Searching for a Tall Leggy Brazilian Beauty

[inyathi]

@@kitefarrago Thanks, I wasn’t aware of that, I think probably what SouthWild would actually claim, is that their hide ‘the Ocelot Tower’ is unique. Inevitably there is an element of marketing spin, in what SouthWild say about the various wildlife experiences, they offer their guests. This is what it say’s on their website Arcana Mundi Expeditions

 

Quote

Ever wonder why you never see any photos of Ocelots? They are incredibly hard to see and close to impossible to photograph. Until now! At our elevated hide in the Brazilian Pantanal, we guarantee Ocelot sightings. How? Ocelots are unusually abundant in our forest. By studying their behavior and the routes they take through the forest, we have built an elevated hide right at the hub of Ocelot activity. As our Ocelots are photographed, they become more habituated and being curious cats they tend to stick around. This provides our guests with unprecedented opportunities to photograph these stunning cats. So if you are tired of photographing the same animals as everyone else, look no further!

 

 

All of this really illustrates, what a complex issue the feeding/baiting of wildlife is and that we don’t all draw the line in the same place. I have to really think about why I’m fine with the maned wolf feeding, but uncomfortable with the ocelot baiting. Sometimes baiting really is the only way, that you can reliably see certain mammals or the only way that a group of people can see them. I haven’t as yet been to see pine martens in the UK; I would expect that if I do go to see them, they would likely be coming to a bait of some description. I have though on a few occasions sat very close to a badger set at dusk and watched and photographed entirely wild unhabituated badgers, without using either bait or a hide. However, viewing badgers this way is by necessity a solo activity, you have to choose the perfect spot and sit very still and be as inconspicuous as possible, but if the wind is in the wrong direction it doesn’t work. If you want to have a group of people view your badgers, then you have to put up a hide and use bait and try to habituate them.

 

As to using playback to call in birds, my world bird list is quite long, but not by any means huge by birding standards, were it not for guides using playback especially in South America, it would be an awful lot shorter. There’s countless bird species, that you really could not hope to see, were it not for playback, on a birding trip you only have a limited amount of time to find each species, you can’t afford not to use playback.

 

Just as playback, may be the only way to see certain birds, using bait to attract mammals, which could be food or it could in some cases be an artificial saltlick, maybe the only way to see some of the more elusive species. And certainly the only way, to allow a whole group of people, to all have a chance of seeing the bird or mammal. In Malaysia I saw a Malayan tapir at a natural saltlick from a hide; in Ecuador I saw a mountain tapir at an artificial saltlick, while walking to the lodge dining room in the dark. I didn’t get good photos of the latter species, had it not been for the saltlick, it is unlikely I would have seen the animal at all. It is all a question of where you draw the line and whether it harms the animals or alters their behaviour in some way. After all, arguably an artificial waterhole is a form of bait, attracting animals to come to the area in front of your camp, so that your guests can watch them in comfort.

 

@@Treepol At the Caiman Ecological Refuge in Matto Grosso do Sul, in the south of the Pantanal Projeto Onçafari is attempting to habituate jaguars to safari vehicles, to create a form of vehicle based jaguar tourism, modelled on the methods pioneered with leopards at Londolozi. They're employing South African trackers from Sabi Sands, to teach the local guides, the art of tracking big cats. Some day you may be able to drive around in a safari vehicle, with a your guide and a Brazilian tracker and find a jaguar from a your car rather than from a boat.

 

Projeto Onçafari

 

 

 

@lmSA84 On my last trip I stayed at the hotel, I don’t think they had started doing night drives at that time, or at least it was never suggested that we might do a night drive on the highway. I will look at the merits of staying at the Flotel versus the hotel a bit later on.

Edited June 6, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Thanks to the freak storm, I really hadn’t given much thought to putting out my trail cam or had much of an opportunity to do so. If I’d had time I think ideally, I would have put it beside the path along the river bank somewhere at the point where the trail goes into the forest. It would be not too far away, so that I could easily collect it in the morning, had I thought of it in time I would have done so. Having not tried to do anything with it, it struck me just before going to bed that it would be shame just to leave it switched off in my room. I couldn’t sensibly go wandering off in the dark, so I decided that the easiest thing to do would be just to strap it to one of the wooden pillars on the veranda, just outside my door pointing at the lawn, and hope for the best. Not the most exciting place to put it, but better than not putting it out at all.

 

I had a bit off trouble editing the following video, it maybe my imagination but the quality seems to me much poorer than in the earlier trail cam videos I’ve posted. I only use an old version of Windows Movie Maker to edit my videos and possibly it doesn’t work as well, with the AVIs that my trail cam takes, as it does with the videos my 70D takes.

 

 

A pair of crab-eating foxes and some capybaras grazing on the lawn.

Edited June 6, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

28^th August

 

First thing on the morning, despite the warnings about not walking around alone, I decided to walk out of the garden gate, back up to the bend in the river, where I’d seen the jaguar on my last visit 4 years ago. Looking at the opposite bank of the river, the area of bare bank or beach that I’d seen the jaguar walk along, after it had climbed out of the river, had completely disappeared. It was now covered in vegetation, so I couldn’t work out exactly where it had been, not surprisingly, I didn’t see another jaguar or any sign of one. I didn’t expect to, but I felt I had to revisit the spot and as it didn’t mean actually going into the forest, I thought I was quite okay to do so. As far as I am aware jaguar attacks on humans are extremely rare, I don’t really think anyone is likely to be attacked, I think SouthWild are just being extra careful. However unlikely it is to happen, it would be pretty disastrous if someone was attacked, it may just be, that they want to impress the guests, by reminding them there are actually jaguars on the property.

 

 

Cocoi heron

 

Just outside my room, some of the trees have got bird feeders in them, the food that’s put out attracts a variety of species, most popular of which are the toco toucans. When the toucans arrive all the guests come around to photograph them. My trail camera which was still in position, just outside my door, to my amusement captured the guide coming to replenish the bird food.

 

 

 

 

 

Toco toucans

 

 

Picazuro pigeon

 

The boss was actually in residence, we had in fact met the day before, just after the storm while looking at our poor minibus. He seemed friendly enough, at breakfast he was clearly very keen to know, what everyone thought of the ocelots and other experiences. My impression is that Mr Munn, wants to ensure that all of his guests, have had what he believes is the perfect experience, he wants confirmation that it was indeed as perfect as he thinks it is. He expects his staff, to do whatever it takes to deliver his perfect wildlife experience, I felt it was probably better to be a guest of Mr Munn’s, than an employee.

