great time.  The children will certainly never forget their experiences.  You got our needs exactly right.  

Thank you again

Fiona

Feedback Mirrabac group

Arrived home yesterday and now very jet-lagged. Just like to say a BIG thanks once again for all the arrangements. Our group went home from the Pantanal (Pousada do Rio Mutum) very, very happy with all that they had seen and done and this is of course is the result we want to achieve.

We were all impressed by the lodge accommodation, the transport, the guide (Raoul) and the transfers. All went according to plan.

So once again a BIG thanks to you and your team.

Regards

Rob
Rob Bickford
Mirrabac
PO Box 100 751 North Shore
Auckland  0745
New Zealand

Feedback Mireille van Reenen & Edo Vonk

We hebben genoten van ons verblijf in de Pantanal! De familie van de ecolodge was bijzonder hartelijk en gastvrij. De lodge zelf is schitterend gelegen. Leonardo, de zoon van de familie, was onze enthousiaste en kundige gids en hij heeft ons heel veel verschillende vogels en andere dieren laten zien (we hebben zelfs een jaguar op afstand kunnen zien). De eerste dagen hadden we zon en warm weer, maar helaas is dit omgeslagen naar regen en kou. Gelukkig waren er genoeg droge momenten om met regenjas aan op pad te kunnen gaan. 

Straks terug naar Rio voor een paar laatste dagen in Brazilië - we hopen op nog wat zon en warmte.

Hartelijk dank voor je bemiddeling.

Hartelijke groeten,

Edo & Mireille

Feedback Uri Allon & Kathryn Geller

I wanted to give you a very positive feedback regarding our trip to the Pantanal and in particular to thank you for taking such good care of all the details.

Feel free to use us as reference for both your services and the experience at Pousada do Rio Mutum.

Best,

Uri