The Pantanal and Brazilian Amazon, Aug/Sept 2015

[janzin]

The next morning, almost immediately after we set out, and only a short distance from the hotel, we spotted a swimming tapir. He had come down from a high bank and he was swimming parallel to the shore, looking for a place to come back up. We followed him for a long distance and I was starting to get worried that he wouldn't make it! You can see he looks a little panicked! Andre assured us they are very strong swimmers. Sure enough, eventually he did find a break in the shore where he could gain a footing. Whew, I was relieved!

 

 

It wasn't too long before Andre intercepted a radio call that a jaguar had been seen not far ahead. We rev'ed up and we were fortunate to be the first boat on the scene (aside from the original boat that had spotted him.) But the jaguar had just headed into the jungle. Andre correctly predicted where he would emerge and brought us around a small bend--sure enough, there he was, jaguar lying on the bank not 20 feet in front of us! This turned out to be the rather famous "Mick Jaguar" who is blind in one eye and quite the patriarch of the area. In fact we would see him several more times, but this was our best viewing. We stayed with him for quite awhile, and many more boats joined us, so we were lucky to have been early on the scene.

 

This was our first view of Mickey.

 

 

Eventually he got up and we followed him until he came down to the water. At that point there were already dozens of boats there, but luckily we still had a good position.

 

 

 

I really, really wanted to get a shot of a jaguar swimming and it looked like it might happen....

 

 

But unfortunately we lost our position just at that moment when he started to drink, so I didn't get any shots of him lapping or swimming

 

And he didn't swim far but only immersed himself under this shrub to cool off.

 

 

Did I mention it was EXTREMELY HOT during the day? We didn't like to put up the sun canopy when we were at a jaguar sighting, in fact, it is bad form because if you put up the canopy then the folks behind you can't see. More than once we heard other boats yelling at each other to put down the darn canopy! (And its also very bad form to stand up, which some folks did in front of me--I had some choice words

 

This is a good time to point out that photographing from this type of boat was much more difficult than I anticipated. Even when the motor is off, the boat is constantly in motion (in fact, sometimes it seemed more stable when the motor was on, but then of course you have the vibration to deal with.) And jaguars seemed to invariably be on the wrong side of the river for good light So be prepared to use high shutter speeds and high ISO for most shots.

 

For the most part, I handheld in the boat; even though I had my tripod with me. There were times when we were sitting for up to an hour or more, waiting for some action, that I did put the camera on the tripod just to get some arm relief; (my rig with the 200-400 lens weighs about 10 lbs altogether) but it was awkward to use and usually the jaguars are slightly above you (on the bluffs) making it impossible to use a tripod effectively while sitting in the boat. Also, the tripod legs can transmit vibration from the boat. I think a monopod might be a good option in those situations and I'd bring one if (when??) I return. I saw many photographers with all sorts of solutions; you can see that this group of photographers were using all of the above. I can't imagine trying to photograph in that crowded boat, though; its insane--just imagine the movement if one person even moves an inch!

 

[xelas]

@@janzin

 

Getting a sharp photo from that boat full to the brim would be very much like Mission: Impossible ! I have to sit still even in the car otherwise Zvezda is giving me "the look" .

Do you have any photos of your boat? Never mind, I will stay tuned ...

[Alexander33]

Love Mickey!

 

Thanks for mentioning the photographic challenges. I knew about the crowds of boats that are such a distraction, but a crowd IN a boat? That would be close to intolerable.

[janzin]

@@janzin

 

Getting a sharp photo from that boat full to the brim would be very much like Mission: Impossible ! I have to sit still even in the car otherwise Zvezda is giving me "the look" .

Do you have any photos of your boat? Never mind, I will stay tuned ...

 

this is for @xelas I thought I had photos of our boat but believe it or not I don't seem to, nor does my husband. I think he had taken some on his cell phone (which was lost on this trip!) But here is a photo of a similar boat. Ours was pretty much like the one I've pointed to in this photo. They are essentially fishing skiffs. It had a very powerful engine and could go very fast. Note the folded down canopy. I let hubby sit in the front next to Andre, and I had the two rear seats to myself and my camera gear.

 

 

[janzin]

Of course, there were also many fruitless hours of boating back and forth, up and down the channels, with no jaguar being seen by us, or anyone else in the immediate area. But there were plenty of birds and other critters to keep us busy.