 

Clearly given the state of our minibus, it couldn’t take us on to Porto Jofre, instead the driver would take it back to Cuiaba, to have it repaired and we would continue our journey in SouthWild’s 4x4 Ford safari truck. This would ensure that we got to Porto Jofre, we were though just a little concerned, because while it does have a canopy roof, it is otherwise an open vehicle, if it rained on the way, we might just get a little wet. Once we had boarded the truck, the boss proudly explained that this was the only 4x4 truck in the Pantanal and that it had had to pull a few locals out of the mud on occasion. Whenever this happened, they made a point of stating that it was jaguars that had paid for the truck.

 

The American photographers were also heading to the Flotel, travelling in a large tourist bus. It was agreed that we would leave together, so that they could follow us to the broken bridge and then if need be, we could pull them out of trouble and make sure they got through.

 

Just we were about to leave SouthWild/Fazenda Santa Tereza and get back onto the highway, we passed a marsh deer followed by a red brocket.

 

 

Young marsh deer stag in velvet

 

 

Red brocket deer

 

This was the first brocket species of any kind that I'd seen in Brazil

 

 

 

Trans-Pantanal Highway

 

 

I had intended to include the following map at the start of this part, but I forgot it, so I thought it should go in here. Since I've shown it on the map, I should say we eventually finished up at Pouso Alegre, normally if you're going there you would visit PA first, but we couldn't because it was booked up.

 

 

When we reached the bridge, we could see that it couldn’t safely be driven across.

 

 

The bridge

 

Normally, when one of these bridges has gone down or doesn’t appear to be safe to drive across, you simply take a short diversion, driving down off the road and looping back up again. However, there was a major problem in this case, thanks to the rain, the diversion had been turned into an absolute quagmire of wet mud. Our driver agreed with the driver of the bus, that the best thing to do, would be to for our powerful 4x4 to tow them through. A length of rope and chain was duly attached to the bus and the back of our truck. Unfortunately, the bus driver didn’t have clue what to do, to make this work and turned his wheels the wrong way, so that they locked, inevitably when we drove off and started to pull, the bus wouldn’t move and the chain snapped.

 

 

 

 

 

Deciding that this really wasn’t going to work, the rope and chain was thrown back into our truck and we drove on through the mud. Fortunately there was a team of locals and a tractor at the bridge, helping to get people through the mud. We made it around and back up onto the road without any trouble, the tractor then drove around, to tow the bus. Unlike our truck, the tractor didn’t seem to care that the bus’s wheels were turned the wrong way and just dragged it through, without too much difficulty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was no doubt a huge relief to the American photographers, we were very glad to see them pulled out as well. Quite what we would have done, if the tractor had not been there I don’t know, but I’m sure it would have been a major inconvenience for all of us. Given the state of this bridge, I presume that even if our minibus had not been flattened by a tree, we might have been sent in the truck anyway, or at least the truck would have been sent with us as far as this bridge, to tow us through.

 

I’m very keen for the locals to see the economic benefits of protecting jaguars, rather than persecuting them, but there was something slightly amusing about the fact that the fantastic truck, that the jaguars had paid for, had failed to tow the bus. At least, it had failed to tow a tourist bus and hadn't failed to pull a local cattle rancher from the mud.

 

We had been somewhat concerned, at doing this long drive in an open vehicle, but it did have an obvious advantage from the point of view spotting wildlife. There are certain points along the highway where you can spot the beautiful scarlet-headed blackbird; I got nice photos of these birds last time. This time we did spot at least one but it was too far away to get decent photos.

 

 

Southern Screamer

Edited June 6, 2020 by inyathi

[Big_Dog]

Excellent TR, despite me not commenting for a while.
Glad you got your wolf, and ocelot, and the fantastic pics that surround it. This TR also explores the topic of ethics in habituation in smaller, burgeoning lodges outside of Africa. Really interesting stuff.
I also liked the prehistoric beast section - and loved the Walking With Beasts reference, what a show that was.

[kitefarrago]

 

 

they’re very proud of the fact that they have the only habituated ocelots in the Pantanal.

This isn't quite true - there's a lodge in the Southern Pantanal where habituated ocelots can be found, I visited there last summer. However, habituation there seems to have been accidental rather than by design, with ocelots learning that when fish are being cleaned there are left-overs, fishermen starting to throw scraps to ocelots directly, and the lodge now doing the same on occasion.

 

Andrea

 

What lodge, if you don't mind revealing it, Andrea?

 

It was at Pousada Aguape. I would describe this as more of a general tourism lodge, but there are some very good wildlife opportunities that can be explored with a private guide (rather than joining the general tours).

 

Some of my best bird pictures from that trip were taken at this lodge. But I don't want to distract from @inyathi excellent trip report by talking further about an unrelaed place.

 

Andrea

[janzin]

Quite an adventure you had there @@inyathi, not exactly what you signed up for, but safari is always full of the unexpected, that's what makes it so much fun! Glad you made it to Porto Jofre, actually the open vehicle sounds like a bonus.

 

As to the ocelot feeding station--thank you for elucidating us on the pros and cons. Personally I am appalled and it doesn't change my opinion of Southwild, in fact it reconfirms what I've heard. These are wild animals and should be left wild. For one thing, these animals are still threatened by poaching; baiting and getting them accustomed to humans only puts them at risk.

 

I'd give anything to see an ocelot--which has eluded me on several trips to South America--but not that way. Still, you presented a fair picture and as you say, each can draw their own conclusions.

[Atdahl]

Well, I am glad you made it safely to Porto Jofre. That's a level of excitement/stress that one doesn't need while on vacation . I look forward to reading about your experiences on the rivers.

 

Thanks for posting information about Southwild. I for one would never give Charles Munn a cent of my money and that opinion is even stronger now after reading your report. His methods of "attracting" wildlife are not for me.

 

Alan

[Dave Williams]

A really fascinating report.

