Pantanal Panther Patrol

[Miss Biscuit]

 

After being inspired by several trip reports here, I booked our jaguar safari with Pantanal Jaguar Safaris. I didn’t even have a lot of questions for them due to the wealth of information and recommendations here on Safaritalk.

I booked their standard 6 night safari. This would normally come with a half day (afternoon) and 3 full boat days. However, once I realized we were going to have spend a night in Cuiaba before our return flight to Sao Paulo, I added a final morning outing which was very much worth it.

We went to Peru first and then had a red eye from Lima to Sao Paulo on LATAM. I booked the premium economy which leaves the middle seat empty. However, there was a contraption that held a tray table on the empty seat, it came down sort of like a highchair. We managed to get it raised up but it still didn’t make seat completely usable. I wish I had taken a picture. On our flight from Sao Paulo to Cuiaba, the arm rests were immovable so it really defeats the purpose, to me at least, of having that extra space other than you don’t have sit next to a stranger and we could stuff our personal items under the spare foot area. There was no first/business class options on these flights.

We arrived in Cuiaba 9/1 and I had booked the Amazon Aeropuerto Hotel (thanks to recommendations here) which is literally across the street. We walked. They have a shuttle but no instructions on how to get it to pick you up.

This won’t matter if you are only traveling for this trip but since we came from Peru, we had stuff we wouldn’t need on this segment plus, I bought lots of alpaca clothing for myself and others. Anyway, this hotel stored our luggage for a week. We consolidated down to one regular suitcase, one carry on size duffel, my photography backpack and Matt's daypack. So we stored a regular suitcase and 2 personal items.

We spent the night and were picked up the next morning right on time at 10:30 am. We met our guide, Alyson who we came to learn is a pioneer in guiding jaguar safaris in the area having been one of the first people to start providing the service about 20 years ago.

Our vehicle was a pickup truck and our first stop was Pousada Piuval Lodge for 2 nights. I did a poor job of documenting the rooms/grounds and food at both locations…meaning, I took no photos at either location of these things.

We arrived in time for lunch and then went out on our first game drive. Was it hot? Yes, it was hot but it’s dry (very, very dry). We are used to hot and humid so this was tolerable though it was around 100 degrees.

I took so many photos and it's been quite the task to go through them all, cull and process. 

Here is one of the few photos I took of capybaras. They were everywhere at both lodges and at first, I found them quite unsettling. I would be photographing birds in a tree around the property and look down and see this giant rodent right next to me. While I did hear them making noises in groups, by themselves, they are quite stealthy.

 

These are some birds in the trees around the property:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We sat out on our first evening drive. I don't know the names of most of these birds.

 

But I do know this is a caracara

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 04:43 PM by Miss Biscuit

[Miss Biscuit]

Ugh, I hate how the image quality degrades when I upload.

The thing we noticed about our safari vehicle (which was our pickup truck) compared to others, (and I wished I had taken a picture of this as well) ours had no cover or backing. It was 2 rows of staggered black bankette seats in the truck bed and we used a fold up aluminum ladder to climb in and out. Yes, a short ladder you might use around the house where the very top part is plastic and not meant to be stepped on but people had stepped on it so it was cracking. It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. I have very few “complaints” about this whole experience but I really felt like this was subpar. My husband sat in the back row and took the brunt of the dust. His entire back and hat was covered in dust after our drives. And because the seats were black with no shade, they got hot.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed the drives and Alyson did a great job of spotting and identifying wildlife for us. I can’t say I had a list of animals I wanted to see here. I just mentioned what I’m sure everyone wants to see which is the anteater and also the tamandua. Of course I knew nothing is guaranteed when it comes to wildlife so we just set out to see what we could see. There are jaguars on these lands and there were some sightings while we were there. I didn’t even consider the possibility that I would see jaguars here so it was thrilling at the possibility. But spoiler alert, we did not.

 

Both mornings would be dedicated to looking for the anteaters before breakfast.

