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Published: March 26th 2007
26th - 30th March
When I was a child I was obsessed with wildlife & loved to read Gerrald Durrell´s books describing his career working with animals. In one book he described travelling to the Pantanal on an animal collecting expedition for an English zoo (not exactly PC in this day & age but when I was a kid it was spell binding.) His descriptions of the abundance of exotic wildlife there had me buzzing. So when we came to Brazil I begged And for us to go & to my relief she agreed, although somewhat reluctantly. We both new it was the end of the rainy season & that the Pantanal would probably be flooded & the mosquitoes would be horrendous & it would be hot but I don´t think either of us had any idea just how hot it would feel .......
The Pantanal is HOT, hot & oh sooooo humid! You wake up sweating, eat your breakfast covered in sweat, you sweat more during the heat of the day, there´s a break of about ten seconds after you shower before you start sweating again & after the sun comes down it cools a
bit but then the humidity gets even worse & you sweat more than ever & of course by that time there a millions of mosquitoes flying around so you have to stay indoors where it´s even hotter, you even sweat in your sleep! Sounds horrible doesn´t it? We loved it!!!!
We arrived in Campo Grande after a strange night bus journey where we had to change buses in the middle of nowhere. As we got off the bus tired & bewildered we were immediately accosted by a very persistent man from Ecological Expeditions trying to sell us a tour. He tried to sweeten the deal by throwing in a free night in as youth hostel but we weren´t about to be hurried into anything & when he realised that we weren´t going to sign up for his tour then and there his over friendly manner changed to a sullen grump. We weren´t impressed so we left him to go and talk to other agents to see what our options were.
As we walked back through the bus station a tiny Indian lady asked us if we would give her five minutes to hear about her tour, our guards
were up by now as we were getting fed up of being harassed but she seemed quite sweet so we went inside. We spoke to another lady who had excellent English & who showed us her three night package. The activities were the same as all the others but the big difference here was that instead of sleeping with a bunch of strangers in hammocks in a hut with mossies trying to eat you alive all night this tour was based in a lovely Fazenda with private rooms a swimming pool & shady chill areas full of Hammocks & it was less than ten pounds more expensive than the roughing it tours had been. Maureen, the lady we were talking to was very down to earth & didn´t try to pressure us which we liked so we signed up for the trip.
We were taken to a local hotel for breakfast & within two hours of arriving in Campo Grande we were on another bus heading deep into the Pantanal. On the bus we started talking to three retired Americans, Johnny, his wife Tommy & her sister Rita who were heading to the same Fazenda. They were lovely people
& in a very short time we became very fond of them. Tommy really reminded me of my Grandmother who even shared the same nickname.
We were dropped off on the side of the dusty road in temperatures that must have been 50 degrees. We took shelter in a little shack where And & I brought a couple of beers while we waited for our pickup. The rainy season had ended so the water had receded enough for us to be driven in rather than be taken there by boat. When our lift finally arrived it was to our surprise a battered old VW which the driver had to hot wire to get started. We drove off, lurching alarmingly from side to side down the bumpiest road you could possibly imagine and it wasn´t too long before we had to stop because the poor old van had blown a tyre. Of course the bolts were on too tight so the driver couldn´t change the tyre so we were stuck. Luckily a passing truck from another company let us climb into the back & gave us a lift to our Fazenda. As we drove along a flock of Toucans flew
by their huge beaks glowing in the late afternoon sun & as we neared our Fazenda we were greeted with the magnificent sight of huge Blue Macaws flying overhead.
We arrived at Fazenda Santa Clara just as the sun set & met our local guide, Carlos & his Australian wife Trudy then sat outside chatting & drinking, but not for long as within seconds of losing the sun the mosquitoes came out on mass. I looked down at my leg to see at least ten of them trying to gnaw their way through my mosquito repellent trousers. We dove inside for the safety of the fly screens & spent the rest of the evening chatting to our new Pantanal buddies, eating dinner playing Yahtzee with a lovely couple from Scotland (Joyce & David) & of course sweating. The Fazenda was in several different buildings so if you needed anything from your room you had to go outside. I can´t even hope to exaggerate how many mosquitoes were out there, You could hardly see the lights for the clouds of evil blood suckers swirling round them. If I went out there I ran for cover (being careful not to tread
on any snakes of course). Just before we went to bed the VW arrived being towed by the Fazendas 4WD truck, it turned out that the only reason that the VW came to get us is because the truck had broken down & had to be taken into town for repairs. With the roads as they are the tucks tend to break down quite often but according to Trudy it was unlucky for both of them to break at the same time.
The next morning we were woken at 4.30 am for a sunrise safari on the back of the truck. We climbed up bleary eyed batting off the last few mosquitoes of the night then we were off down the bone shaking track. The first thing we saw was one of the creatures I have most wanted to see since we came out here, an Armadillo! The little fella ran beside the truck for a couple of minutes before shuffling off into the undergrowth. We drove on with Carlos pointing out the caymans with his powerful tourch, they were everywhere! Then we stopped on a bridge to watch the sun rise over the swamp while Howler Monkeys sang
a wheezy serenade. On the way back we saw more Toucans & beautiful Blue & Scarlet Macaws.
After breakfast we lazed away the hottest part of the day in the Hammocks. After midday the pool grew so hot that it wasn´t at all refreshing to go in so if we got too hot we would dive under the shower then go back to our hammocks & try not to move. There was plenty of wildlife to be seen just from the Hammock including flocks of noisy green parakeets, two semi tame wild pigs & an Orange Macaw (one of two in the world) who was a hybrid of a blue & scarlet macaw & who was not quite right & quite moody but then seeing as the poor thing has no reproductive system you can´t really blame it.