My experience of Brazil was a cruise up the Amazon to Manaus with a few strops along the way. The vision I had in my imagination beforehand was a long way from the reality. Forget Macaws flying overhead and think more of a trip up the Mersey.Glad I did it though, and I did find a tall leggy Brazilian beauty along the way. Might have to share a photo if you failed!

Opinions on feeding wildlife seems to be divided. If the alternative is that a species struggle to survive then I see it only as a benefit. I think the most important thing is that the food supply is regular. The feeding of Red Kites in Mid-Wales has had a remarkable effect on the survival and expansion of the Red Kite right across the UK. I was there recently and there were as many as 600 waiting to be fed but at other times there are less so they must also find sufficient food elsewhere too.

The Ocelot experience would have really disappointed, even irritated me. Too many people and all those flashes. You demonstrated it wasn't necessary with your shots.

Particularly love the Toucan shots too and look forward to more instalments. Dave.

[michael-ibk]

Wow, you really had some not so welcome surprises thrown your way.

 

Thank you for your very balanced presentation of the way South Wild are operating. It really is a very tricky and difficult question where one draws the line, and you made some very good points. Still, I agree with others, things like the Ocelot baiting and also the Armadillo-treatment are too much for me personally. OTOH, picking up tortoises for example is apparently a pretty regular thing to do for guides in Africa, and I think that is a lot more harmful for the animals (since they tend to expel stored fluids when stressed).

 

On a different note, night drives on the Transpantaneira out from Porto Jofre are indeed possible, we did that back in 2013, and saw (among other things) Anaconda and Puma.

 

Looking forward to more!

[Towlersonsafari]

Thank you for your thoughts on the ocelot "baiting"-for what its worth i think i would have gone with seeing them-it does not seem that they are in danger by the activity and i assume it does not make them loose their fear of humans-perhaps the lodge could enforce a "no flash rule" to make it a more "natural experience"? Thinking about it a bit more-i have happily gone on boat trips in Skye and Mull where they through fish for Sea Eagles to get magnificent sightings of thm even though I can find them on my own-it does not harm them or alter there behavior but it does attract the more casual tourist and brings in a lot of money for the area. I have been to a hide to see Pine martens that puts out peanuts and peanut butter and stayed at cottages where i have done the same think-often a cottage will advertise the presence of visiting pine martens to encourage folk to book-it must be better than persecution. On the other hand I have also been to Africat where at the time they put bait out for a caracal that visited-we did not know this at the time- and was mildly surprised before hand going back to our room after dinner after dark and seeing the cat sitting on the lawn about 30 feet away-which could be viewed as behavour altering!

looking forward to the rest of your report!

[jeremie]

@Towlersonsafari I’m not scared of spiders but I’m not as fond of them as I am of other wildlife, I can confirm that I never saw a single one on the Flotel nor I did I see one indoors anywhere else. Apart from the unfortunate mosquitoes at Hyacinth Camp the only wildlife I found in my rooms was the occasional tree frog. I hope having said that that your wife’s not freaked out by frogs.

@Atdahl The Pantanal portion of my trip was from the 27^th August until the 2^nd of Sept, so only a few weeks earlier than you. Fortunately we weren’t unlucky with the wildlife on this trip because the weather was a different story, which I shall return to shortly.

 

On my last trip I saw a handful of small caiman on the Rio Cristalino in the Amazon in the far north of Matto Grosso, these I certainly understood were spectacled. When I wrote my report for the trip my initial thought was that the caiman in the Pantanal are the same and I labelled photos of them spectacled. However midway through posting my report, I must have read online that the species had been split and that all the caiman in the Pantanal are now considered a separate species the yacare caiman. As a result I posted a correction, since then I have thought that the caiman in the Pantanal are yacare. For this trip NatureTrek provided a simple checklist with a selection of the mammals, reptiles and birds that we might see, the only caiman species listed is yacare. It may still be up for debate as to whether they are really distinct species and where the dividing line is, I don’t know but I’ve gone with yacare.

 

 

@Inyathi: I had the same doubt as you did about the caimans and checked with Rob Wallace from WCS. He confirmed me that yacare and spectacled are the same species. Well I understand that scientists do not all agree that spectacled and yacare are different distinct species yet.

[inyathi]

@janzin This portion of the trip had certainly proved rather more adventurous than I’d anticipated, as no one to my knowledge was hurt in the storm it was all good fun in the end.

 

If you go to the right places with the right guide and you have enough time, then you can see hard to find mammals. I should perhaps have been a bit clearer and said if your time is limited and if you want to get good photographs, after all a lot of what of what Charlie Munn is doing, is geared towards photography. I'm a fairly keen photographer, but not so keen that I wouldn't happily settle for a reasonable sighting, with or without photos, but for some people getting great photos, is what it's all about. I know people see ocelots on night drives and I would as I said prefer to have seen one that way. Unless you are very lucky, getting really good photos of some species, without baiting them would require a lot of time and a lot of trips.

 

If for example I want to go to Scotland to see a pine marten, I could spend all my time walking in woods that have martens, or I could go to a hide where they bait them. It’s possible that I might see one using the first strategy, but my chances are very slim, especially if my time is limited, therefore if I really want to see one and get a good view and photos of it, I’d be better to opt for the second strategy and go to a hide. Relatively speaking, travelling from the south of the UK up to Scotland is a long way to go. Even if seeing pine martens, was a priority I’d want to see other wildlife as well, so I wouldn’t actually want to devote all my time to seeing martens. Rather than having to make multiple trips to Scotland, in the hope of getting lucky with a pine marten, saving both time and money and going to a hide or property where they're fed, makes sense, even if it wouldn't be as satisfying, as just spotting one out in the woods.

 

I’ve no doubt Charlie Munn is banking on the fact, that if given the choice quite a few people will opt for the certainty of seeing an ocelot, over just the possibility of seeing one, bearing in mind, they may only visit Brazil once. If they’re very keen photographers, they may also want the certainty of getting good photographs.

 

 

You are also right that the search is half the fun, for me part of the joy of being on safari, is never quite knowing what you are going to see. On this trip I was happy to go for a guaranteed maned wolf, and aside from the nut cracking monkeys, hyacinth macaws and the ocelot, I expected to see giant otters and I hoped jaguars and some of the most common mammals and birds, but I didn’t really know what else I was going to see. I wouldn’t want to be guaranteed to see all of the species I want to see, to have every species delivered on a plate would be a little boring. If you do miss certain species, that’s not a bad thing, it's an excuse to go back and try again if you can.