Well, we were lucky. Going out the first morning, there was already a group that had found one so we had a great sighting following this anteater. Such an odd looking creature for sure and not easy to photograph in low light. Eye detection did not work on the anteater.

Some of these have been sharpened by Topaz AI Sharpen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He just continued in the same direction until he went into some bushes.

 

Edited Saturday at 04:58 PM by Miss Biscuit
add comment

[AfricIan]

Well done @Miss Biscuit, I’m just on “pass 2” of my culling!!

[Miss Biscuit]

@AfricIanYes, I've made several passes and could probably cull more. It's quite the chore. I, of course enjoy my photos. I never feel like my trip is truly over until I've processed and posted my images, but the last thing I want to do after work is sit at a computer. It gets tedious after a while and I have to walk away. 

Back to the lodge briefly for breakfast (which I don’t eat breakfast) and then back out for a morning safari drive. We heard that there had been a jaguar sighting and made our way over but no luck for us.

Again we were just driving to see what we could see.

This rhea was in nice light and I tried several effects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we saw this ground owls. As long as we watched them they never looked at us at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had a nice viewing of macaws

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm still not good at getting birds in flight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tom Kellie]

~ @Miss Biscuit:

 

Wow! What a terrific selection of images.

 

Thank you for sharing your photography with us, especially the bird species.

 

Seeing all of it gave my afternoon a joyous uplift!

 

      Tom K.

[Atravelynn]

You were patrolling not only for panthers.  Great variety including a Ground Owl chick/owlet. What a find that is.  The orange-backed troupial on the pink flowers is color bomb!

 

Any info on the fires in the general region, since you were on the scene.

[Julian]

Great phots, not sure what you mean by the image quality degrading after uploading - they look fine to me.
What device are you looking at them on , after uploading - ie phone, IPad, tablet, PC?

[kittykat23uk]

When were you there @Miss Biscuit? We were there 16-17 Sept, and also saw the burrowing owl chick  

 

@Atravelynnunfortunately there was quite a lot of burnt ground, not at Piuval itself but certainly on the drive between Cuiaba and Porto Jofre when we were there last month. Plus smoke both impacted our visibility at times at Porto Jofre area on the river and worse, scuppered our plans to go look for Harpy Eagle in the Amazon as our flight to Alto Floresta was cancelled. In fact we also passed a nasty bush fire right by the road on the way to jardin amazonia (the alternative to the amazon section that was hastily arranged for us). It was incredibly dry and dusty on the transpanteneira. 

[Miss Biscuit]

Thank you to everyone!

 @Tom KellieMore birds to follow.

@AtravelynnPorto Joffre had a constant smoke haze, some days worse than others. One day, the sun looked like a red ball the whole day. Some winds came through and it wasn't as thick on subsequent days. 

@JulianI guess I'm looking at them when they first upload and I can tell the difference. I've gotten used to looking at them full quality on my brand new monitor.

@kittykat23ukWe arrived at Piuval on September 2nd.

 

We had lunch and  leisure time at the lodge and went back out at 3:30. This time, Alyson wanted to park at a watering hole and see what came to visit. Well, as we pulled up, there was a tapir already there! At first it was scared away by our vehicle but after we parked and turned off the engine, it came back. We sat here the rest of the evening and mostly spotted birds and a few capuchin monkeys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He (or she) got his drink and then he left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not a great photo of this toucanette right above us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think these are same type of bird. Gorgeous color, this one below though has been heavily, cropped, denoise and sharpen. It's a little smooth.

 

 

 

[Tom Kellie]

~ @Miss Biscuit:

 

Wow! The above image of a female Crax fasciolata is such a terrific surprise!

 

Great color and context. Thank you so much!

 

What a productive visit you had!

 

         Tom K.

[Treepol]

Wonderful tapir sighting and photos, really like your bird shots too. Thanks for sharing.

