While named for the iconic cat, SouthWild’s Jaguar Extreme Tour will show you so much more than its eponymous star. That’s because the Pantanal offers so much more. Its vast landscape, which changes dramatically as it cycles through the wet and dry seasons, is a gorgeous sight in itself. Then there are the 656 bird species, many of them quite large and very colorful, many of them new to most birders’ life lists. The mammals of the Pantanal include some of the most beautiful and fascinating animals on earth, including several giants of their kinds. So, it’s a challenge to identify just a few moments that stand out among so many new and wondrous sights. But we love a challenge, so we’ve winnowed down countless fabulous moments to a Top Five list.
1. Up-close Sighting
At the top of everyone’s list of great moments is surely that first up-close sight of a Jaguar. A vision of beauty, grace, and power, the Jaguar projects all the charisma of the apex predator. He is the undisputed king of the New World and you come to pay homage to his perfection. You approach from the safety of your boat, scanning the nearby shore of green underbrush and brown clay banks. Birds cruise the treetops and caiman bask in the shallows. Suddenly, a patch of orange and black appears in the shadows. It moves into the sunlight and pauses in full view for a moment. Jaguar! Everything stops – including your heart for a beat or two. The Jaguar pays no attention to you, but all you can see is the big cat. It’s right there, just meters away. This image burns into your mind. Then time starts again. You point your camera, one guest murmurs to another, a monkey calls, and a bird dives for a fish. The Jaguar might do anything – from pouncing on a caiman to stretching out for a nap. It doesn’t matter. That first moment is yours forever.
2. Saint Tereza’s Lodge Amazing View
Another great sight in the Pantanal comes as the day ends at Saint Tereza Lodge. A breeze stirs the warm air with a cooler breath. The birds leave their favorite fishing spots along the river, rising into the sky for the flight home. Their evening song fills the air. The sun dips lower in the west, where the bright green of the treetops darkens as the backlight turns them into silhouettes. The daytime cerulean blue of the eastern sky deepens into ultramarine. The sun drops more and the western sky glows pale pink. Clouds mound up in rose and white, cleft with purple shadow. As the sun touches the horizon, reds and oranges bleed out into the sky. The waters of the Pixiam River glow. It becomes a river of reflected light, carrying the sunset colors back into the darkening evening. At last, the sun sinks behind the trees but, for a few minutes, the sky stays bright with yellows, oranges, reds and pinks. Then, slowly, the puddles of color fade into the deep blue sky of dusk. The breathtaking Pantanal sunset, so perfect from this particular spot on the river, is done for the day. Be sure to enjoy it every evening that you spend in the Pantanal Lodge.
3. Sighting Of Endangered Animals
Seeing a rare, endangered animal is always a thrill. If that animal happens to be the largest of its kind, that’s even more exciting. When the creature is also spectacularly beautiful, all the boxes are checked. It’s a lifetime high. And it happens in the Pantanal, when a guest sees a Hyacinth Macaw for the first time. Perhaps birders feel it the most, but for any animal lover it’s a moment of pure magic. There it is, this huge parrot so iconic to the Pantanal and to all of Brazil that the traveler has seen its image countless times on billboards, tee shirts, and souvenirs along the way. But now the bird itself is just meters away, preening it cobalt feathers or cracking open a palm nut. The blue is astonishing, deep and rich. It sets off to perfection the bright yellow eye ring that gives the Hyacinth’s face such an expressive quality. Maybe you see just a single bird. Maybe you see a mated pair. You might even see an entire flock gathered in a tree, chattering in their famously raucous squawks. It’s your first Hyacinth Macaw. You’ll never forget it.
4. The Amazing Caimans
Everyone who visits the Pantanal sees a lot of Caiman. On the drive in and the drive out and every day in between, you see Caiman. Sometimes it’s a solitary croc cruising on the river, eyes and nostrils barely breaking the surface a meter or two ahead of the gentle wake caused by the easy swish of its tail. You see others — maybe a few, maybe a lot — basking on the shore. The only surprise would be if you didn’t see them. Some 10 million Caiman live in the Pantanal and in the dry season they congregate near the receding water. Sometimes they pile on top of each other in the hundreds, as black and still as heaps of old tires. They barely seem alive. But look again and see something you’ll never forget. Go out on the river after dark, when the water is blacker than the night sky. Sit low in the boat and shine a flashlight across the river’s surface. Countless pairs of red eyes catch the light. Caiman are all around you. The river is full of them, hundreds of them, and they are very much alive. In the blackness all you can see are blood red eyes staring at you. It’s one of the amazing sights of the Pantanal that will take your breath away. It sparks a frisson of primeval fear deep inside. That crimson eyeshine will stay with you forever, if only in your dreams.
5. Ocelot Guaranteed
In the days before South Wild cracked the code of seeing elusive species up close, it was more difficult to see an ocelot than a jaguar. Ocelots were smaller, shyer, and nocturnal. They spent most of their time hunting up in trees or down in thick underbrush. Now, on each night you spend in our Pantanal Lodge you have an 80% chance of seeing one of these gorgeous cats just meters away. It will materialize out of the vegetation, moving so silently and fluidly in the shadows that for a moment it doesn’t seem real. Then it leaps into the light, balancing effortlessly on a branch. It pauses for a moment, a moment that is one of the great gifts of the Pantanal. You are in the presence of the most elegant and elusive cat of the New World. Before you start filming, just focus on the experience. There is only one first sight of an ocelot. Savor it.
Visit Us
The Pantanal is full of marvels. Let us show them to you. You may come up with a different list of Top Five Moments, because spectacular encounters with nature is what South Wild is all about. Join the Jaguar Extreme Tour and see the magic of the Pantanal for yourself. Bring your sense of wonder. And don’t forget your camera!