 

For the moment I will leave behind the subject of feeding/baiting wildlife, I don't think any of the feeding that went on after SouthWild Pantanal can be considered controversial.

[inyathi]

The Flotel

 

 

On my last visit I’d stayed at the hotel, largely because as I explained earlier, we had quite a few reservations about staying on the Flotel. The previous days rainstorm, had brought some of those reservations back into my mind, I couldn’t help wondering, what it would be like to be stuck on the Flotel in the rain. There had been only a tiny bit of rain, so far on our way to Porto Jofre, not enough to cause any problems or even get us wet, so the rest of the journey passed without incident. However, the sun certainly wasn’t shining, the sky was pretty grey when we boarded our boat for the Flotel.

 

As there’s a certain amount of controversy surrounding Mr Munn and his activities in this area, I thought having mentioned some of this, in my last report, and made reference to it in this one, I would briefly mention it again before moving on.

 

For just about anyone involved in wildlife tourism in South America, finding somewhere where you can reliably see jaguars in the wild, has always been the ‘Holy Grail’. For a long time, it was assumed that to see and photograph jaguars in the wild, other than by pure chance was almost impossible, anywhere in South or Central America. Perhaps if you’re a serious wildlife cameraman, willing to camp out in the jungle for months on end, then you might have a chance, but if you’re just an ordinary tourist on a typical two week trip, then realistically you had no chance. There were places, that could offer better chances of seeing a jaguar, but nowhere, where you could be really certain of seeing one.

 

When I visited Guyana, I stayed at a place called Iwokrama River Lodge, the information leaflet that was in my room, contained a quote from National Geographic, stating that Iwokrama Forest was the best place in the world to see wild jaguars. The country’s main highway, cuts through the forest and it is still (for the moment) just a wide dirt road, much like the Trans-Pantanal Highway. If you are extremely lucky to be in the right place at the right time, you can see jaguars walking along this road, I have certainly read one NatureTrek trip report, where they did just that. I wasn’t so lucky; however having already visited the Pantanal once, spotting a jaguar wasn’t a priority so we weren’t trying very hard to find one. Even if we had been trying, had we seen one, it would have just been by luck. That was for a long time, the most you could hope for with jaguars, that you might get lucky somewhere.

 

Until that is, it started to become known that jaguars were being spotted, quite regularly along a stretch of the Cuiaba River and its tributaries. As I explained in my last Brazil report, it was sport fishermen travelling up and down the river in their boats, that led to the jaguars becoming habituated to people in boats. Aware that jaguars were being seen on regular basis along the Cuiaba River, Charlie Munn realised that this was the ‘Holy Grail’ as it were, that this was the one place, where it might be possible to guarantee jaguar sightings. Knowing that this is also probably the best habitat in the world for jaguars, Munn bought a large area of land in the prime location, within the Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas, creating his own jaguar reserve known as the Jaguar Research Centre. In order to start a jaguar based tourist operation, he then put up a tourist camp, with the aim of establishing the first wildlife tours, that could offer 100% guaranteed jaguar sightings.

 

This is really where the controversy starts; he apparently believed that there would be no problem, with him putting up a safari camp, because it was on his land. However, it was also within the park and he did not have a licence, when he applied for one, it was refused and the authorities eventually came in and forcibly closed down the camp, confiscating a lot of equipment. It was this major setback, that led to the creation of the Flotel. It was also alleged, that in order to achieve his aim of 100% guaranteed jaguar sightings, he was killing caiman and using them to bait jaguars in order get them to come out on to the beaches. It is never been proved, that any baiting of jaguars was going on and SouthWild and those who defend Mr Munn, would say that these accusations, were coming from the competition, which I take to mean, amongst others the Porto Jofre/Pantanal North Hotel, that they were trying to get SouthWild’s operation shut down. They would also claim, that there was a certain amount of corruption involved in preventing him from getting a licence and in getting the authorities, to shut down his tourist camp. However, I don’t actually know what the exact truth of any of this is, for that reason I’ve said about as much as I want to say. If you are interested, you can find various threads/debates about this on other forums, if you search the web.

 

As far as I can see, the controversy surrounding this place is in the past, most of the reputable travel agents that I’ve looked at, that offer jaguar trips, send people to the Flotel. If there is, any ongoing controversy surrounding the Flotel, then I’m not aware of it. I had ethical concerns about the ocelot experience, before I visited SouthWild, I didn’t have any ethical concerns about visiting the Flotel, to do with visiting wildlife or anything else. I will leave the controversy behind and as I carry on with the report, I will just describe what the Flotel is like, having stayed on it and consider the pros and cons of the Flotel versus the Hotel, having stayed at both places.

Edited June 6, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

 

The Flotel

 

When I finally got on board the Flotel for the first time, I was very pleasantly surprised. Some of my reservations certainly proved unfounded, but then I confess, we were staying in the more expensive suites, so that wasn’t perhaps too surprising. I didn’t see inside the standard cabins, so I can’t really comment on what they are like. The suites are very spacious and equipped with an ensuite bathroom, comprising the usual shower, basin and loo, there's also a second basin in the room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a gangway in front of the windows, so you have to just assume, that other guests won’t be rude enough to walk past or keep your curtains closed should you need privacy.

 

 

Two very common birds seen from the Flotel

 

 

 

Striated Heron

 

 

Male Amazon kingfisher

 

 

We arrived in time for lunch. As with most places in Brazil, the food is a buffet and there was usually a good choice of dishes, generally fish and meat of various kinds, with rice and or potatoes, and a variety of vegetable dishes and salad. Followed by some very Brazilian desert and fruit, Brazilian deserts, can be a little curious to the non local and are invariably extremely sweet. Throughout the day, there was always a supply of packets of Oreos; alongside these, some sort of chocolate ginger cake/biscuits, I’ve forgotten the name and dry crackers. It will come as no surprise, that the numbers of the first two went up and down, but the number of packets of crackers hardly varied. There were also jars of toffees and sweets/candies on the bar, so should you be hungry in between meals or want to take some food, with you out on the boat, you could always go to the dining room and find some snacks.

