Let’s take a look at some of the places you can visit – and all the wildlife you can see – with South Wild. South America is teeming with marvelous creatures and we know the best places to see them. We can bring you face to face with those animals, where you can observe and photograph their natural behaviors on their own turf. In fact, with many of the most elusive species, we make a promise. We guarantee that you will see them if you come with us. Here are some of our favorite tours.
Jaguar Extreme Tour
Jaguar Extreme is our flagship tour, taking you into the heart of Brazil’s Pantanal. The world’s largest wetland, the Pantanal is home to more than 600 bird species and many of the most unusual animals in the Americas. With our highly trained guides, you will see a greater variety of wildlife than you could find in the Galapagos. Enjoy two nights in our charming Pantanal Lodge, where capybara graze on our lawns and Jabiru Storks nest just meters from our observation tower. The forested banks of the winding Pixiam River, just behind the lodge, attract herons, egrets, kingfishers, parrots, and hawks, as well as Caiman, Black Howler Monkeys, and Bearded Capuchins. But the star of the Pantanal Lodge’s animal cavalcade is the Ocelot, a nocturnal cat that is typically almost impossible to spot in the wild. Here, on any given night, we guarantee an 80% chance of seeing an ocelot up close, against an evocative background of vines and leaves for perfect photographs.
Your next stop on the Jaguar Extreme Tour is Jaguarland, where South Wild owns 7,475 acres of the world’s greatest concentration of the big cats. You will relax for four nights in the exotic luxury of the Flotel. This floating hotel is anchored in a river system that is home to the endangered Giant River Otter, the Brazilian Tapir, and, of course, Jaguars by the hundreds. We guarantee that you will see these iconic species and so many more. Twice each day you will cruise the waters in comfortable boats that will bring you within meters of the jaguars who rule the riverbanks. You might come upon them stalking or attacking prey, tending their cubs, or simply resting. They will pay no attention to you, but you won’t be able to take your eyes off them. This is wildlife viewing at its very best.
Visit the Harpyland
Not quite ready to leave? We don’t blame you! Here’s an idea that would extend your stay in the region by a night or two. When booking your Jaguar Extreme tour, consider traveling north to Harpyland. Each year, we select the most interesting Harpy nest among the 35 we keep an eye on. Then we consolidate our viewing towers just meters from the birds, who have long been habituated to our presence. We set up comfortable tents at the base. You can climb up to a platform at eagle eye-level and watch these extraordinary-looking birds – the world’s largest raptors – raise their families. Just seeing a good photograph of a Harpy Eagle is marvelous. Now imagine taking that photo yourself!
Magnificent Wolf Camp Tour
Another great South Wild tour takes you to our Wolf Camp, where you are guaranteed an in-depth visit with the world’s tallest canine, the Maned Wolf. Imagine settling into your own private bungalow amid the most wildlife-rich tropical dry forest in the Americas. An extraordinary array of life is just outside your door and the setting could not be more spectacular. The thousand-foot high Red Rock Cliffs form a most dramatic backdrop to the valleys of palm trees below. Rusty brown with brushy black manes and enormous ears, Maned Wolves do not live in packs but they do mate for life. You might be lucky enough to see a pair with pups. And there’s more on our exclusive Wolf Camp agenda. We guarantee that you will see entire flocks of the endangered Hyacinth Macaw — as many as 25 of the big, gorgeous birds together in the trees, enjoying their favorite wild palm nuts Nearby, you will see and hear the Bearded Capuchin Monkeys displaying their sophisticated use of rocks as hammers and anvils to crack open the same nuts. These creatures are our stars at Wolf Camp, but you will see many other species as well, among them King Vultures, Blue-and-Gold and Red-and-Green Macaws, Helmeted Manakins, Red-legged Seriemas, Tufted-eared Marmosets, and Black-and-Gold Howler Monkeys.
South Wild’s Own Private Rainforest
Let’s head to Brazil’s tropical rainforest. South Wild’s own private rainforest, that is. Our 25,000-acre preserve has not been hunted for 25 years. All the classic rainforest species thrive there, just as nature intended. It’s the setting where you really want to get up into the canopy – that’s where the action is. Luckily, you are at the lodge with the most canopy access of any location in the world. You can climb up at many points to observe and photograph macaws and monkeys against famously beautiful views of river and rainforest. The only thing that will tempt you down from the treetops is our guarantee of a close-up look at the largest land animal in South America, the Brazilian Tapir. Our lodge, with its comfortable, air-conditioned bedrooms, is easily accessed year-round on a well-maintained road just three hours from the airport. And one last bit of good news: hardly any mosquitos. Ever.
The Splendorous Alaska’s Brown Bear Bay
And now for something completely different. Without leaving the South Wild network of top-quality tours and lodges, let’s head north… way north. Sitting just outside the vast Clark National Park, Alaska’s Brown Bear Bay is our newest tour, available for the 2024 season. Not just an apex predator, the Brown Bear is the largest land predator in the world. Emerging from hibernation in May, it packs a year’s worth of activity into the summer months, making for a season of very rewarding viewing. Bears fight, mate, raise cubs, dig for clams, and fish for salmon right before your eyes. No other bear tour brings you as close to the great predators as we do. Our cabins were built along established bear trails and the animals have become accustomed to human visitors. They stroll right past our large windows and comically scratch their backs on trees just outside our doors. With expert South Wild guides, you can walk safely among the bears as they graze in our sedge field. Through your camera lens, you’ll find that none of our structures stand in your eyeline to the bears and beyond. Your photographs will be all bears, all spectacular Alaskan landscape, crowned by the great Iliamna Volcano in the distance.
Check Out The South Wild Tours
All these South Wild tours are waiting for you. Each one is marvelous. Pick your favorite and get in touch with us. Do give serious thought to choosing the Pantanal as your first destination. It does not have a household name like the Amazon rainforest, but it is in the Pantanal where nature has assembled its greatest variety of wildlife. There, biodiversity is writ large in a vast, unspoiled landscape. But each South Wild tour offers so much for any traveler who loves nature. Come, be our guest!