 

On the sandbars, we found a life bird we'd been looking for.

 

 

And terns

 

 

In one narrow channel, we were thrilled when this Crane Hawk landed right on the bank in front of us.

 

 

And then this Little Cuckoo, which was a life bird!

 

 

There was one sandbar we stopped at for a "pit stop". This Caracara seemed to hang out there.

 

 

And of course, plenty of capybaras everywhere.

 

 

 

 

They always look so proud!

 

 

We even spotted some Howler Monkeys.

 

[janzin]

Another highlight of any trip to this area is of course the Giant River Otters. These are highly endangered but in this area they are plentiful. We had several sightings, but boy they are tough to photograph, constantly on the move! Luckily we found one who had just caught his lunch, keeping him relatively in one spot.

 

 

 

 

[SafariChick]

Just stunning photos - really enjoy looking at them so much! Great luck with the tapirs twice! And seeing the jaguars right away. And lots of gorgeous bird photos and great closeups of the otters!

[Galana]

Well done and thanks to Michael-ibd for getting you started. So what took so long??

Some enviable luck there with the Tapir and two Jaguar. I hope it holds for you in India.

Hard to pick a favourite to date from the many superb captures but that Guiera Cuckoo does have appeal. Keep em coming.

[janzin]

On the morning of our third day, we sighted Mick up on a bluff but the lighting was bad and he was looking like he was not planning to move, so we left him there.

 

 

 

That afternoon, we returned to that same spot; he had not moved at all and the light was even worse, and there were plenty of boats there, so we didn't linger. We had word that there were two jaguars together further up the river, a male and a female. Andre said it was at least a 45 minutes even at high speed, but we decided to go. It was our last afternoon and I'd really hoped to see a pair together.

 

Before we were halfway there, however, we saw a couple of boats in a side channel and they seemed to be looking at something so we went to investigate. A beautiful young female jaguar was hunting in the water hyacinth! What luck, there were only a couple of boats as most of the others were speeding down the river to get to the other pair. We opted to stick with the one we had and I got some nice photos as she came down to the shoreline. She was REALLY close as this was a narrow channel and I was using my 70-200mm lens at full frame, no DX crop! This was probably my favorite jaguar sighting of the trip because it was so intimate, compared to the others.

 

 

 

 

After awhile she disappeared back into the forest so we continued upstream to the pair we had originally headed for. Well, since we were "late to the party" there must have been 20 or more boats there and it was an impossible situation. Andre did the best he could but there was no vantage point. There were two jaguars up there, under the tree, but they weren't doing much. This was our basic view.

 

 

As you can see, on top of our bad position, the light was awful, and it was blazing hot. After about 15 minutes we decided to leave and try our luck elsewhere, as this spot was becoming a total fiasco. I think because we'd just had that lovely sighting of the young female we were not as desperate to stay.

 

Later that night at dinner I spoke to someone who had waited (in fact, Bill Given of The Wild Source company, who some of you may know from Africa. He had a group in the Pantanal at the same time as us.) He said that eventually--after a very long, hot wait--the jaguars did come down and swim in the river, so we were really bummed to miss that; but apparently there were still so many boats that it was almost impossible to get any decent photographs. Still, I was a little disappointed we had left, as we didn't see much of anything later. Oh well, it was a gamble, and we at least had that beautiful female earlier.

 

Sadly, that was the last jaguar of the trip, as the next morning we didn't score either. But in the end, we had sightings of 5 individual jaguars in 7 boat trips, which is nothing to complain about!

 

And we still had one more day in the Pantanal before heading to the Amazon!

[SafariChick]

5 individual jaguars in 7 boat trips is not too shabby at all! Wow at the crowds - well, having experienced that, you are prepared for India!

[janzin]

I almost forgot to include one of my favorite bird photos of the trip. Its not great technically (messy background) but this is a shot I've hoped for, for a long time--a Sunbittern in flight. There was a Sunbittern hanging around the lagoon behind the Pantanal Norte Hotel, and one day at lunchtime I was able to get this shot of his incredible wing pattern.

 

 

I ventured out each day for a few minutes during the lunch break to photograph birds on the grounds, although it was unbearably hot during that time period. Here are a few I managed before retreating to the comfort of our a/c.