Edited June 6, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Before setting out on my first boat trip, I though just add a note about the naming of the jaguars. I am not sure how many of the jaguars had names, when I last visited, I never learned any of them, but then I didn’t ask. I am perfectly happy for wild animals, to be given names to make it easier to keep track of what they’re doing and where they go and to learn about them. The boatmen who are out on the river all the time, presumably know the names of all the jaguars, they can therefore provide all sorts of interesting information, on what the jaguars are getting up to. However, I don’t generally feel on wildlife trips, that I need to know if the animals I'm looking at, have names and what they are. Unless perhaps, I see the animal several times or my guide or a researcher, can tell me a whole lot of interesting information, about the animal’s life history. However, since we were told the names of all of the jaguars that we saw, I will name them, because I know that some who have visited the Pantanal (or are maybe going to visit), will be interested to know. It is also interesting ,when there are a number of Pantanal trip reports here on ST, to compare photos and look for pictures of the same jaguars.

 

 

When I last visited, several jaguars had tracking collars on them, I have said previously that I don’t mind seeing collars on animals, if it is providing valuable scientific data. They may not be very photogenic, but if they are helping to save the species, that’s fine with me. I think I have changed my view somewhat, with regard to these jaguars. How much useful data, the collars were providing is open to debate and I now understand that some jaguars may have died, as a result of badly fitted collars, that had become too tight or during botched collaring operations. I don’t know the full story and how many jaguars really have died, due to collaring, but I know that Charlie Munn, was for some time trying to get the collaring stopped. Aside from posing a danger to the lives and welfare of the jaguars, the collars were obviously not popular with his guests, who’d come to photograph the jaguars. Our guide Paulo certainly felt that it was completely unnecessary to collar the jaguars, because so much information, can be obtained from the boatmen and the guides from their observations, so the collars don’t really add anything. Whatever the case, I understand that the researchers (part of a project funded by Panthera) have moved on, or at least they have stopped collaring jaguars along the rivers here, I didn’t see any collared cats this time.

Edited June 6, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

28^th August cont.

 

 

We set off at around 14:00 for our first boat trip, in rather cold and grey conditions heading in the direction of the channels known as ‘Tres Irmaos’ the Three Brothers. It might have been a bit cold, but at least it wasn’t really raining. After sometime, we came across a family of giant otters which we watched for a while.

 

 

 

 

We then carried on and eventually found a jaguar. Or rather, a jaguar had been found and we joined the boats that were already there. This was a female known as Patricia. We followed Patricia for a while, as she walked along the top of the river bank

 

 

 

Patricia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

until she reached a quite narrow tributary. She then came down to the water’s edge and walked up this creek and into the dense riverside vegetation, here she looked like she might be attempting to stalk something.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were quite a lot of boats with us at this point, indeed I would say, that the rivers have become even more like the Maasai Mara on water, than was the case when I last visited in 2012. Back then, it really wasn’t too bad, most of the time. There were quite a few boats attempting to follow alongside her, up the narrow creek, whether she was seriously wanting to try and hunt something, I’m not sure, but we didn’t think the boats would improve her chances. Either way we felt that the channel was quite narrow, there were quite a lot of boats and that she was unlikely to succeed in hunting, so there was little point, in trying to follow the other boats up this creek, we opted to leave. It’s not too bad when there are lots of boats, if everyone has stopped and laid anchor; people generally seemed to abide by the rules. The problem is that if the jaguar is moving, then there comes a point, when the boats need to move, everyone starts their engines producing lots of noise and clouds of stinking exhaust fumes.

 

When watching big cats, if you want to see any sort of action, like obviously hunting or perhaps with jaguars just one swimming across a river, you need to find a cat and then stay with it for as long as you can. Of course if you stay with the animal, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get lucky and see something interesting, when you feel that there slightly too many boats, it’s difficult to know whether it’s best to leave or stay. Paulo would generally favour staying, because once you’ve located a jaguar, there’s a good chance that if you leave, you won’t find another one. However, we decided to see what else we could find, this turned out to be only another family of giant otters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These animals are always a joy to watch, so I wasn’t too disappointed to have left Patricia and not found another jaguar. We did after all, have two more whole days on the river, to find more jaguars. It wasn’t a bad end to rather eventful day, as I had been slightly concerned that the bad weather, might mean that we didn’t get to see a jaguar at all.

 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by inyathi

[Atdahl]

@@inyathi, well one Jaguar and two groups of Giant Otters certainly isn't bad for a first day. I remember cruising by the Flotel and looking in the windows. The rooms did seem very nice and your photos prove that. I am very interested to hear about your experience there as opposed to the Hotel (where we stayed and really enjoyed). Those are really the only two options for people so getting a direct comparison from someone who has been to both will be very helpful. Keep it coming!

 

Alan

[jeremie]

The Flotel

 

On my last visit I’d stayed at the hotel largely because as I explained earlier we had quite a few reservations about staying on the Flotel. The previous days rainstorm had brought some of those reservations back into my mind, I couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to be stuck on the Flotel in the rain. There had been only a tiny bit of rain so far on our way to Porto Jofre not enough to cause any problems or even get us wet, so the rest of the journey passed without incident. However the sun certainly wasn’t shining, the sky was pretty grey when we boarded our boat for the Flotel.

 

As there’s a certain amount of controversy surrounding Mr Munn and his activities in this area, I thought having mentioned some of this in my last report, and made reference to it in this one, I would briefly mention it again before moving on.

 

For just about anyone involved in wildlife tourism in South America finding somewhere where you can reliably see jaguars in the wild has always been the ‘Holy Grail’. For a long time it was assumed that to see and photograph jaguars in the wild, other than by pure chance was almost impossible anywhere in South or Central America. Perhaps if you’re a serious wildlife cameraman willing to camp out in the jungle for months on end then you might have a chance, but if you’re just an ordinary tourist on a typical two week trip then realistically you had no chance. There were places that could offer better chances of seeing a jaguar, but nowhere where you could be really certain of seeing one.

