The Pantanal
Trip Start
Mar 28, 2008
1
13
98
Trip End
Mar 27, 2009
Pantanal,
Brazil
Monday, April 14, 2008
When we woke up this morning, guess what - brilliant sunshine because we are leaving today to go the The Pantanal (the worldīs largest wetlands).
After another very bumpy four hour journey we arrived in The Pantanal to be greeted by a Capybara (the worldīs largest rodent- he has webbed feet and similar to coconut fur) - he walked us all the way to the front door of the lodge.
In the afternoon we went fishing for Piranhaīs with a bamboo stick, hook, line and bait. I managed to catch a fish but not a Piranha and we had to throw this back in but Claire managed to catch one! The whole group caught about ten which were going to be cooked for tea that night
A view of the Pantanal
. The Patanal is so beautiful and peaceful - our group were the only people on the site but at night it is the complete opposite with the Howler Monkeys, the caimans catching fish and other wildlife.
There is an estimated 25 thousand caimans in The Pantanal - I donīt think we will go swimming!
Wednesday
Today we went to a farm about two hours away. On the way to the farm we got to see lots of birds and wildlife. It is a dream for any birdwatcher. We saw the Jabiru Giant Red Throated Stork - the symbol of the Patanal, Toucans, Kingfishers, Makaws and other birds which we donīt know the name of.
When we arrived at the farm, we were taken for a walk around the wetlands - at one stage we were waist high in water. It was alot of fun but hard work with all the reeds trying to trip you up! Julie was attacked by ants and has a nice bracelet of ant bites on her ankle!
We had lunch and chilled out in hammocks for a couple of hours - itīs a hard life
Claire and Julie on a boat on the river
! In the afternoon we had the opportunity to go horse riding. Julie managed to get on her horse and I needed a little assistance! Julie then saw sense and decided to get off the horse and spent the afternoon in the hammock. I however did not! After two and a half hours of sheer hell I arrived back at the farm. We
trekked through the wetlands and at some points the water was up to knee level whilst on a horse (so very deep!)
The horses were very sensitive to rein movement - one slight touch of the rein and they moved in that direction. I however at one point wasnīt paying attention and the horse bashed me into a tree! Oww!
The reason it was sheer hell was that my stirrups were too high up and after 30 minutes i couldnīt feel my knees. I thought this was normal so I didnīt complain to begin with -towards the end though my tour colleagues realised I was in pain and told the instructor who slackened them slightly and laughed at me! When I had to get off the horse the instructor had to man handle me because I couldnīt feel my legs! Never again!
Claire caught one too!
I came back to a relaxed Julie with a can of Skol in her hand - I was very jealous!!
There is nothing to do at night so everyone goes to bed early. Our lodge is very basic and you can hear everything in the othe lodges. Two lodges down someone commented that they could hear someone snoring the night before and guess what, it was Julie! (She was full of cold though!)
Thursday
Today we went on a boat ride down the river - however the boat had an engine which scared all the wildlife away! It was very peaceful and relaxing though. Itīs hard to belief that parts of this area are completely dry at some times of the year.
You always have to put mosquito spray on but because we were putting this on we completely forgot about sun tan lotion. Whoops!
We pursuaded Alvero to let us stay 3 hours longer because we enjoyed it so much. During this time some of our group decided to go swimming in the river where we had fished for Pirinhas the day before - we did not take part in this for obvious reasons!!
Comments
Wow!
Glad you're both having an amazing time, it sounds like an amazing place! Julie, you're being very brave going down rapids and the like!
Loving reading your blog. Can you believe that they've finally banned Facebook at work except lunchtimes so I'm hoping they won't ban your blog too!!
Looking forward to reading more about your adventures xxx
Fab
sounds like you're having an amzing time. I'm really enoying reading all about your adventures! Can't wait for next installment!
Suzi x