 

There were plenty of Hyacinth Macaws on the grounds.

 

 

 

Yellow-rumped Caciques were nesting in the palms.

 

 

And this handsome fellow.

 

[SafariChick]

@@janzin the Sunbittern in flight is stunning!

[michael-ibk]

Love the Sunbittern. Porto Jofre is a great place to walk around and find good stuff.

 

It seems the crowd thing gets worse each year at PJ. I think Rio Paraguay is probably the best option right now for a more quiet Jaguar experience, at least in the North.

[xelas]

Myself I have a "people-in-line" phobia! Honestly, arriving at the scene as pictured above would make me nervous, and would require to move away.

 

Luckily as @@michael-ibk are reporting, there are other places to find a jaguar. With less certainty but also with much less crowds. Guayana anyone??

[janzin]

As far as the crowds, it is certainly possible to avoid them and as I mentioned, we has quite a few sightings with only a couple of boats. Obviously if you are first on the scene you are very lucky. And one can venture to another area, downstream from the hotel, where jaguars are also seen and there are many less boats. The downside of this, of course, is that less boats mean less sightings communicated, so you need to be very lucky to be in the right place at the right time. The boats all converge when there is a sighting but that can often be a good time to head elsewhere and look for something on your own.

 

Our guide told us that the week following our visit, they were holding a big conference of all the boatmen to discuss rules and new regulations to help keep the crowding down. The boatmen are not happy with the situation either--they are in a tough position of wanting to please the clients and also not infringing on other boats' space; Andre told us that there are often fights between the boatmen when things get out of control. I do not know if anything productive came of this meeting, however.

 

As for completely different areas, another spot where folks go for jaguar is the Taiamã Reserve, located along the Paraguay River. But they are much, much harder to see there. Bill Given's group went there after the Pantanal Norte, and from what I heard they did not have good luck there at all, seeing only one jaguar in three days of boating and having to go out for full days without a break in order to find even that one.

 

So I'd still recommend this area if you are determined to see jaguar. I would certainly go back in a heartbeat.

 

BTW the jaguars seem to be completely oblivious to the boats and from what I saw, the boats did not impact their behavior.

[Galana]

Great pictures.

I too would not care for the crowd scenes and on balance would rather scrub the sighting than persist. A friend was in Pantanal about the same time as you and he never mentioned this aspect so wonder where he was? Will it prepare you for India? I doubt it. Little will. However it is only bad at peak times, Christmas and Easter etc., when Tiger reserves get an influx. They can be avoided as the seek "Tiger" and care little for anything else. If you have a good guide you will be fine.

Let's not get distracted. More photos and stories please!

[michael-ibk]

I agree that Porto Jofre is certainly the best place for Jaguars, but I think chances at Rio Paraguay are not bad at all. @@Atravelynn saw 7 Jaguars in 4 days (http://safaritalk.net/topic/2317-another-non-african-safari-report/), @@Treepol saw 6 in two days (http://safaritalk.net/topic/11322-macaws-monkeys-and-moai-6-weeks-in-the-pantanal-peru-and-polynesia/?p=105407). I was less lucky in 2013 and saw one (http://safaritalk.net/topic/11651-brazil-september-2013/?p=112395) but that was during a cold streak and even at PJ it´s possible to miss the Big Cats when the weather is not cooperating.

 

But Galana is right, we disgress - more photos, more stories please!

[inyathi]

As anticipated I’m really enjoying this report it brings back many happy memories of my own Brazil safari a few Years ago and the photos are stunning, I’m looking forward to seeing what you saw at Cristalino.

 

@@xelas The main road through the Iwokrama Forest in Guyana is said to be an excellent place to see jaguars at one time they claimed it was the best place in the world even so you need a lot of luck to see one much more so than in the Pantanal. I didn’t get to see one there and wasn’t too surprised or disappointed but then I had already been to Porto Jofre and gorged on jaguar sightings. Away from the Pantanal I think it is certainly as good a place as any to try your luck but if you do want to go to Guyana don’t leave it too long, you want to get there before the Brazilians get their way and put tarmac all over the road and turn it from a quiet dirt road into a major highway. It’s a great country if you haven’t already read it search out my report if you want to know more.