 

When I visited Guyana I stayed at a place called Iwokrama River Lodge, the information leaflet that was in my room, contained a quote from National Geographic stating that Iwokrama Forest was the best place in the world to see wild jaguars. The country’s main highway cuts through the forest and it is still (for the moment) just a wide dirt road much like the Trans-Pantanal Highway. If you are extremely lucky to be in the right place at the right time you can see jaguars walking along this road, I have certainly read one NatureTrek trip report where they did just that. I wasn’t so lucky; however having already visited the Pantanal once, spotting a jaguar wasn’t a priority so we weren’t trying very hard to find one. Even if we had been trying, had we seen one, it would have just been by luck. That was for a long time the most you could hope for with jaguars that you might get lucky somewhere.

 

Until that is, it started to become known that jaguars were being spotted quite regularly along a stretch of the Cuiaba River and its tributaries. As I explained in my last Brazil report it was sport fishermen travelling up and down the river in their boats that led to the jaguars becoming habituated to people in boats. Aware that jaguars were being seen on regular basis along the Cuiaba River Charlie Munn realised that this was the ‘Holy Grail’ as it were, that this was the one place where it might be possible to guarantee jaguar sightings. Knowing that this is also probably the best habitat in the world for jaguars Munn bought a large area of land in the prime location within the Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas creating his own jaguar reserve known as the Jaguar Research Centre. In order to start a jaguar based tourist operation he then put up a tourist camp with the aim of establishing the first wildlife tours that could offer 100% guaranteed jaguar sightings.

 

This is really where the controversy starts; he apparently believed that there would be no problem with him putting up a safari camp because it was on his land. However it was also within the park and he did not have a licence, when he applied for one it was refused and the authorities eventually came in and forcibly closed down the camp, confiscating a lot of equipment. It was this major setback led to the creation of the Flotel. It was also alleged that in order to achieve his aim of 100% guaranteed jaguar sightings he was killing caiman and using them to bait jaguars in order get them to come out on to the beaches. It is never been proved that any baiting of jaguars was going on and SouthWild and those who defend Mr Munn would say that these accusations were coming from the competition, which I take to mean amongst others the Porto Jofre/Pantanal North Hotel, that they were trying to get SouthWild’s operation shut down. They would also claim that there was a certain amount of corruption involved in preventing him from getting a licence and in getting the authorities to shut down his tourist camp. However I don’t actually know what the exact truth of any of this is, for that reason I’ve said about as much as I want to say. If you are interested you can find various threads/debates about this on other forums if you search the web.

 

As far as I can see the controversy surrounding this place is in the past, most of the reputable travel agents that I’ve looked at that offer jaguar trips send people to the Flotel. If there is any ongoing controversy surrounding the Flotel then I’m not aware of it. I had ethical concerns about the ocelot experience before I visited SouthWild, I didn’t have any ethical concerns about visiting the Flotel to do with visiting wildlife or anything else. I will leave the controversy behind and as I carry on with the report, I will just describe what the Flotel is like having stayed on it and consider the pros and cons of the Flotel versus the Hotel, having stayed at both places.

 

 

As ecotourism is progresivly being developed, other jaguar experiences are being developed throughout South America, some of them provide really high possibilities to spot jaguars, I will try to explain differences between the different places:

 

1- Tres Irmaos, Pantanal: You have so many boats, all connected by radios, in a high density jaguar area. Jaguars are everywhere around the river where preys are located during the dry season (mainly caimans and capybaras), so that probabilities of spotting one jaguar is very high. If you add the fact that all the boats are connected, it is thus really easy to see a jaguar, you just have to follow the crowd. Eventually, the jaguars are all used to boats Our guide told us that one of his friend client even took a picture of one jaguar with large angle (the lens was at 50 cm of the jaguar face). The only problem is that there are lots of people, I personally prefer to be alone when connecting with wildlife and nature.

 

2- Rio Paraguay (San Antonio de las Lendas), Pantanal: People used to go to Taiama Reserve where jaguars where everywhere, with densities almost as high as at Tres Irmaos. Now jaguars have disapeared from Taiama, even scientists do not really now what happened. But jaguars are really common around the estancia San Antonio de las Lendas, where many oxbow lakes are located, with hundreds of caimans and capybaras, where preys concentrate during the dry season Jaguars are used to boats, but are more shy than at Tres Irma's. I guess they are behaving more naturally than at Tres Irmaos. It is more challenging to find jaguar at Rio Paraguay, there are a maximum of 3 boats on the river, the area is huge, jaguar are not so used compared to Tres Irmaos. But you are alone. We saw 5 jaguars in 5 days, but the 3 first days were frustrating for Karina who had higher expectations. We eventually finished spoting jaguars hunting during a hour and marking their territory, behaviors really interesting and not so easy to see.

 

3- Kaa Iya, Bolivian Chaco. Nick McPhee form NickAdventures, offers jaguar experiences in the biggest national park of Bolivia. He almost guarantees jaguars during the dry season. Pumas are seen quite often, maybe 30% of each trips, and tapirs are guaranteed. There is road crossing the park, following the gas pipe. As the chaco is almost impenetrable, with spiny shrubs, cats prefer to go on the dirt road. The main difference compared to Pantanal where jaguars are used to be seen on the river, is that observations are shorter, and landscaped very different, quite monotonous. I would prefer to spot a jaguar in a pristine river than on a road, but this trips in Kaa Iya are much more affordable than in Pantanal.

 

4- Madidi National Park, Bolivia. We went to Madidi with Berraco del Madidi twice, one of the trips was dedicated for jaguar. Seeing a jaguar in the Amazon forest is really challenging, but I would say it is feasible at Madidi. Guys from Berraco know one really good place called Lla Lla Po, one small stream with nice beached where jaguars cross during night. We saw one jaguar resting close to its prey there, this was a high experience, but the observation was quite short compared to Pantanal. The jaguar went back close to the main river called Tuichi close to our camp, where the guys saw it for an hour or so, while we where still waiting for it to come back to its prey on Lla Lla Po 3 kilometers upstream.

Madidi is the best place I have ever visited in tropical south america, it is only 80 USD per day, you will definitely see peccaries, macaws, 3 to 4 species of monkeys, but I would not say that is is guaranteed to see jaguars. Footprints are everywhere around the lodge, the tracks in the forest and the beaches on the river.

But as usual, it is alway more difficult to see animals in a close forest than in open areas such as Pantanal.