[kittykat23uk]

Looks like piuval really delivered for you! I was surprised how big their land was, I don't recall traversing such a wide and varied area on our previous stay there. 

[Miss Biscuit]

Out for the early morning to spot anteaters. We did spot one and followed it but it was on adjacent property that we couldn’t drive on. It was far away and Alyson advised that we keep looking. Back in the truck and not long until we spotted another one, this time a mom with a baby though Alyson said it’s more teenager size, haha. Honestly, I couldn’t make out the youngster on her back until zooming in on my pictures. We were so lucky because we were able to follow this one on foot by ourselves for about 45 minutes. But she was most often traveling in a direction where her youngster’s head was on the opposite side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we made our way back to our truck, the driver was out and waving to us. When we got closer, he said there was another anteater close by, and it sure was.

So we were very lucky with anteaters!

 

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 04:20 PM by Miss Biscuit

[Miss Biscuit]

Here are 2 short videos of us following the mama anteater.
I did not take any videos. I would hand my phone to my husband and it was up to him to decide when to shoot. So I don’t have a lot of videos. Haha

 

 

This 2nd one you can see us waking, also at the very end you can see how the sun was looking.

 

 

[Miss Biscuit]

We had time for breakfast and finished packing and I made a quick purchase in the gift shop.

FYI, this was really the only place to do souvenir shopping and there was not a huge selection but they do have various t shirts, magnets and figurines. I usually like to purchase a magnet, Christmas ornament and sometimes a t-shirt.

Here is the t-shirt I bought:

 

 

Continuing with this topic…there are not shops in Porto Joffre. I had assumed that the Pantanal Norte would have a gift shop. I was glad I asked Alyson before we left Piuval because PN does not. I’m getting ahead but PN used to have a convenient store that is no longer open. In their registration office, they had a paltry selection of exactly one type of shirt (long-sleeve UV) and magnets for sale.

Pantanal Jaguar Safaris does have gear to buy but you really have to ask. The owner of PJS, Andre, was also staying at PN conducting a tour. I had seen that Andre’s tour group was teched out in PJS gear and so I asked Alyson about buying something.  I was able to purchase a long sleeve PJS UV shirt from Andre on our last day. I provided feedback to them that I would have really liked the opportunity to buy gear before or at the beginning of our tour. They have the long sleeve shirts (in cream and green), cotton t-shirts (which I didn’t see), buffs and umbrellas and perhaps other items.

Here is their long sleeve I bought. It's really nice quality. It also comes in olive green with yellow graphic:

 

 

And in case you might be thinking that the airport is an option, it’s true they do have some things but not much jaguar related. They had a lot of toucan and macaw items even one shop had capybara items.

We started out on the drive to Porto Joffre. I cannot imagine that people sit out in the open on this drive but they do. Alyson called it the dust safari. To give you an idea, our luggage was in the truck bed with a cover and was put in trash bags to manage the dust collection. I was happy to be in the cab. It’s so very dry at this time. Alyson said he thought it was hotter and drier than normal and couldn’t imagine how it was going to be in October.

It took about 2 ½ hours from Piuval. We only stopped once to look at the spot with all the caiman. We arrived at Pantanal Norte in time for lunch.  Got settled in our room, had a look at the toucan tree and then went out on our first boat ride at 2:30.

 

Next up...Jaguars!

[kittykat23uk]

Really enjoying this report whilst I take a break from going through my photos! I think we saw the same giant anteater mum as you! Excited to see what comes next. 

[Atravelynn]

Nice shirt to go along that amazing anteater with the baby on board.  Tapir to boot!  Wow.  Thanks for the update on the fire.  I can see the dustiness you mention in some of your shots.

[janzin]

Nice shirt I think I have three of them, they used to give them to clients but I guess now you have to pay for them! Mine are short sleeved though, and actually I have one from my first trip that's a different pattern.  The best gift shop we found in the area was at Pousada Rio Claro--we didn't stay there but stopped in one day for some special birds. They had a great shop.

