Fazenda Baia das Pedras Pantanal

... amazingly clear, it was possible to see both banks with no problem and the water was a comfortable temperature. It was very relaxing to float along like a large log watching the underwater world whilst listening to the noises of the forest. Some of the Salmon were particularly large and would have made a trophy for any fisherman to brag about for years. Unfortunately, I was unable to catch any; it wasn’t that my tickling needed polishing but rather that it was impossible to remain ...

... bank with bamboo
sticks and baited the hooks with bits of raw meat and proceeded to
dangle them in the water. I have to admit, it wasn't the most
exciting time of my life... I wafted the line around in the water for
half an hour or so and only caught a baby catfish... However, these
aren't suitable for eating so it was quickly thrown back. I was so
close to snaring a piranha but it managed to escape. But never mind,
others were far more successful and we ...

... a point where three rivers met, where Gabrielle mumbled something about 3 rivers. He barely spoke the whole time except something else about anacondas (which we were realising he was obsessed with) and couldn't tell us much about the few birds and animals we were actually seeing. He was more content with quickly changing direction of the boat to try and tip us out and then randomly stopped on the side of the river to show us the heads of a number of boar, which ...

... antlers before going to sleep.

The next day we take a (very large) 4x4 "jeep" to their park deeper into the Pantanal. Every 1km there is an elevated lookout bridge we cross over, and our guide -- Jaoa (translated to "John") -- expertly spots several variety of small mammals (mostly in the rodent family) and birds (most birds of prey). Also, at our place there are dozens of amazing Falcons walking/flying around as common as ...

... zodat Murilo de Brazilie entry stamps van de groep kon regelen, hij boodschappen kon doen, Zukka zijn auto naar de garage kon brengen en de nieuwe groep uitgebreid op het busstation kon douchen. Op zijn zachts gezegd niet ons idee van een jungle tour! Na een warrig gesprek met Murilo (ook communiceren is niet zijn sterkste punt) was er toch een soort van wederzijds begrip en met een korting voor de ochtend en een strakke planning voor de rest van de dagen besloten we de tour ...

... bus a couple of hundred metres down the road to the hostel but by the time I arrived I was drenched, might as well of walked. Went for expensive Pizza once again, (third night in a row) no other food options in the area at night. Enough of this chilling lark, tomorrow I go to the Pantanal for a day trip to see the exotic wildlife and the abundance of bird life and of course the Caiman alligator's. I heard the mosquito's are relentless, I'm preparing myself for a massacre!

We booked a 4 day 3 night Pantanal Tour with a company recommended in the Lonely Planet, Ecoverde (more on that at the end). Our driver Elias picked us up early and we set off in the coolest car ever, a VW Combi Van! We were excited to hear that Brasil still produces this vehicle, which explains why we were seeing so many of them, in much better shape than in Australia. We had driver about half way from Cuiaba to the Pantanals, when Elias stopped outside the town of Pocone. He ...

... Buses, the same route and company we did, had been robbed at gun-point by three blokes who bought tickets onto the bus. Armed with this news (no pun intended), Cam and I split up and hid all our valuables in as many places we could find in our bags, and then crossed our fingers that our trip would be less eventful. By lunchtime we were on the road again, travelling with us was the Italian lass Stefania from the day trip before. We found out she was a natropath. She was ...

... name!), but it turned out to be a "tapir" instead, which are much more rare.

Even our guide Fernando was excited to see this, so we all crept closer as quietly as possible.



The light was as poor as the camera, so I couldn't ...

... estavam na liderança, nas áreas administrativa e de eventos, sobre o que iriamos fazer e eles não sabiam exatamente o que fazer. Savana disse para eu falar com a Priscilla, que era responsavel pela oração. Acrescentou que eu deveria dizer o que queria fazer para saber a opinião da Priscilla. Mas eu pensei em algo bem diferente. Disse para Savana que iria perguntar o que a Priscilla estava pensando para depois dizer o que estava em meu ...