Pantanal

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Dec 20th-24th: Well we truly arrived in mosquito heaven, ´The Pantanal, the world's largest wetland area and the most dense flora and fauna ecosystem(courtesy of wikipedia). The mosquitos must have heard we were coming and told their friends because as we got off the bus a mass of them descended upon us with their suckers primed and ready for action. Frantically I pulled out the industrial strength mosquito repellant (suitable only for paint stripping and the Pantanal) and sprayed on my face killing all living things within a small radius. While my skin had a slight burning sensation and with my sight temporaily impaired, I sat in the back of the truck in the comfort of knowledge that no mosquito would come near me for at least 27 minutes. This is real cowboy country of which we met a few on the journey back to our accomodation. Real living John Waynes complete with lassoos.

We arrived at our accomodation which was described by the guidebooks as 'rustic´ , other words spring to mind are ´renovaters delight´, ´delapated´ or ´shitbox´. Either way we had a room with three beds, a bathroom and a pet frog from time to time, but it served our purposes for the four days while we were there. What lacked in accomodation was made up for in the cusine. Every night we had champion food and I could not get enough of the beef stew.

On our first day we went on a safari walk which we had been forewarned was the worst for mosquitos. Armed with mosquitos nets for our heads (which look remarkably like Burkas), industrial strength repellant, long sleve thermal vests and long trousers we set off on a two hour drive to the beginning of the walk. On the way we saw caiman (alligators), capybara´s (the world´s largest rodent), Tucans (bird) and Jabirus(bigger bird). After two hours drive and suitably clad for 35 degree temperture in thermals (anything to avoid mosquitos) we began . Our guide was excellant, and on the walk we spotted Monkeys, Racoons, Deers and Parrots.

We did the walk in dry season, however, apparently in wet season they do the walk in water up to the waist. Apparently one year an Anaconda wrapped itself around an Aussie guys waist and was pulling him under and the guide had to save him. This story made me happy that I was doing the walk in dry season but apprehensive about the tubing (floating down the dirt river in a rubber tube) that we were due to do in a couple of days.

The next day we did a river cruise which was great. Our guide spoke only Portugese and was very informative if you were from Brazil, Portugal or certain parts of Africa. Through sign language, vigourous pointing and by adding an 'o' to the end of the English words, we managed to communicate and saw alot of animals like otters, more capybaras, monkeys and caimans. It was comforting to see the boat driver at regular intervals scoop water out of the back of the boat.

That afternoon we went horse riding, not ever having mastered the skill and moving against the horse and not with the horse, we were left slightly comprimised down below. Colm managed to get the slowest horse as I galloped off on my big black stallion (mule type thing).

On the third day we went fishing for piranhas and catfish. I caught nothing but Colm caught three piranhas which we then ate for lunch. Colm shared with me because he has to do that kind of stuff now that we are married. That afternoon we went tubing in the river that we searched for annacodas in, caught the pirahanas from and spotted alligators in. It was a bit of a concern that the people from the locality in the boat with us, declined the tubing activity.

Anyhow great time had by all but happy to not have to spray ourselves with paint stripper for a few days at least.

Niamh

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Photos

Niamh & Lean
Two right cowboys.

Pantanal Sunset
Sunset in the Pantanal.

Pantanal Roads
Everytime we went through a puddle the mossies would swarm all over us.

Caimans
A few of the Caiman(Alligators).

Bridge Reflection
Getting all artistic.

Caiman Portrait
Got a bit braver to take a close up shot. Was within a meter but they´re fairly placid.

Parrots
If you look closely you´ll see 2 blue & yellow parrots in the middle of this shot.

Mossie Burqa
Niamh wearing her mossie burqa and thermal top.

Pantanal Cow
What´s left after a cow meets a snake in the Pantanal.

Tucan
If you look for the colours int he middle of this photo you will see a Tucan robbing eggs from a nest.

Real Cowboys
Unlike the first photo these are the real cowboys.

Pet Capybara
This was the pet capybara that would come intot he dinning room looking for food.

Otter
A river otter chasing the boat away from it´s babies.

Howler Monkey
Again if you look in the middle of this photo you´ll see a Howler monkey moving acros the branches.

Capybara Family
A family of the worlds largest rodents.

Lunch
One of the piranha I caught and ate for lunch.

Niamh Fishing.
That´s Niamh in the background fishing, and that´s a Caiman in the foreground. Where the Caiman´s head is, is about the same place where we finished our tubbing that afternoon.