Pantanal, Brazil

Type of trip: Nature

Length: Long weekend

Home base: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Flight itinerary: Rio de Janeiro - Brasilia - Cuiaba - Brasilia - Rio de Janeiro

Highlights

Pantanal is one of the largest wetlands in the world. This is a birdwatchers paradise. Hundreds of bird species can be seen easily and they do not appear to be bothered by people's presence, so can be observed closely.

 

 

But for us the main attraction were jaguars. There are more than 100 jaguars in the area and during dry season (July to October or thereabouts) one can relatively easily see them. We saw 4 of them during our three half day boat rides. We got to observe one of the jaguars for a couple of hours. All sightings were at about 50 meter distance. 

 

We also saw a family of giant otters having a breakfast 10 meters away from our boat.  Like other animals they didn't take any notice of our presence.

Other animals that you can see in abundance are capybaras, caimans and iguanas.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Logistics
We took an early evening flight on Friday out of Rio de Janeiro. Having arrived at Cuiaba we picked our rental car and drove 100km to Pocone. The road between Cuiaba and Pocone is of excellent quality, so was OK even though we all were tired. It took us a bit over an hour.

We stayed one night in Pocone and after breakfast and stocking up with some snacks and water in the local supermarket, which is easily found in the centre of Pocone, we set off to Porto Jofre on Transpantaneira.  This is a good quality 145km dirt road with 125 little bridges in varied condition. So it takes about 3 hours to get from Pocone to Porto Jofre. 

We went back on Monday (took an early evening flight). Left Porto Jofre at 8 and drove all the way to Cuiaba. Had a long lunch there and then went to get our flight.

 

Accommodation

Pocone - Hotel Skala. Basic to say the least but... beds were clean and all in all it was bearable. It appears to be the only option in Pocone itself and it is easy to find just next to the main square which is good if you arrive late. There are other hotels that are listed as being located in Pocone but in fact are on Transpantaneira which is not advisable to drive in darkness. Plus, it is really hard to complain when you pay 180 reais (35 pounds) for a quadruple room (actually two bedrooms and a shower/toilet) including (a very basic but still) breakfast.

http://www.skalahotel.com.br/capa.html

Pantanal - SouthWild Pantanal Flotel Suites. When choosing where to stay in Pantanal one has to factor that if you want to see jaguars, you will have to drive to Porto Jofre and take a boat ride on the river. So... the closer your accommodation is to Porto Jofre, the less time you will spend going back and force. So all depends on how many times one plans to go to the river. All pousadas' addresses state which kilometre on Transpantaneira they are on. The total length of Transpantaneira from Pocono to Porto Jofre is 145km...

We have chosen to stay on the river. Thus we were right in the middle of the action and could go on early boat rides and stay until the sunset. SouthWild is focused on providing nature tours and
experiences. We stayed in the suites part, so I can't comment about the other part of the hotel. All in all it was better than I expected but I must admit my expectations were low. But in summary:

• The boat rides were excellent. The boat driver was super nice and clued up. We didn't have a naturalist with us, so I suppose you need a bit of Portuguese but probably can get by without it. 
• The room was clean and looked very new with two large beds and clean furniture. 
• The food was OK. Just about.  Certainly can easily improve it. For example, butter at breakfast (the one in individual little packets) was melted and then cooled again. Jam is again in those little plastic packets but was of a really low quality. But fruits were OK and fish for lunch was not bad.

http://www.southwild.com/southwild-camps.html

 

Food

Cuiaba - Mahalo. The only place we ate outside hotels was Mahalo in the centre of Cuiaba. We went there before heading off to the airport. The place was really quite good. We had set lunches and the food was great and not at all expensive (68 reais, less than 15 pounds for starter, main course and dessert). The staff was friendly and competent. Plus they didn't mind our less than presentable looks as we were dusty after the ride. 

http://www.mahalocozinhacriativa.com.br