Safari in the Pantanal Wetlands

a gorgeous wetland, with a host of unfamiliar animals

Set in the south of Brazil, Pantanal is one of the prime wildlife viewing areas in South America.

At around 150,000 square kilometres (60,000 square miles), this is one of the world’s largest wetlands. Although it straddles the border between Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, the only areas that are significantly geared up for visitors are on the Brazil side.

The wetlands are comprised of a patchwork of different ecosystems, including areas of rainforest characteristic of the Amazon, semi-arid woodlands and open savanna grasslands.

Around 80% of the land becomes submerged during the Dec-Mar flood season. This water delivers rich sediments and encourages the growth of a wealth of aquatic and land plants, which in turn give rise to a great diversity of animal species.

Pantanal is best known for its incredible jaguar viewing. This is most commonly done by boat in the northern part of the wetlands, where the cats have the habit of hunting along the riverbanks, which leads to some remarkably reliable and action-packed sightings. In other parts of Pantanal, jaguar sightings tend to be far less predictable.

Other wildlife highlights include giant anteaters, giant otters, tapirs and capybaras, plus macaws, jabiru storks and a vast range of other tropical birds.

Remarkably 98% of this vast wetland area is privately-owned. Way back in the 1770s the Portuguese invaders divided Pantanal into ten vast ranches which, over the centuries, have been subdivided into 2500 fazendas, home to around eight million cows.

The only substantial protection against widespread habit destruction has been the annual flooding, which has prevented more intense clearing and settlement. But these ranches remain a major feature around the periphery of the wetlands.

Despite its obvious appeal, Pantanal is still only in the very early stages of developing a proper network of visitor accommodation and safari experiences. The area remains dominated by cattle ranching and sport fishing and there’s still a very widespread lack of understanding of what it would take to turn this into a world class conservation area (like the Okavango Delta in Botswana).

It’s claimed that up to 85% of the natural fauna remains intact throughout Pantanal, which is surprising and extremely impressive. Unfortunately, most of the truly pristine areas remain completely inaccessible and the lodges are clustered around the few roads that do penetrate into the wetlands.

As a wildlife-focused visitor, you may need to cast a blind eye to the negative effects on the environment caused by cattle ranching, the presence of avid sports fishermen and the truly disgraceful over-crowding of boats on some jaguar sightings in core areas. In time, as conservation tourism increases, these situations should all improve dramatically.

We are able to put together some very interesting trips to Pantanal. There are a few pioneering operators, who are driving all this forward and delivering exciting, intelligent and well-considered wildlife experiences.

Wildlife

The Pantanal contains a network of ecosystems which demonstrate some incredible biodiversity. The area is thought to be home to 463 bird species, 269 fish species, 236 mammal species, 141 reptile and amphibian species and over 9000 sub-species of invertebrates.

Mammal species

In this list we have highlighted what we consider to be some of the most aspirational sightings in the Pantanal…

• Jaguar
• Jaguarundi
• Ocelot
• Oncilla
• Margay
• Puma
• Giant Anteater
• Collared Anteater
• Black Howler Monkey
• Capuchin Monkey
• Night Monkey
• Crab-eating Fox
• Bushdog
• Maned wolf
• White-eared Opossum
• Agile Gracile Mouse Opossum
• Common Gray Four-eyed Opossum
• Marmoset
• Giant Armadillo
• Nine-banded Armadillo
• Six-banded Armadillo
• Racoon
• Coati
• Tayra
• Grison
• River Otter
• Giant Otter
• Tapir
• Peccary
• White-lipped Peccary
• Feral Pig
• Marsh Deer
• Pampas Deer
• Red-brocket Deer
• Brown-brocket Deer
• Porcupine
• Agouti
• Paca
• Capybara

Pantanal usually fits in a trip between the Amazon and the Iguacu Falls. The best time of year to visit is the June to early November dry season and the usual stay duration in the area is 7-12 nights.

Seasonality

The best time of year to visit Pantanal is generally considered to be during Jul-Oct, which represents the main dry season.

It’s worth noting that June and the first part of November are two ‘secret seasons’, when the jaguar and other animal sightings are usually strong, but visitor numbers can be much lower.

Getting there

Pantanal is generally accessed via São Paulo Airport (GRU) or Rio de Janeiro Airport (SDU) into one of two local airports …

To the north lies Cuiaba Airport (CGB), from where it’s a road journey of around 150-250 km (90-150 miles), depending on which lodge you are heading to. The majority of properties are located along the Transpantaneira Road, the only route that penetrates deeply into the wetlands from the north side, terminating at Porto Jofre, close to the renowned ‘Jaguarland’.

To the south lies Campo Grande Airport (CGR), from where it’s a road journey of around 200-250 km (120-150 miles), depending on which lodge you are heading to. The majority of properties are located along the MS170 highway, the main route that penetrates deeply into the wetlands from the south side. This road only serves a network of remote ranches and does not experience anywhere near as much visitor traffic as the northern side.

In both cases it’s possible to avoid those road transfers by chartering a light aircraft, there are bush airstrips at most locations within the wetlands.

When combining lodges in the north and south, chartering a light aircraft is almost unavoidable, since the road and scheduled flight combination around the two main hubs is very indirect and takes the best part of two days.

Where to stay

Although there are lots of accommodation options in the Pantanal area, it’s usually pretty clear which ones are most suitable for a decent quality trip.

If you are mainly focused on encountering jaguars, then you need to head to the north and stay at SouthWild Jaguar Lodge (usually for 3-6 nights), which is by far the most wildlife-focused property in the region and delivers the best and most reliable sightings. In that northern part of Pantanal you may choose to combine with one of the more sympathetic properties along the Transpantaneira Road, most likely the related SouthWild Pantanal Lodge (1-2 nights).

If you are looking for a high-end lodge experience (similar in tone to that delivered in the Okavango Delta area of Botswana), then you need to head to the south to stay at one of Caiman Main Lodge or Caiman Cordilheira Lodge (3-4 nights), which offer a good range of activities, including the tracking of radio-collared jaguars.

Perhaps the ultimate trip to Pantanal involves combining these two top spots, SouthWild Jaguar Lodge and Caiman Cordilheira Lodge, flying into Cuiaba Airport at the front end, connecting by charter flight between the two and departing out of Campo Grande Airport, spread out over maybe 6-8 nights. However the costs are inevitably going to escalate for a combination of that stature.

most people spend at least a week in the Pantanal area