[jeremie]

Before setting out on my first boat trip I though just add a note about the naming of the jaguars. I am not sure how many of the jaguars had names when I last visited, I never learned any of them, but then I didn’t ask. I am perfectly happy for wild animals to be given names to make it easier to keep track of what they’re doing and where they go and to learn about them. The boatmen who are out on the river all the time presumably know the names of all the jaguars, they can therefore provide all sorts of interesting information on what the jaguars are getting up to. However I don’t generally feel on wildlife trips that I need to know if the animals I'm looking at have names and what they are. Unless perhaps I see the animal several times or my guide or a researcher can tell me a whole lot of interesting information about the animal’s life history. However since we were told the names of all of the jaguars that we saw, I will name them because I know that some who have visited the Pantanal (or are maybe going to visit) will be interested to know. It is also interesting when there are a number of Pantanal trip reports here on ST to compare photos and look for pictures of the same jaguars.

 

When I last visited several jaguars had tracking collars on them, I have said previously that I don’t mind seeing collars on animals if it is providing valuable scientific data. They may not be very photogenic but if they are helping to save the species that’s fine with me. I think I have changed my view somewhat with regard to these jaguars. How much useful data the collars were providing is open to debate and I now understand that some jaguars may have died as a result of badly fitted collars that had become too tight or during botched collaring operations. I don’t know the full story and how many jaguars really have died due to collaring but I know that Charlie Munn was for some time trying to get the collaring stopped. Aside from posing a danger to the lives and welfare of the jaguars, the collars were obviously not popular with his guests who’d come to photograph the jaguars. Our guide Paulo certainly felt that it was completely unnecessary to collar the jaguars, because so much information can be obtained from the boatmen and the guides from their observations, so the collars don’t really add anything. Whatever the case I understand that the researchers (part of project funded by Panthera) have moved on, or at least they have stopped collaring jaguars along the rivers here, I didn’t see any collared cats this time.

 

There actually is a huge polemic with collaring in Pantanal.

At Taiama Reserve, jaguars disappeared after collaring about 20 of them following a fatality of a fisherman 2-3 years ago. I have spoken with "Jay" how led the operation at Taiama, he is now working at Barranco Alto with the "onças del rio negro" Project in Mato Grosso do Sul. He has no idea what happened with the jaguars, during the period of the investigation. The collared jaguars proved to staying the reserve during both dry and rain seasons, while people thought that jaguars where migrant in this area.

 

People might think that collars generate problems for jaguars, but the reality is that radio-collars is one of the best tool to investigate movements, territories, densities, behaviours etc... Of course as a photograph, I would always prefer to get pics without any collar. But let's science and conservation go first, tourism goes second, even if tourism may soon become the best tool for conservation in Pantanal...

[inyathi]

@@jeremie Very interesting about the other jaguar spotting options that available, when I visited Cristalino Lodge I had a brief look at the sightings book I wish I'd studied it a bit longer, certainly a few visitors had seen jaguars even black ones, that though was just down to luck as at Iwokrama in Guyana. Having been to the Cuiaba River it made me laugh a little bit when I read the leaflet at Iwokrama River Lodge that said it was the best place in the world to see wild jaguars but at one time it may well have been.

 

I’ve always thought that the potential benefit to conservation from the data gathered by a tracking collar is far more important than the desire of tourists like me to photograph animals without collars. As well as providing new insights into their behaviour collaring jaguars so that you know where they are going and what they are up to should help ranchers to better protect their cattle thus reducing conflict. Even so if you are going to collar jaguars then you need to be absolutely sure that it’s not endangering them in any way.

[inyathi]

We had been really quite lucky, not to get wet out on the boat the previous afternoon, because at some point, if not during dinner, then before I turned in for the night, it started raining and it was still raining when I woke up, so I assume it rained all night.

 

 

29^th August

 

 

 

It was still raining after breakfast and it didn’t look like it was about to stop. It wasn’t raining seriously hard as it had during the storm, this wasn’t a heavy tropical downpour, it was more like the sort of moderate rain, that I’m used to on a very wet day back home. Having been caught out in a rain storm on my last visit, I had come prepared and brought waterproof overtrousers and a waterproof stuff sack to put my smaller camera and bird book in. I have a ‘rain jacket’ for my larger camera and lens, so I can still take photos in the rain, if I want to, or just wrap up the camera if I don’t. I’d also brought a woollen beanie hat, fingerless gloves, and a microfleece in the event that it got cold and I was extremely glad of all of these things. One of the problems I’d had, when I’d been caught in a rainstorm on my last visit, was that my poncho, which should have been keeping me nice and dry, was in fact channelling water onto my seat soaking my trousers. The waterproof trousers as well as providing extra warmth, ensured that I didn’t suffer from that problem this time.

 

 

This morning boat trip, proved to be almost a complete wash out, as unfortunately can happen, when the weather is bad. We didn’t see any jaguars or even any giant otters; we did see a small troop of howler monkeys and a few rather wet birds, but really nothing else.

 

 

 

Black and gold howler monkeys

 

 

 

I wasn't able to get good photographs, I couldn't get a really clear view and it wasn't a good day for taking photos. It seemed my worst fears, that it might rain most of the time that we were here on the river, were coming to pass. I could only hope that the rest of our stay, wouldn’t prove to be a disaster and that despite the rain we would still have further sightings and also that being on a house boat in the rain, wouldn’t prove to be unpleasant. The return journey to the Flotel, through the ongoing rain, was pretty cold and miserable, not perhaps too surprising, given that we were moving at some speed in an open boat. Even so, you would not imagine, that it could be as cold as it was. The rooms on the Flotel are equipped with one thing, that I have never previously needed or wanted on a safari, hairdryers normally these appliances are seriously discouraged, because they use too much power, but here they had them. Even if you are dressed head to toe, in waterproofs a little bit of water will still get in, in this kind of weather, for drying off damp sleeves and such like the hairdryer was very useful.

 

 

Grey-necked wood rail

 

 

This bird was regularly stalking along the edge of the river, next to the Flotel it was fairly confiding and clearly used to people.

 

 

To attract birds to the Flotel at various times, bird food is thrown down on to the very narrow strip of sand on the edge of the river. The boat is moored next to a steep bank which is covered in fairly thick vegetation, all sorts of birds do fly in either to come for the food or just on their way past.

