Brazil, Pantanal and Cerrado - a wildlife adventure
The Pantanal
Country: Brazil
Destination: Western Brazil, Mato Grosso State, to The Pantanal and The Cerrado
Traveller guidance and Kit recommendations are at the end of this article.
Click to enlarge images
As 2019 moved into the Autumn we departed the UK for The Pantanal and Cerrado in Brazil. We travelled with Andy Skillen of FaunaVista who was a convivial host as well as a very experienced photographer, videographer, and helpful guide. Our group of six was also accompanied by a local naturalist, Marcos Felix from Southwild (a conservation focussed eco-tourism company). Marcos seemed to be able to cite the page number from the book ‘Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil’ for almost every sighting.
Our group met up in Cuiaba, and started the long drive to Porto Joffre at the end of the Transpantaneira, including a 2 night stop-over at a Fazenda, Pouso Alegre, where Marcos introduced us to many bird species both on foot and from the truck; as well as other tree dwellers like monkey and bat. Aboard our open safari truck we crossed over 130 bridges, in varying states of repair ranging from dodgy to very dodgy. On arrival at Porto Joffre, literally the end of the road, we travelled about 40mins by boat to home for the next 6 nights, the Jaguarland Flotel on the Cuiaba River.
Jaguar mother & cubs crossing the river
Throughout our stay we were very fortunate to experience a number of sightings of Jaguar, including a rare meeting with a first-time mother and two small cubs swimming across the Cuiaba River. Ours was the first group to see these two cubs and as such were given the honour of naming them. We gave this ‘task’ to our excellent photography guide Andy and our amazing naturalist Marcos Felix.
Our boat helm, Junior, who had an uncanny likeness to F1’s Lewis Hamilton, deserves a mention in dispatches too; for his tenacity and river navigation knowledge. Transporting us to Jaguar sightings, on sprints which were often quite literally breath-taking, through the tributaries and cross-channels of the Cuiaba River; often at speeds in excess of 40 knots. It was clear from day-1 that we were aboard the fastest boat and helm combination on the river. During the week an unsecured hat and camera rain-cover were lost to the river by members of our group, and Colin lost a camera rear-screen protector, which was quite literally peeled-off by the ‘air-speed’ during a sprint to an early morning sighting.
Very often our morning sightings of the Jaguar were quite sedate affairs. They had likely been hunting in the early hours or the previous night; had their fill and were looking to sleep it off during the heat of the day. Nonetheless, often sat on a large tree-limb overhanging the river they would sit up, pose and look around; ever the opportunist on the look-out for an easy meal.
We cannot over-emphasise the advantages of being accommodated on a river “flotel”. The “Jaguar Flotel” run by SouthWild was first rate and this did come at a premium. However, we estimate we saved about a day’s worth of commuting during our 6 night stay being accommodated on the river, as opposed to accommodation around Porto Joffre. Travelling almost half-way around the world for this trip, an extra day of photographic opportunities was well worth the premium. As is often the case, caveat emptor.
The late afternoon sightings saw the Jaguar more active, moving along the river bank and swimming along the water’s edge. As ever, the challenge was to capture the mood of the scene and any intent; through the eyes of the animal.
Photographing birds in flight (BIFs) on a moving platform was a challenge. There were occasional opportunities when they were nearby at water-level, but catching them taking off and landing in the tree-line at the river’s edge or on the water was difficult. Panning while maintaining a focus-lock on a bird in flight, whilst underway on a boat doing a few knots, is about as challenging as it gets.
As ever capturing a ‘moment’ when birds are not in flight always requires patience. We were fortunate to be shooting just above water level; the freeboard of our boat was about 18”/400mm from the water-line. This often gave us the opportunity to get down really low and shoot the bird at eye-level, and try to catch them wading along the shoreline as they searched for food.
During our return road-journey back up the Transpantaneira, we were also extremely fortunate with Ocelot sightings while staying at the Fazenda Santa Tereza lodge for 2 nights, run by SouthWild. A predominately nocturnal felid, we had two evenings in a hide/ blind and were fortunate to see this elusive creature on both occasions. The first night we had a young female who was happy to stay and explore around the hide for some time. The second night we briefly saw a rather more skittish male. We also made a visit to a Tapir hide, which was an enjoyable and rare viewing experience, however it is very challenging to capture an interesting “moment” in the life of a Tapir !
We lost count of the variety of bird species that we saw. Marcos, our naturalist guide, assured us it was over 150 throughout our 10 days in the Pantanal.
As is the case on trips arranged through a good Pro Photographer, the days are fairly long and full-on; rising before dawn and in bed by 9pm, aka “bush midnight”. Every day on this trip had memorable events, made all the more enjoyable in our small group, supported by our professional team: Andy, Marcos, and Junior.