 

You really can’t beat Porto Jofre for jaguar sightings so if you really want to be sure of seeing one you’ve just got to put up with the crowds and hope that you’re lucky and get a few sightings without to many other boats. It does look like it’s a quite bit more crowded than when I was there I hope they can find a way to make sure it doesn’t get any worse.

 

That’s enough about jaguars onwards to Alta Floresta!

 

 

 

 

 

[janzin]

@@inyathi

 

>>That’s enough about jaguars onwards to Alta Floresta!

 

haha, well yes we are done with jaguars but we still had another night in the Pantanal Then we can go to the Amazon!

 

We had one final night in the Pantanal, at Piuval Lodge. The one disappointment we'd had so far was no sightings of anteater. And it was not for lack of trying! So on our way back up the road to Piuval Lodge, we scanned and scanned. As we got beyond the wetter areas and into the drier fields, Andre said to scan really carefully. Just as we approached a spot where he said he'd seen them before, I caught a glimpse of a large black furred creature between two clumps of trees! Could it be? Sure enough, it was a Giant Anteater, but it was just retreating into the bush. We all jumped out of the vehicle (Andre leaving it open in the middle of the road, with all our bags, including my bag with cash, passport, etc right on the back seat) as we ran to try to follow it. Now, I'm not too paranoid about theft in this area at all, it is quite safe, and hardly any cars passing, but still...I couldn't help but be a little anxious that in my excitement I'd left my bag right out on the seat! And most of our camera equipment too!

 

Anyway, we saw the Anteater again a little further back and followed but there was no opportunity for even a bad photo and soon he was out of reach and now our vehicle was out of sight so, reluctantly we returned (and of course, everything was safe.) We even returned to this spot the next day, but no further anteater sightings.

 

The Piuval Lodge is also a great spot for anteaters...lots of termite mounds...but alas...we just had no more luck.

 

We did have a Crab-eating Fox right in front of the lodge.

 

 

 

And Red-legged Seriema, which is also a bird of the drier areas.

 

 

 

Chestnut-bellied Guan, which is a Brazilian endemic (we saw these at Pouso Alegre as well.)

 

 

And Rhea, the Ostrich of South America (which we had plenty of earlier in the trip, but I haven't posted any photos yet.)

 

 

 

In the evening at Piuval we went on a night drive, which didn't prove too productive. We saw some Common Potoos, and Common Paraque, but no owls, and only a rabbit and more foxes in terms of mammals. No photos worth posting!

 

Okay, NOW we can move on to the Amazon!

Edited January 11, 2016 by janzin

[Zubbie15]

Just incredible pictures, @@janzin, and it seems like a great trip so far (I'm up to the end of the Pantanal). It makes me want to go... so many places, so little time.

[janzin]

Thanks all for following along and for your comments! I'll get to the Amazon asap, may be a few days as I'm suddenly distracted by planning an unexpected trip to Italy (such problems!

 

Stay tuned!

[Atdahl]

Wow, truly stunning photos @@janzin! Each one is fantastic. I really like how you added the borders so I need to experiment with that myself. The information you provided is great since we have a trip with Julinho next Sept with basically the same itinerary (Pouso Alegre then Hotel PJ). Instead of going to the Amazon afterwards we are headed to the Southern Pantanal (I HAVE to get good looks at a Giant Anteater ).

 

Anyway, looking forward to the rest of your report.

[michael-ibk]

Glad your Pantanal trip is working out after all, @@Atdahl - you've been waiting a long time now for it. :-)

[cheetah80]

Fantastic photos @@janzin, definitely worth the wait for them! The bathing tapir photos - in daylight (wow) - are really special! Great photos of the jaguars ... and of course the birds. Enjoyed this trip report a lot so far!

[janzin]

Wow, truly stunning photos @@janzin! Each one is fantastic. I really like how you added the borders so I need to experiment with that myself. The information you provided is great since we have a trip with Julinho next Sept with basically the same itinerary (Pouso Alegre then Hotel PJ). Instead of going to the Amazon afterwards we are headed to the Southern Pantanal (I HAVE to get good looks at a Giant Anteater ).

 

Anyway, looking forward to the rest of your report.

Thanks @@Atdahl, we met Julinho and he seemed like a great guy; our guide Andre said he is one of the few other guides he would whole-heartedly recommend.