Our 2-day Safari in the Pantanal
The Pantanal is the biggest wetland in the world and home to over 156 species of mammals, 98 reptiles, 53 species of amphibians, 1700 plants and 650 species of birds.
We booked a 2-day safari trip with Silva Tour Pantanal. From Rio, the fastest way was to travel to Cuiabá where we spent the night. In the morning, we were picked up at our hotel by a private driver who took us to Poconé (the town through which we entered the Pantanal) to meet our guide Rizardo.
Shortly after we arrived at the entrance of the Transpantaneira road, Rizardo suggested we hop on the roof of his car for a great photo op and to stay on the roof while he drove for a better view of the surroundings — how exciting!
On our way to the lodge, we saw beautiful birds and lots of yacare caimans. The Pantanal truly is an oasis and a refuge to the stunning fauna and flora, preserved and unharmed by the human race.
Rizardo arranged for us to stay at UeSo Pantanal Estancia Vitoria (he even kindly got us a honeymoon upgrade): this beautiful little cabana “sapo” (frog in Portuguese).
After a delicious lunch and a well-deserved siesta (bless this country!), Rizardo took us out on an afternoon canoe ride, a sight for sore eyes (and deaf ears!) — we witnessed Green Kingfisher, the Jabiru, the Neotropic cormorant, more Yacare caimans, and capuchin monkeys jumping from tree to tree!
The vegetation was green and luscious and the lake was quiet. We were gently paddling, gliding on the smooth-looking, untroubled water. What a soothing and wonderful feeling. It felt like it was only us three!
As we started making our way back, we got to witness an unreal sunset, like straight off an acrylic painting.
On our way back to the lodge, we experienced the night safari: we saw the same young Pampas deer we saw on our way in. We then saw something in the middle of the road, what we initially thought were stray dogs. But when we saw them running away graciously, we realized it was much bigger than dogs. They looked like some kind of wildcats. It turns out they were jaguarundis, a wildcat native to the Americas.
Beautiful no?
DAY 2
It was still dark out when we met Rizardo at 5:30 am, outside our room. On our way to the forest, we saw a group of capybaras in the dark (the largest living rodents). It was nice and chilly and the air was cool. We made our way to a 17-meter-high wooden tower, our observation point for the beautiful show we were about to witness.
PS: This was the morning of August 14th, our 1-year wedding anniversary :) I couldn’t think of a better way to start it than to see the sun rise over this incredible oasis.
On our way back to the pousada (Portuguese for “inn”), we were greeted by a symphony of birds and capuchin monkeys swaying from branch to branch.
After breakfast, we were off on a mule ride into the forest.
We weren’t so lucky to see a jaguar but it had definitely been there!
After napping through lunch, we met up with the group (Rafael and Luciana, a lovely couple of Brazilians from Sao Paulo we met that morning, and our guide Eliane) for an afternoon hike in the forest. After a surprise encounter with a gold tegu (a beautiful 140cm long reptile), we headed to our wooden tower for another stunning sunset. The Pantanal sunsets are nothing like we’ve ever seen before. After the sun disappears, the sky transforms into a pastel painting of yellow, orange, pink, purple, and blue. The last part before dark is a beautiful thick red line that makes the sky look like it’s on fire. On our way down from the tower, we were lucky enough to see 2 crab-eating foxes, with their grey and brown fur coats.
DAY 3
We wanted to head to the tower to watch the sun rise but we didn’t hear the alarm. So we watched it from our cabana instead. The caimans were not yet out of the water but the birds had started singing, the bees were buzzing and we witnessed a Green Kingfisher shoot into the water and come out with a fish for breakfast. We also made a friend, or two!
Meet Ara, a beautiful blue-and-yellow macaw (it’s not really her name but it is her genus).
As you can see from the bits and pieces of wood, Ara very much enjoyed completely destroying the bench I was sitting on a few minutes prior.
We also saw a jabiru come out and hang by our lake. Did you know that in a Tupi–Guaraní language, jabiru means “swollen neck” because of how big it gets when it’s filled with prey, they live up to 36 years, reach a height of 140 centimeters, and have a wingspan of up to 2.8 meters? We were very fortunate to see it right before leaving this magical place.
