Brazil October 2025
Morris had been talking about going to the Amazon rainforest and the Pantanal in Brazil for years. The Pantanal is the world’s largest tropical wetland. It is famous for its abundant wildlife which includes jaguars, giant anteaters, capybaras and caimans- all of which we saw. It also includes numerous species of birds. Now the reason for the 14 hour flight is clearer!
Lucky us, when Ken and Deena heard about our travel plans they invited themselves along. Perfect company!
We decided to begin our travels in Argentina to see the Iguazú Falls and then cross over to Brazil to see the Iguazú Falls from the other side. They were fabulous! We liked the Argentinian side for the beautiful paths along the falls and the Brazilian side, for its proximity to the falls. We were so close in some places that we got sprayed and would have been completely drenched without a raincoat.
Besides the sheer majesty and spectacular views of the falls, we saw first hand what the decimation of the rainforest has caused. The water of the falls used to be clear but now it is a murky reddish brown caused by erosion. The reddish earth falls into the rivers and turns the water brown! Very sad and disheartening!
After spending the day at Iguazú, we took a flight to São Paulo where we met up with the rest of our tour group run by a company from the UK called Naturetrek. There we met up with our incredible guide- Lailson- and the rest of our group all living in the UK. Luckily, we all got along extremely well and enjoyed our time together.
The first lodge we stayed at- SouthWild Amazon Lodge is owned by a conglomerate of French businesses. We learned that they are very serious about ecology and reforestation. There is a nursery on the property that propagates tree seedlings which are planted in the rainforest where there has been clearcutting. They employ biologists to monitor the plant and animal life. It gives one hope for the future!
During our time at the SouthWest Lodge we enjoyed lots of good sightings including a juvenile harpy eagle- 19 months old and left by itself by its parents- so sink or swim, fall or fly! In order to get a proper view we had to climb up a 14 metre high tower where we were in the canopy of the forest- talk about a bird’s eye view!
During one of our walks we saw a cashew tree. The fruit looks almost like pear with a single cashew sitting in a shell at the bottom of the fruit. The shell needs to dry out for a while before the single nut is harvested. No wonder cashews are so expensive!
We discovered that in spite of wearing long sleeves, long pants, socks and shoes, as well as insect repellant we were bitten by these fierce sandflies which are so tiny you can barely see them. However they bite and left us bleeding and very itchy.
We had time off during the hottest part of the days-(28C by 9:00 and hotter as the day progressed- up to 40C) and then resumed with a river safari down the Juruang River, a tributary of the Amazon. From the boat we saw lots of different birds and animals including squirrel monkeys and marmosets- so much fun to watch as they performed their acrobatics moving across the treetops. Honestly, it felt as if we were in a BBC documentary cruising down the river and hearing the animal and insects calling out.
On our last day at the lodge we got up even earlier than usual so as to be ready for a 5:10 departure for an excursion by boat to an island where we would see the elusive umbrella birds and their beautiful display of feathers and then have a picnic breakfast.
Instead of beautiful sunshine, it was a dark and gloomy day. The sky got darker and darker and the wind picked up speed. We all started to put on our raincoats while still on the lookout for the umbrella birds. Then it started spitting- not an umbrella bird in sight-they were smarter than we were! Finally we saw a pair of umbrella birds flying by but not a one was interested in putting on a display for us!
We gobbled down some breakfast and then the heavens opened! Luckily we made it back to shore where a minibus was waiting to take us back to the lodge. After lunch, we piled into the bus for the next part of our Amazon adventure. We were not sad to leave the sandflies behind!
After a gruelling drive over bumpy roads we stopped at a hotel overnight before resuming a drive, a flight and another drive to arrive at our next destination in the Pantanal-Pouso Alegre Lodge, a very rustic basic lodge on a working ranch. Ken and Deena had a huge spider to welcome them while Morris and I had a tree frog sitting in the toilet bowl.
I lifted the lid and much to my surprise and consternation, there was a frog sitting just above the water line. All of a sudden my desperate need for the toilet was put on hold until Lailson, our guide, came in to fish it out of the bowl and release it outdoors. He was killing himself laughing as the frog escaped from his hands and he had to chase it around the shower! It really was funny, especially when we were told that the tree frog was harmless.
