The Pantanal

I recently had a weeks holiday. The first half was spent in the Pantanal, a large wetland shared by Brasil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. It is a region known for a high concentration of wildlife. I spent my time there doing sort of wildlife safaris on foot, by jeep, boat, and on horseback. While there I saw literally hundreds of caimans, birds, hawks and eagles. The highlights, however, included seeing an anaconda while trekking through a swampy region; a pair of false-water cobras intertwined together; a river otter, howler monkeys that are not much to look at, but the incredibly loud sound that they make sounds as if it is the forest itself that is alive (as we approached the monkeys and got closer to the sound it felt as though we were getting closer to the heart of the forest); and by far the most interesting was a seeing a giant anteater.


The second half was spent in a place near to the Pantanal called Bonito. There are many waterfalls, rivers, and caves in the area and I spent some time checking them out. There is a river there called "Rio da Prata" where the waters are quite clear. You can put on a wetsuit, get a mask and snorkel, and float downstream with the current. The most interesting part was getting to see a spring. The water comes into the river from underground in an area where the bottom is sandy. It looks almost like a continuous volcanic eruption as the water continues to come forth.