Jaguar Camp

friendly hosting from a knowledgeable guide

Jaguar Camp sits in forest at Porto Jofre, at the end of the Transpantaneira, and accesses the Cuiabá River via a short forest trail down to its own private jetty.

The camp is owned and run personally by Ailton Lara, who has worked this stretch of river for twenty-five years and has a deep understanding and passion for safari here. His guiding ethos runs through the whole operation: staff are friendly and reliable, and Ailton is, one of the most engaging hosts we met anywhere in the North Pantanal.

The camp itself is small, around a dozen rooms set back in the forest surrounding the public areas. There is a small dining area, no separate lounge area, but the fire pit more than makes up for it and sets a relaxed pace for the evening once the boats are in.

The food was a real surprise too, standard pantanal fair but noticeably better than at some other Porto Jofre hotels.

Rooms

Rooms are simple, comfortable accommodation, each en suite and air-conditioned.

• Room : x12 (approx) : en-suite bathroom, air conditioning, mosquito netting

Activities

Jaguar Camp provides the following guided activities, with two river safaris a day included in the room rate:

• Motorboat safari

Jaguars are the focus but giant river otters are a reliable sighting on the river here, on the same stretch of the Cuiabá as the other Porto Jofre lodges.

Ailton’s own guides have a strong track record, and we are comfortable using them directly rather than always bringing in a separate guide, though we would still always want a private boat. If Ailton himself is available to guide, take it: he is, by his own admission and by ours, at his best out on the water.

The one practical point to flag is the five-hundred-metre forest walk between the rooms and the jetty, warm going in the midday heat on the way back from a long morning on the water. Guests who want to be directly on the river should look at Santa Rosa or Hotel Pantanal Norte instead; guests who value the character and hosting over direct water access will prefer it here.