Later in the afternoon we walked out of the farm to the river for a river trip in a motorized canoe. On the way we had to walk through deep puddles of reddish brown muddy water. The water was hot like a too hot bath you emerge from bright red & slightly dizzy, it was a pretty unpleasant sensation walking
through it. When we got to the boat I got in & tried to help get Carlos get the boat off the bank by jumping up & down. Unfortunately this angered the ants who had made there nest in the bottom of the boat & hundreds of them came swarming out. I was soon back on the shore while Carlos waged war on them drowning them in Petrol & scooping them out with his hands. He must have been bitten several times & never even blinked & they gave quite a sting. Finally it was safe to get in the boat & we were off. The river cruise was lovely it was so much cooler in the breeze while the boat was moving. We saw loads of birds including dozens of huge Kingfishers who seemed to be in every bush on the bank, lots more Caymans & a troup of Black & Red Howler monkeys up in the trees. We stopped to say hi to a young boy who proudly showed us his catch of piranhas & a huge cat fish then we all jumped out of the boat to float back down the river smiling & laughing on the
outside while on the inside hoping desperately that the thing that had just brushed against your foot wasn´t a Cayman or of course a Piranha.
On our second day And & I got up for 6 to walk out & see the sunrise. We walked down the road to where the Macaws liked to roost then walked around the Fazenda watching the Parakeets fly around in a huge flock. After breakfast we walked back to the river to go Piranha fishing. No one caught any but And managed to catch a Catfish then when he thought we were getting bored Carlos ran us, a few at a time up river so we could jump out & float back on rubber inner tubes. We loved it so much we went twice. Back to the Fazenda for chill time & lunch. in the afternoon we relaxed in the hammocks with a brief burst of excitement when the pigs ran off with some of the beads that were used as money in the hotel & the owner chased them frantically for a while trying to get his beer money back. In the evening we headed out for for an evening walk &
safari. As walks go this wasn´t a good one it was unbearably hot but we saw some more toucans & a couple of foxes we arrived at the road very hot & very sweaty there after a bit of a wait we were picked up by the truck & taken back down the road. The breeze when the truck started moving was a little taste of heaven! We saw much of the same, lots of Caymans & birds but this evening we also saw some huge Tarantulas lurking at the base of some trees & a highly venomous snake who wasn´t very happy with being disturbed & slithered off very angrily.
Day three started with a sunrise walk then another boat trip, where we saw more monkeys & got to have another swim. We said our goodbyes to all the people we had arrived with as we had decided to stay an extra night & upgrade to the only air conditioned room there. My god it was lovely to walk in there & feel that blast of icy air. We felt a little deflated lazing in the hammocks that day with no Rita or Tommy to talk. In the
evening we went out on another sunset walk, we were rather dreading it after the last one but this was great. We drove first to a different location then walked through the woods by the river through shafts of dancing light it was really quite beautiful & we even had a close encounter of the monkey kind as the howlers were in the trees just over our heads. On the drive back the trees were glowing with fireflies & the eyes of caymans & foxes reflecting the torch light.
On our last morning the activity was horse riding. And is highly allergic to horses so we didn´t think we would go but she took a couple allergy pills then we walked round to the horses to see how she would do. She sniffed them (literally) for a while & didn´t have a problem so we gave it a go. After a couple of attempts I managed to climb ungracefully up into my saddle but poor And´s little legs were too short to get up on to her large beasty so she had to climb up using a chair. It all looked highly comical especially as her horse was actually
a mule, but he was a very nice mule, only a little stubborn still I couldn´t help but tease her a little about it. Unfortunately my horse didn´t like the mule at all & tried to bite him every time he got near. This meant that And & I couldn´t ride together & had to keep craning our necks to make sure the other was ok. We rode off to we visit the macaws then headed into the swamp where the water was sometimes so deep it came up to the horses chests & we could put our feet in it. We didn´t see much wildlife but we had quite a lot of fun especially when we managed to get the beasts to have a bit of a trot as we neared home.
The fazenda was busy when we got back as a whole load of government officials had come for a free lunch. This meant we got the best lunch yet, a yummy barbecue then we had time to chill in the hammocks before saying goodbye to Trudy & Carlos & climbing back into the truck for the journey out. We had had an excellent time every we
had met at the Fazenda had been lovely, we were sad to leave. As we drove back along the incredibly bumpy road a couple of Toucans & Macaws flew past to say goodbye then before long we were back on a very busy bus back to Campo Grande. We had to sit at the other end of the bus form each other & poor old And was surrounded by some very annoying people so was pretty glad when the journey was over. We booked into a hotel for the night & had a nice evening wandering around town & chilling (in the aircon) in our room.
The next day we were up very early to get a taxi to the airport but when we arrived we found that our flight to Sao Paulo had been cancelled & we couldn´t get another flight until the afternoon of the following day. We weren´t very happy but the airline (Gol) arranged & paid for a hotel for us & a taxi. This was probably one of the nicest places we had stayed in for a while, we had aircon & cable tv so we holed up in our room watching films &
thoroughly enjoying ourselves. We got up at 3 in the morning to try & book Glastonbury tickets & spent 5 hours trying to get through to the website & phone line but not having any luck so when we got to the airport we were pretty tired but luckily our plane was fine so we could relax as we flew away from the largest swamp in the world.
K x
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Mum & Dad W
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Fabulous blog
All those Durrel type animals and a Tommy too! How bizarre. Enjoy your last few weeks of what has been the most fantastic adventure. Can't wait to see you (am I being selfish?) Mum xxxxx