The upside of staying at the Pouso Alegre is that it is very well located for many species of wildlife. Also, the owners of the lodge set out seeds and fruit for the various birds and animals. It was so entertaining to see the various birds, monkeys and coati (relative of the raccoon) come and retrieve the food laid out for them. The downside of staying in the Panatanal was that we traded sandflies for mosquitoes-big nasty and ever present mosquitoes!
On a walk after breakfast we spotted a Toco Toucan in its nest located in a hole in a tree. We only saw its head and neck but it was quite gorgeous. Morris managed to get a picture of the toucan in another spot.
We saw plenty of caimans(smaller relative of the alligator). Supposedly there are over 1.5 million caimans in the pantanal!! They hang around the rivers and ponds and at night all you can see are their red eyes glowing in the dark! Also what you can see glowing in the dark are fireflies- tons of them! There are even stars- millions of beautiful glittering stars!
After 2 nights we made our way to a flotel- floating stationary hotel- where we stayed for a few nights in an area known as Jaguarland!
To get there we had to transfer from bus to boat. This meant going down from a steep bank to a river via a set of stairs made of tires piled on top of each other. Although they looked rickety, the tires were filled with cement so they were as sturdy as could be. Interesting use of discarded tires.
We went for our usual evening safari on the water and couldn’t believe how lucky we were. Besides a nice variety of birds we had the great fortune to have not one but 2 jaguar sightings. The first was a male about two years old and the second was a female who had recently given birth.
At one point we saw the female’s head go down and quickly come up with a small caiman. We had the pleasure of watching her walk along the shoreline and then disappear from view. What excitement! There were about 10 other boats with people thrilled to see the jaguar.
The other excitement was when a fish flew out of the water and hit Ken, who was quietly minding his own business and had a huge shock! If he hadn’t been sitting where he was, that fish would have landed in the boat and we would have had fish for supper!
By 6:30am we were in the boat ready for another day of adventure. We saw 2 different giant otters somewhat like the size of small seals.
Unfortunately we missed seeing a jaguar which was out in the morning. However, we saw lots of birds and a family of capybara on the riverbank so they were in full view. Two babies were actually suckling so that was a good sighting. We had another fish land in our boat- it just jumped out of the river and landed right in front of Morris. He scooped it up and threw it back.
It was so hot that we were all suffering. Eventually we got some ice meant to keep the water cold and put it on our necks, arms… I even threw some down my shirt- a very welcome relief in the intense heat- 40C plus humidity.
On our last day at the flotel, We went out to see what we could see! Besides the usual birds, we managed to see 4 different jaguars before 11:00. All the jaguars are named by the people here who study their behaviour.
After lunch we got back into the boat to head up the River on our quest to see a maned wolf which turns out not to be a wolf at all but related to a bush dog.
It appears that after the terrible fires of 2021/22 a maned wolf turned up at a rancher’s property quite obviously starving. He decided to feed it and along with two other maned wolves (on an alternating schedule) they have been returning almost daily to get a chicken dinner. They are quite a sighting as there are very few in the world.
Our last lodge stay was at SouthWild Pantanal Lodge. We were hoping to see an ocelot and sat for hours in a hide being bitten alive by mosquitoes but never seeing the ocelot! The following day we managed a short excursion by boat and then got rained out of our afternoon activity by torrential rains! It gave us all the opportunity to sit around, read and socialize. In the evening Morris and Steven, a fellow traveller learned how to make the Brazilian cocktail-Caipirnha- which the rest of us happily drank!
Our last day was spent on our own in Sao Paulo which is the largest city in Brazil. Unfortunately it rained most of the day and made it difficult to tour around. We did see some nice buildings and the market was like some of the amazing markets we have seen in Barcelona. There is also a very interesting part of the city where there are lots of artsy venues and graffiti painted on the sides of buildings which was terrific!
All in all, it was a very nice trip. The people we travelled with were all lovely. We got to see millions of stars just about every night. We saw giant otters, capybaras, jaguars, an armadillo (rare siting), an anteater with a baby on her back, monkeys, caimans, plenty of birds… Morris managed to see 206 of which 176 were new species to him!
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