The Cerrado
Our group of six went down to four when we arrived back in Cuiaba, the original (surveyed and mapped) geodesic centre of South America; since superseded using satellite technology by Chapado dos Guimarães about 30mls north-east. The following morning we flew north to Alta Floresta, and onward further north by road and across the Teles Pires by boat into rainforest and Harpy Eagle territory. We were accommodated at a new lodge developed by Southwild.
Severe vertigo sufferers should think twice about this trip, because the viewing platform was high up in the tree canopy at the top of a 33m /100ft tower, and standing room was approximately 4ft /1.2m square. We were strapped into a harness and hoisted up there one at a time, by a hand and pulley system. However, it was certainly worth the angst and effort; being able to see the Harpy in its habitat, high up in the rain-forest tree canopy. We spent many hours on the platform over two days, mostly watching an 18 month old fledged chick, on the nest in a 140ft tree about 30m away, who had apparently been waiting 5 days for food. Sadly we also experienced first-hand the extent of the harm that forest-fires were creating. Visibility from the top of the tower over the the tree canopy was, at best, 5 miles and this ebbed and flowed with the prevailing winds. We had just a single visit by a Harpy Eagle parent, carrying a predated Capuchin monkey in its massive claws: it was well worth the wait. De-forestation is making life tough for the Harpy because it’s primary hunting ground is the forest canopy, looking for monkeys. Hence it has to travel further and further afield for food. There’s more about the Harpy’s plight and this journey in our Pantanal and Cerrado e-Book (access via the Home Page: the download might require a bit of patience!) .
Southwild are working very hard with local farmers and land-owners to try and save swathes of rain-forest for the apex predators, all the way down the food-chain; trying to persuade them that well-managed tourism can benefit both them and the wild-life.
Whilst there we also had a couple of boat trips on the Teles Pires river; seeing predominately birdlife with several sightings of tree dwelling monkeys high in the tree canopy. We also had an amazing, albeit very brief, Ocelot encounter on our final dawn-shoot in the Matto Grosso. The Ocelot photo, here, was taken just before sunrise, pushing the limits of our equipment capability. That morning, however, the Amazon rain bared its all to us, for about 3hrs. Quite abruptly it became in-conducive to photography from our open boat. We had to seek shelter in an old deserted fisherman’s hut nearby before finally setting off to rejoin our road-transport back to Alta Floresta. Each of us gripping a piece of the large tarpaulin pulled over all our heads, to provide a modicum of shelter, we headed up-river to our awaiting transport at the ferry crossing on the road connecting the north with Alta Floresta.
Although primarily led and guided by Faunavista’s Andy Skillen, we also had quite a bit of exposure to Southwild’s staff and logistics: both Andy and Southwild’s team were excellent; particularly the team at the Harpy Eagle tower, which also included our boat driver for the river trips. We also met with Southwild’s founder Dr Charles Munn on a few occasions during our memorable visit to Brazil: in Cuiaba, the Pantanal, and the Cerrado. One was always left in no doubt that he is committed to his vision of developing and offering ecologically sustainable tourism in South America.
GALLERY : click an image for Slideshow
Traveller Guidance:
• Do not compare Pantanal trips on cost alone; do your own due-diligence around tour logistics thoroughly.
• Allow plenty of time between international and domestic flights, at least a few hours, because both main carriers, Gol and Azul, are prone to short-notice schedule changes. That said, internal flights were very good.
• The Transpantaneira is a long and dusty road trip; good eye protection, gear soft-covers, and face-scarf are recommended.
• Beware vendors with trips based around Porto Joffre, you will spend significant amounts of time ‘commuting’ twice-daily to reach the main action in the ‘Jaguar zone’.
• Good advice, from our own research, is to find a tour provider using river-based “flotel” accommodation, well along the river from Porto Joffre; otherwise on a 6 day visit you will spend almost a whole day of your time “commuting”.
• Patience: Jaguar sightings can sometimes see several boats congregating and your patience will be tested at times. You will have to endure occasional selfishness and ignorance by a few passengers on other boats; but good guides and boat-helms should manage this for you.
Kit:
• A telephoto zoom in the 80-400mm range is ideal although 400mm or 500mm primes are a viable option
• A 300mm could also be useful for wider-vista shots.
• A medium telephoto (70-200mm) was is useful to for wider shots and close-quarter encounters along the shore-side; especially if it is ready and mounted on a second/spare body.
• We would also recommend taking a compatible 1.4TC, if possible.
• Tripods/monopods are not required; hand-held is essential on a small boat, even on boats with chair and gimbal rigs.
• A CPL is a “nice to have” but not essential; often you won’t have the time to attach the polariser anyway.
• Ambient light can be challenging at times, so get to know your camera’s capabilities and limitations (every camera has them). particularly with ISO and low contrast auto-focus. Be ready to adapt your shooting to the available light in the current conditions and the time of day.