 

 

 

Yellow-billed cardinal

 

 

Back on the Flotel, the cold wasn’t bad, because obviously we were undercover and dry and not moving, and a hot cup of coffee and some Oreos helped with warming up. The generous quantities of food available at meals, would normally have been adequate, but in this awful weather, it was quite nice to be able to go and grab some cookies. I don’t often eat such things, but I also have to say, a pocket full of toffees made being out on the boat, a little more enjoyable. The Flotel does have wi-fi, but it doesn’t reach all of the rooms, so if you want to fill in your spare time on the internet, you need to go to the sitting room/reception, outside the dining room on the upper floor of the middle section. The gangways have all got a roof over the top of them and the Flotel is moored tight up against the bank, so at least on the bank side of the boat, the rain shouldn’t come in too much. If you’re in the suites, when you’re not going out on a boat trip, the only time you need to step out from undercover, is to quickly cross from one section to the other. My fear that the Flotel wouldn't be a great place to be in the rain, proved largely unfounded, perhaps if I'd been confined to one of smaller standard cabins, I might have felt differently. I was content to sit and read a book in my room or have quick look at some of my photos or go to the sitting room and read about giant ground sloths etc on my Ipad while enjoying a hot coffee. Were it not for the incessant rain, we would have been out on the river, most of the time, rather than on board.

Edited June 7, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Our afternoon boat trip the previous day had been at 14:00, but unfortunately come 14:00, it was still raining, we decide to wait a bit longer and see if it would stop. I have always subscribed to the adage that to catch a fish, you have to keep your fly in the water, so I would have gone out, come what may, but it’s hard to stay enthusiastic when the weather’s terrible. If you don’t go out and stay on the Flotel, you can almost guarantee that you won’t see any wildlife other than common birds and perhaps caiman, you certainly won’t likely see a jaguar and you’d be very lucky to see giant otters. To see the exciting stuff, you have to go out, but being out in a boat for a long time in the rain, gets pretty unpleasant and there’s no guarantee, that you’ll see anything at all. By 15:00 it did seem to have just about stopped, so we thought we’d better be brave and headed out for a slightly shorter boat trip.

 

It may still have been pretty cold, but at least it was no longer raining. We ventured down a side channel, for a bit of an explore, but only saw a few birds

 

 

 

 

 

Vermillion flycatcher

 

This beautiful bird, is a very widespread species in the Americas

 

When we returned to the main channel, we caught up with the beautiful Patricia again, who was no doubt as relieved that the rain was over as we were.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Otherwise we only turned up a single giant otter; at least seeing Patricia was a nice end to an otherwise awful day.

Edited June 7, 2020 by inyathi

[kittykat23uk]

Hi I have just caught up with this trip report. Thank you for posting all your thoughts on the various sections of the trip, it makes for a very interesting read!

[inyathi]

30^th August

 

 

It didn’t seem to have rained during the night and wasn’t raining when we got up in the morning which was a hopeful sign.

 

 

Just outside my room I photographed a jacamar as the light wasn’t good, I decided to take a shot with my built in flash, this almost turned the bird into a glistening jewel.

 

 

 

 

Rufous-tailed jacamar

 

 

When we set off after breakfast, on our morning boat ride, it was a little cold and grey, but thankfully dry. Only 10 minutes after leaving the Flotel, we spotted a big bruiser of a male jaguar, called Lucas lying on a high bank above the river.

 

 

 

Lucas

 

 

 

 

Since we were the first there, our boatman manoeuvred the boat into the best position. According to the rules, once a jaguar has been spotted, your boatman must radio his colleagues, to tell them the good news. We asked if he could hold off doing so for 5 minutes, he reluctantly agreed, but eventually had to call the other boats. A number of other boats then showed up, but not an excessive number and it was quite a wide part of the river. Everyone obeyed the rules and kept an appropriate distance from the bank and respected the fact that we had got there first.

 

 

 

We had some difficulty, spotting the leader of the American photographic group.

 

Jaguars like other big cats, are not that interesting to watch, when they’re not doing anything; but as I said earlier if you do want to see them do something, you have to stay with them. We decided to stay for at least a little while, to see if Lucas might get up. Very obligingly he yawned a few times, showing of his long tongue and teeth, one of his lower canines had clearly lost its tip and looked decidedly blunt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He stood up briefly, but then lay down again and a bit later stood up again, turned around and lay down again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When he was lain down like this, it would have been very easy to go past in the boat, without spotting him, with a bit more vegetation, he would have been completely hidden.

 

 

On the assumption, that we might have to wait a long time for him to do any more exciting than this, we decided to leave.

 

 

A good deal of exploring and searching the various channels didn’t find any more jaguars, but it did produce a selection of familiar waterbirds and other birds and more good views of giant otters.

 

 

 

Cocoi heron

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cocoi heron with a catfish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue-crowned trogon

 

 

 

Juvenile rufescent tiger heron

 

 

 

On the way back we passed by a group of boats, who seemed to be waiting around, in the hope of spotting Lucas again, it didn't look like they could see him and we couldn't see anything, that looked like a jaguar, so decided to carry on home.

 

 

 

 

This had been a pretty good morning; it didn’t rain at all, mind you sun didn’t shine either, it was still cold grey and cloudy, when we headed back to the Flotel.

 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by inyathi

[IamFisheye]

@@inyathi thank you for such an incredibly detailed report, i'm looking forward to the rest. The Pantanal does seem to be the place to see Jaguar, after two failed trips to Belize and Guyana to spot them I think I need to look for a dead cert for next time.

 

I'm really interested in your trip as I'm also interested in seeing the manned wolf. I've been eyeing up the naturetrek group trip for a while which looks like it might be a little rushed. I assume you chose a tailor made variation of the group trip?

 

I'm glad you have covered the ethics of some of the animal encounters. The ocelot encounter would indeed make me feel uncomfortable and I would at least approach that with caution if I did choose to do it. My trip to Belize did yield a nighttime sighting of a pair so it's not like I've not seen them in the wild. The wolf 'feeding' is understandable and I think I would be comfortable with that. I think most of these sightings are generally ruined by the humans that treat them like mini circuses. The lack of tourists at wolf cliff is very appealing.

 

Guides picking up armadillos, tortoises, reptiles, snakes, etc I'm never comfortable with but will have to take these as they come. I too have encountered the Karanambu giant anteater experience which I did not find enjoyable at all.

 

Keep the pictures coming!