Trip to the Pantanal

Mato Grosso is known for the area called the Pantanal. No one should visit the state and not pay a visit to this area. I, therefore, had to make a visit to this area, since I was in Mato Grosso. Fortunately for me I was in Mato Grosso, at the right time the dry season to visit the Pantanal. During the rainy season, the only road, the Tranpantaniera, that goes into the Pantanal is impassable.

So, the Panatanl is basically a swamp area. It reminded me a lot of the Florida Everglades. There are a lot of animal mainly birds and alligators or as they are called here jacares. The Tranpantaniera runs right in the middle of the area. So as you drive you have parts of the Pantanal on either sides. That allows for a greater possibility of seeing the animals of the region. As we drove along the most common animal was the jacare of different sizes. I think in the Panatanal there are like 10 jacares for each person that enter. There were that many. As were droving further into the regions we saw several types of birds for example the Tiuiuiu. Another animal which was common is the capybaras. There were usually in a family.

~Tuiuiu~

~jacares sunbathing~

~tuiuiu with many other birds, very common scene~

~ capybaras, also jacare food ~

We drove further in the Pantanal and stopped at a Hotel in the heart of the Pantanal to do a boat tour further into the area. While we waited for the boat tour, I did something I had never done before. I went fishing. I caught several fish These were not fish people usually eat. They were small fish that the animals of the Pantanal eat.

~I just caught my first fish ever. I was proud even though it was tiny.~

After fishing, we went on a boat ride further into the Pantanal. We each had to wear an orange life vest in case the boat capsized. In my mind I was thinking that being eaten by jacares should be of greater concern than drowning. Rather than just having a life vest we also would need to have jacare repellent. Thankfully, the trip was without incident. We got to see more animals, mainly birds and jacares. The person conducting the tour used the fish guests caught to lure the animals out of hiding so we could see them. The whole boat trip was more of a show with the tour guide trying to impress us with his ability to call the animals and have them come to him. It was very entertaining. At one point he put his hand in the water waving a fish to get a jacare which he name dragon to come to the boat.

~a falcon (I think) catching a fish the guide threw~

Another thing about the region that caught my attention was the trees. There were three types of trees that seemed out of place with the other trees. Most of the trees were just green and normal but these three types of trees gave color to the region. They had a brown trunk and the rest of the tree was just colorful flowers. The flowers were either white, pink or yellow. It was so beautiful to see the contrast with the other trees. They literally brought color to the green landscape.

~trees along the riverbanks contrasting with the green~

~colorful trees brightening up the Pantanal landscape~

As I said, the jacares practically own the Pantanal because they out-number human beings and they are everywhere. So, I guess no trip to the Pantanal would be complete without a close-up jacare encounter. As we were driving back to Cuiaba we had our jacare close encounter. They were on the Tranpataniera, in the middle of the main road, the only road out if I might add. It was what I would call a jacare roadblock. I guess they were protesting human intrusion in their territory. No, actually it was just several jacares crossing the road very slowly to get to the other side and others just sitting in the middle of the road getting some sun. I therefore decided to do a quasi crocodile hunter attempt to clear the road. Just kidding! I just wanted a close up with the jacare. There were no mishaps, I got pretty close and tail ended it back to the car without being harmed. That was definitely, one of the highlight of the trip for me!

~jacare/crocodile encounter~

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for other adventures.