 

Anyway, great start to the report, and I'm so jealous of the Giant anteaters! After three trips we've yet to have more than a fleeting glimpse of one!

[kittykat23uk]

@janzinI wonder if Rio Claro still has a copy of my book that I gifted them of photos from my first trip to the pantanal 😂🤔

[Miss Biscuit]

Now it’s jaguar safari time! I was so anxious that I didn’t even care about other sightings at first. I kept reminding myself that this is nature and it’s possible I won’t see any jaguars.

Well, we saw 23 different jaguars over the course of 4 days (2 half days and 3 full days). A few jaguars we saw more than once. Almost all of them were quality sightings and produced quality images. Some lasted a few minutes and some much longer. Even Alyson said that we had more sightings than what he normally averages. We were so lucky!

I wrote down the names of all of them and I think I can identify most of them as I post the photos. We did not buy the identification book. Alyson suggested we buy directly from the ID project team but we never saw them after the first day (despite him sending them a message). And Alyson had a book so in the end, we didn’t buy one and used his.

Thankfully, anxiety was relieved not long after we set out. Alyson spotted one on the beach as we sped by. Quickly, we stopped and for a few minutes, we were the only ones. It was so amazing, I couldn’t believe I was seeing one.

Started to take pictures and was immediately reminded of trip reports that had stated the challenges of shooting in these conditions. The boat doesn’t stop on a dime, it drifts if not anchored so the boatman can be constantly repositioning. Then there is the up and down of the water. Finally, things calm down only to have another boat arrive that agitates the water.

I did not have a tripod like I saw so many others using. I’m sure this helps with stabilization but I wondered if it sacrifices agility. Alyson, who is also a photographer, says he’s seen many cameras end up in the water because someone wasn’t attentive with their tripod and it fell over. You have to hold it constantly and it gets taxing. Maybe if I was to go again, I’d try it out here and there.

Our first jaguar was Oxum which I later learned is pronounced O-shun. And it was a great first sighting even with some hiccups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So once she started to walk off the beach, everyone started to follow her except our boat wouldn’t start.

We watched the other boats watching her (we couldn’t see her in the grass) and then she promptly came back to the beach with…

 

 

An iguana that from these pictures, looks like it could still be alive at this point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She plopped down to feast on her catch. I don't have a lot of good shots. The vultures were in the way and remember, we couldn't move.

 

We weren’t terribly far from the hotel. They sent a boat and I want to say we waited maybe 30 minutes. We had this boat for the next 2 days which was a six seater, spacious since there were only 4 of us. The last day and a half, we were given a 4 seater.

We went to the location where Patricia and her cub had been reported to be seen. Several boats were camped out. I say camped because one person said they had been waiting for 4 hours with only fleeting glimpses.

I’m not that dedicated and fortunately, Alyson is the type of guide that prioritizes quality over quantity. One of the things I really appreciated was his instinct on when to stay and wait and when to move on. He was great at anticipating what the animals would do and having the boatman position us accordingly.

We didn’t sit long but we also didn’t have another sighting that day. But the one we had was great!

 

[Miss Biscuit]

@janzinI would have bought more. They are really missing out on some revenue there. I did ask is there not anywhere with a gift shop in Porto Joffre and was told there was not.

They did give us nice reusable water bottles which was really good at keeping water cold. I'll take a photo and post it later. 

[janzin]

23 minutes ago, Miss Biscuit said:

@janzinI would have bought more. They are really missing out on some revenue there. I did ask is there not anywhere with a gift shop in Porto Joffre and was told there was not.

They did give us nice reusable water bottles which was really good at keeping water cold. I'll take a photo and post it later. 

I think the reason being that Porto Jofre was, until relatively recently, a fisherman's town...pretty much frequented only by Brazilians. The jaguar "industry" there is only several years old. And out of the main jaguar season it's still mostly fishermen that stay there.  I do have a couple of bucket hats that the lodge gave us on our first trip, it seems they stopped giving those out too.