Pantanal, Brazil

Sept 9-12

The Pantanal is a huge wetland in the north-western part of Brazil, famous for its picturesque landscapes and abundant wildlife. Just on the drive in we spotted caimans, toucans, parrots and jabiru storks - said to be the symbol of the Pantanal.

We slept in hammocks on a huge farm, situated right on the caiman-infested river. 

The river is also full of pirhanas! So of course our first activity was pirhana fishing. This was a whole lot more eventful than the fishing trip in Nicaragua. Almost immediately after putting our lines in, they started nibbling. Turns out fishing isn't one of my hidden talents. I lost about 8 pieces of bait before I eventually caught a big fat pirhana! He fell off just as I had him over the boat, and then proceeded to flap about on the floor. Much screaming ensued. Unfortunately I am totally chicken so didn't want to touch it and the only other people close enough were vegetarians... No hope. So Bini used a paddle to scoop him back into the water. Noooooo. 

Taylor then thought it would be funny to dangle his bait in front of a caiman... Hilarious until the caiman took the bait and he had to battle with it to keep his rod. Luckily, Taylor won and his rod survived. Between us we caught plenty of pirhanas (which made for a tasty dinner!) but sadly I was not a contributor to the collection. 

That evening foxes were spotted crossing the campsite and frogs were collected and used in an attempt to scare people.

A safari truck drove us along a dirt road the next morning, where we spotted endless animals... More toucans, jabirus, eagles, caiman and a deer with enourmous horns. 

We walked through some fields and found monkeys. We also saw some 'strangling fig' trees which wrap themselves around other trees, sucking out water and nutrients until the other tree dies. 

A few hours relaxing in the sun had us ready for an afternoon adventure: boat safari! Caiman, kingfishers and some strange enormous anteater-type-thing (that I've forgotten the name of) were spotted and the rain held off until we got back, at which point it poured down...just in time for our night tour to see the nocturnal animals! A few brave souls stepped onto the truck and gave it two or three minutes of downpour, which soon turned torrential, before turning back. Not one animal was sighted. 

The final day in the Pantanal was much less eventful. It gently rained all day, which meant that none of the animals came out on our morning hike through the jungle and bushes. I chose to skip horse riding in the afternoon in favour of napping. 

Just before departure we head some strange noises coming from the river area and managed to spot a capybara which is like a giant guinea pig. So many animals!