Pousada do Rio Mutum Pantanal

... Nathan also caught a different fish. We didn´t have enough for dinner so they all ended up back in the river and we ate something else for dinner.<br><br>It was nice weather and really relaxing so we turned down the walk option in favour of staying to fish. After fishing, we went to the farm where we were spending the night. We were sleeping in hammocks, which was awesome. <br><br>The Pantanal is a giant swamp, apparently the size of ...

... off the bus. Dust was spewing up from the dirt road into the back of the open truck all over us. It was a bit like a dirt road in Australia's North West. Fine dust covered us, our packs and the truck. It was not the wet season and the waterholes we passed had reduced size evident from some definite evaporation. This was remote as we passed only the odd sign of a farm and lodging. We cross a large river that has dropped in height and come to a store where the truck loads up with ...

... and over 650 species of birds are known to the area along with an abundance of mammal and fish life. After a 100 kilometre drive on relativly smooth tarmac, the flat stuff abruptly ended and turned into a pot holed dirt track called the Transpaneira highway which cuts straight through the wetlands. Along the highway I saw many Caimen alligator's bathing in the sun beside the road and dozens of Capybara's which are the largest species of rodents ...

... have been 6 or 7 making it a very difficult task to fish without being meters from a caimen. So Em feels something biting her leg and pulls her foot out of her flip flop to inspect the red ant that is biting her and the Caimen snaps at her flip flop. Her first thought was, ´Thats my flip flop´ followed by ´**** that could have been my foot´. Despie the trauma we still managed to catch a few piranhas and even a catfish, and had a really fun afternoon.

Our trip to the Pantanal... Day 1 - We left Campo Grande at 7,30am and arrived at our meeting point at 1pm, where Nicolas, Sophie, Ed and I were met by a guide and taken by jeep to our lodge. We had lunch pretty much straight away and then we were taken by boat to a point on the Red River (about 40mins away) where everyone except me did some piranha fishing. They caught quite a few and we took some photos but then the piranhas were all returned to the water ...

The Pantanal It would be easiest to describe the Pantanal as a jungle / wetland, complete with torrential downpours, the highest density of wildlife in the known world and more mosquitoes than you can shake a stick at. The first day of our 4 day tour was mainly spent getting from civilisation (a city called Campo Grande...well...maybe civilisation is not the right word...) to our camp and settling in. Its lucky that we actually made it at all, with a minor ...

Sun 28.9.08: Brazil, The Pantanal PERSONAL: A 12hr travel overnight by train, then in the morning a 6hr bus to the Pantanal (finally arriving in tropical weather Brazil!). The best way to explore The Pantanal is staying in lodges on "fazendas" (traditional cattle ranches) - they accommodate guests in their lodges and show what makes the Pantanal a special place. The hammocks will be the bedding (had a good night sleep in them!). Planned Activities: horseriding ...

... couple of night on our way to the Pantanal, there wasnt much to do here and the towns nothing to look at so we went to a private water park two days in a row and just had BBQ's and swam and played beach volleyball and Football...its a hard life! From here we got to the Pantanal, the wetlands of Brazil, we stayed right in the heart of the wetlands and slept in hammocks for a couple of night, it was suprisingly comfortable. Getting woken up by Howler monkeys ...

... at the front and Chris at the back for a gentle paddle on the water as the sun started to set where we saw more birds, bats and even the odd caiman popping it's head above the water - good job no-one fell in really. We then headed back with Leo hunting for nocturnal creatures with a search light and we were fortunate to find an armadillo and an anteater. Having never seen one before we were both amazed at how big they are and how long their tails can get ...

... at this point I presumed we would go 10 minutes up the river and set up camp. 1 hour and 30 minutes later Marcello signalled to the boat driver to pull over at a small landing place. The sun was starting to set, the Mosi's were out in force and a huge round cloud was starting to form. We unloaded everything onto the shore and Marcello spoke with the boat guide. He then turned to us and asked when we wanted the boat to return, 2,3 or 4 days!! I then ...