The Pantanal.

Captain's log, Day 173: From Manaus, Brazil, Audrey and I headed to Campo Grande: our southern gateway to the wetland region known as the Pantanal. As the Amazon had, the Pantanal's 150,000 plus square kilometers reminded us just how HUGE Brazil is...and how varied the climates are. Though it was the worst month for rain near Manaus, it was a dry period for the Pantanal. Our guides told us that 3/4 or more of the wetlands are submerged in times of flood, and showed us some impressive water lines from especially wet years in the lodge. Despite the dry period, we were treated to an excess of capibaras, caiman, pisote (coati), snakes, giant river otters, and marsh deer...not to mention the birds. 115 life list species; 159 species in four days in total (and 70 life listers/92 species on the first day). 

The Pantanal.

Famed for high density of big cats--Jaguars. The presence of such species as the Maned wolf, Bush dog, Giant otter, and Giant anteater--or my personal favorites, Jabiru and Hyacinth macaws. Another National Geographic Special dream come to life.

Part of the Pantanal has been declared as a national park under the Ramsar convention (for protection of world wetlands and bird habitat): some 1,350 square kilometers of the 150,000 square kilometer area, meaning that ranching, agro-industry, commercial overfishing, poaching, and deforestation are threatening the wetlands in most of the area that remains.

Upon arriving in Campo Grande, we booked a tour through our hostel (Hostel Campo Grande--noticing a pattern?), and headed out for another four days in the jungle the following morning. 

Campo Grande, from a distance. We didn't do much exploring beyond the supermarket to check for non-instant Melitta Coffee (lookin' at you, Pete). 

They have a lot of mate here. 

The Brazilian version of sugar cane liquor: cachaça. So Costa Rica has guaro, Ecuador has zhumir, Peru stands apart with its Pisco...

......and off to the Pantanal! There were a number of red-rock plateaus in the forest leading up to the wetland reminiscent of the Tepuis tabletop mountains in the north...

And ranchland reaching far and wide out from the road. We drove for four hours to get to the pickup that would take us down the dirt roads to our destination within the National Park. 

We met some nice Danish guys on the way there, and pal'ed around with them during our stay. Here our guides have decided that they liked the rooftop seat (there was actually a seat cushion nailed to the roof of the pickup here). 

The minute we turned into the park, the Capibaras were EVERYWHERE. With BABIES. Swimming dangerously close to the Caiman lurking in algae-green pools, at times...

My friend Matt Webb was quick to point out that Capibaras are R.O.U.S.: Rodents of Unusual Size, for those who remember their Princess Bride quotes. 

Lots of Caiman lurking on the edge of every pond. Jacare, if we're speaking the lingo. 

Hey there, Audrey! We called a bank of the Paraguay River home, right next to the old Porto do Manga. They told us that the port used to be a lot bigger, with a bustling international market, before there were roads through the Pantanal, and plane travel for shipping became more common. Wild to imagine that a hundred and fifty years or so back, the area where we were supported five international credit unions and a bustling natural resource exchange...

The sunrises and sunsets were out of this world. This was the winner: sunrise on the second day. 

Our small lodge! Don't be fooled by the size: there were thirteen of us crammed into a fourteen-cot dorm for the time we were there. It was all good...save the one night the fan broke. 

Not that we cared. So much wildlife to see. 

Hyacinth Macaws were one of the first birds that got me stuck on avian life. I remember meeting Max, an older Hyacinth at the National Aviary, when I was ten years old. To see them free-flying in their natural habitat was a remarkable gift. 

Included in our tour was a horseback ride through the dry marshes. 

This turned out to be mildly exhilirating to those of us who had less experience on horseback.
Meaning all of us. Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime thing. 

Scarlet macaws, also free-flying and abundant. 

As were the monk parakeets!

To you bird nerds out there, check out Campo Flickers. Talk about a gorgeously orange bird! 

Some less-than-wild puppies were also in abundance at one of the base camps where we would lunch when between jungle treks. Hey there, cutie. 

It was wild to see the typically-flooded areas of the Pantanal---we'd stumble on Caiman skulls far away from the green ponds where they concentrate themselves in drier times, and there were fields of dried plant stalks that hinted at how lush it must be during times of flood...

Though we were told that the bugs are even worse in that time, so we were mildly grateful to be there in the time we had chosen. 

If you can see from this picture, our guides all went BAREFOOT through the marshes. Total madness, with all the snake-covering dried leaves, ants with something to prove, and spiky vine-bits.  They called this guide "Anaconda". No one seemed to be able to explain to us why. 

The bird diversity was astounding. Trogons hiding beyond every bridge, toucans in the canopies, storks and herons and parrots galore...

....and cheap, cold, Brazilian beers after long, hot days. 

We made some Austrailian friends that really appreciated these. Not that we didn't. 

Surprisecapibara everywhere!

Niko, our other guide, looking at what we ended up calling the "iguana tree". The fourth bridge from home (the road was a completely straight line through to the River Paraguay) had a bush that was always full of iguanas. 

Open skies. 

(And bird feathers because birds.)

We could walk from our lodge into the little port town nearby, and watch the sunset from the deck of a parked flatboat. Audrey and I did this every night we were there. 

If the birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians were so diverse, I can't believe what a treat it would be to be an entomologist in the Pantanal. Cool hawk moth (or similar moth to hawk moths?) outside the lodge. We would have loved to have an expert from each branch of animal life with us at all times on this trip. Or every trip, really. 

We got to see one large fuel barge headed down the Paraguay, on our final day. It was a jarring reminder that ranching isn't the only threat to river life in the pantanal. 

It also rained all the last day, so we didn't take many more pictures of our trip out. 

Some of those maned wolves in a field guide provided by Anaconda. 

Wild fish, too. Where are our Icthyologist friends when we need them...

What you can't see is the caiman we were watching as it laid its eggs in the middle of this pile of  dried eichornia weed. In the same morning, we learned what noises Giant River Otters make when noisily dispatching of large fish. This noise subsequently accounted for about 17% of the sounds Audrey and I made on our final day together in Brazil. 

And with a half-night back in Campo Grande, we were off. Audrey headed to Rio for Carnaval, and I snapped this shot flying out of Campo Grande on my way to Panama City, and on to Guatemala. 

Which is where I sit as I write this up: Peten region, near the town of Flores, and Tikal National Park. The southern border of the Mayan Biosphere Reserve.

More about Peten and ARCAS, the next chapter, soon.

Cheers, all.