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: