Chirping birds, Cowboys and Chapada

Trip Start Jul 15, 2005
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Trip End Aug 15, 2005


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Flag of Brazil  ,
Monday, July 18, 2005

On a cold and grey day, TAM took us to Brazilīs Wild West. Our tour operator picked us up and brought us straight to the Pantanal. This is a wetland area of the size of France, located on the border to Bolivia and Paraguay. Half of the year itīs flooded with only small islands providing space for the numerous fauna. Itīs dry season now, which means you have vast savanne dotted with waterholes and rivers. More than 600 species of birds, 80 mammals and one specie of caiman live here together. Because of the lack of foliage, Pantanal is supposed to be much better than the Amazon region if you want to observe wildlife. We can confirm this.
We met our group, a young German couple and a delightful Dutch family (Mom, daughter, boyfriend), and our guide Marcos, a tall Indio with binoculars and Cowboy hat.
Already on our first kilometers on the Transpantaneira (Pantanal "Highway"), we saw loads of animals: storks, egrets (Kranich), herons, caimans and Giant River Otters 001 Pantanal Bridge
001 Pantanal Bridge
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During the five days in Pantanal, we stayed in 2 pousadas (farms with guesthouse). Fortunately, our sundance by the campfire on our first night, was successful - it was sunny, though still quite cold in the night. We discovered nature on hikes (preferably at sunrise), horse-back riding and on boat. Thomas became quite a Gaucho, he loved galopping over the Savanna in the warm light of the sunset ... We also managed to fish some Piranhas, but fortunately, the pousada also had chicken and rice for dinner!
But above all, we became big bird watchers - there were so many different species, so beautiful ones, you wouldnīt believe it. Hawks and egrets and falcons, white clouds of herons flying up when we passed through their water holes on our horses. We loved the Jabiru stork, symbol of the Pantanal. Itīs incredibly big, with a black head and a red neck. We saw the almost extinct Blue Macaw (Ara) and Toucans and funny small Parakeets.

But of course there were not only feathery friends; We also saw a Giant Anteater (also threatened), several times! Marsh deer, monkeys, foxes and the funny Capybara, a dog-sized cousin of the guinea-pig. They were soooooo cute! But so was the pet porcupine in our 1st pousada (Peter fed him beer).
Not so cute were the caimans, literally everywhere where there was water. During one horse-ride, Rebeccaīs horse became thirsty, so she led it drink at a small pool - until she realized they were standing just beside a caiman!

We spent our last day in Chapada dos Guimaraes, a Table Mountain some hours from Pantanal. There wasnīt that much to see there, beautiful sunsets and waterfalls, but we had a great night in the village of Chapada. Basically, this is just a small town with somehow Mexican atmosphere, but there was a festival that night. Heester, Peter and us used this (and the full moon) as an excuse to party. Happy Days!
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