We rose in the morning to make our way to the Pantanal, via Boca da Ounca, Panther's Mouth, and featured an impressively high water fall, with an option to rappelling down part of it. At something like 100 metres straight down, I was rather glad it was closed. The fact that three large vultures were perched on top of the lower pulleys only reinforced this feeling.
Then it was on to Pousada refugio do ilha, in the Pantanal, a wetlands as big as Victoria.
The pousada is in a stunning location, surrounded by the Rio Solumbres. We have now had three days here and it will be incredibly hard to leave. We have been busy on every single day. We have ridden horses through the wetlands on sunset and had two early morning boat trips through flooded forests, met wonderful people and, of course, seen plenty of wildlife.
I had come to the Pantanal to acquire animals. Flagship animals like capybara and maybe some water mammals. What I hadn't counted on, was the staggering number of bird species we would see. They have over 600 species in the Pantanal, pretty much the same number as encountered across all of Australia.
On our first boat trip with travelled with the owner's son, Leonardo, and Trevor, an American bird enthusiast, who volunteers at this pousada during his summer break.
Then it was on to Pousada refugio do ilha, in the Pantanal, a wetlands as big as Victoria.
The pousada is in a stunning location, surrounded by the Rio Solumbres. We have now had three days here and it will be incredibly hard to leave. We have been busy on every single day. We have ridden horses through the wetlands on sunset and had two early morning boat trips through flooded forests, met wonderful people and, of course, seen plenty of wildlife.
I had come to the Pantanal to acquire animals. Flagship animals like capybara and maybe some water mammals. What I hadn't counted on, was the staggering number of bird species we would see. They have over 600 species in the Pantanal, pretty much the same number as encountered across all of Australia.
On our first boat trip with travelled with the owner's son, Leonardo, and Trevor, an American bird enthusiast, who volunteers at this pousada during his summer break.
The two could spot a bird at a thousand spaces and name it despite seeing only its left wing tip. I began to realise that there passion for birds easily trumped mine for mammals and that perhaps it represented an even more sophisticated form of mania. Is there a hierarchy to animal spotters, starting with if mammals as the most rude, working your way through birds, down to insects? Of course, an exciting animal discovery trip for an insectologidt is probably a packed lunch into back yard.
I found myself getting into the swing of things, though we were so out of league. "No, that's not the Lesser Banded Heron, it's the Slightly Larger Banded Heron. You can tell because it's got a small crimson ring around it's anus rather than a red one.". Damn.
I even found myself being disappointed when I failed to see the green banded woodpecker. nevertheless I reached a point where I would have rolled all the birdlime up into a ball for one descent mammal. Fortunately it didn't come to that. As we were just about to head home what should pop up besides us but an otter. A neotropic otter to exact. It swam beside us and disappeared. Then on our return home we scored a capybara hidden under a bush. Later the next day, as if for a joke, a couple of otters swam around the building we had lunch and entertained us for some time. Coming out on the land at one point to eat a fish.
That afternoon we took a horse ride, the first for decades for both of us, and watched the sun set across flooded plains.
I found myself getting into the swing of things, though we were so out of league. "No, that's not the Lesser Banded Heron, it's the Slightly Larger Banded Heron. You can tell because it's got a small crimson ring around it's anus rather than a red one.". Damn.
I even found myself being disappointed when I failed to see the green banded woodpecker. nevertheless I reached a point where I would have rolled all the birdlime up into a ball for one descent mammal. Fortunately it didn't come to that. As we were just about to head home what should pop up besides us but an otter. A neotropic otter to exact. It swam beside us and disappeared. Then on our return home we scored a capybara hidden under a bush. Later the next day, as if for a joke, a couple of otters swam around the building we had lunch and entertained us for some time. Coming out on the land at one point to eat a fish.
That afternoon we took a horse ride, the first for decades for both of us, and watched the sun set across flooded plains.
This morning we headed down river, this time with Olaf on board as well. Olaf is a garrulous, interesting and friendly soul who was thrilled at everything we saw, no matter how mundane the creature was. His enthusiasm was infectious, though even he ran out of puff in the end.
There is really no way you can adequately describe the beauty of this place as you drift through fields of water hyacinth, or over bushes that had been on dried land not so long ago, and you begin to realise why Leonardo was happy to take us out again and why Trevor keeps coming back. All of us on that boat had come to the Pantanal to acquire something, birds, mammals, life, piece of mind and quietly, almost unobserved, the Pantanal had acquired us. It is a trade I'm more than happy with.
Later the afternoon there is an option to take a jeep ride to see giant anteaters.
For the record, at the Pantanal, we acquired a giant otter (on the road coming in), neotropic otters, a capybara, countless species of birds, spotted swags of brown capuchin monkeys and got within touching point of loads of caimans. Not so long ago I was watching a kingfisher catch a fish, whilst a hummingbird was dashing from flower to flower in the bush besides me.
I wonder what we'll see the next time.
There is really no way you can adequately describe the beauty of this place as you drift through fields of water hyacinth, or over bushes that had been on dried land not so long ago, and you begin to realise why Leonardo was happy to take us out again and why Trevor keeps coming back. All of us on that boat had come to the Pantanal to acquire something, birds, mammals, life, piece of mind and quietly, almost unobserved, the Pantanal had acquired us. It is a trade I'm more than happy with.
Later the afternoon there is an option to take a jeep ride to see giant anteaters.
For the record, at the Pantanal, we acquired a giant otter (on the road coming in), neotropic otters, a capybara, countless species of birds, spotted swags of brown capuchin monkeys and got within touching point of loads of caimans. Not so long ago I was watching a kingfisher catch a fish, whilst a hummingbird was dashing from flower to flower in the bush besides me.
I wonder what we'll see the next time.
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