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Published: February 8th 2006
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Capybara By 8.30am we were on the bumpy road to the Pantenal - which is a vast wetland and allegedly the best place to spot wildlife in its natural environment. At 230 000 square km it is half the size of France and has few people or towns. We travelled on the back of a cattle truck with our guide and Adam and Eve (our Aussie friends). The road was a dirt track with small wooden bridges taking you over the water. It was very bumpy and Eve spent the majority of the journey feeling sick. We spotted a fair bit of wildlife on the way: capybaras - which are giant vegetarian rodents that look very cute, deer, emus, and stalks - which are much bigger than I had ever imagined. After four hours and a ferry ride we arrived at the farm where we were staying, it was 35 deg c and very humid.
Our accomodation was a wooden framed hut filled with 15 hammocks. None of us had ever spent the night in a hammock. Before dinner we went for a walk with our guide into the bush where we saw some Howler monkeys. There were also some amazing
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Our shed with hammocks plants that pulled their leaves away when you touched them.
After dinner we had a couple of gin and tonics to help us sleep and keep the mosquitos away. We sat around a camp fire for a bit before going to bed. The hammocks had mosquito nets around them but they were quite holey so we sewed them up before getting in (thanks Joy). We read for a while and surprisingly didn´t sleep too badly despite the heat and deafening sound of all the animals outside (crickets, birds etc.) It was so loud I had to wear earplugs. At 5.30 we were woken by our guide to watch the sunrise; as I had been awake since 4.00am I was quite happy to get up.
After breakfast we got on the truck and drove to the river where we transferred into two man canoes. We were rowing upsteam with two pretty dodgy oars (bits of branch with a broken paddle at the end) so it was tough. We passed an alligator on the bank of the river which kept a watchful eye on us but did not budge. Half way up the river my oar split in two and
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Horse riding sunk which left Noel to do the rest of the rowing but gave me the opportunity to take in the beautiful surroundings.
After about an hour we got out, pulled our boats onto the bank and our guide told us we could swim in the river. None of us jumped at the chance as we had just seen an alligator around the corner, but our guide persuaded us that they are not aggresive. Reluctantly we all got in and swam around but didn´t stay in too long as little fish kept nipping us which gave everyone the willies. Rowing back down stream was merely a case of keeping straight so Noel rested while I made an arse of that.
Our afternoon activity was horseriding through the bush. I love riding and was looking forward to galloping through the lush green forest. Unfortunately our poor horses were pretty despondent and looked overworked in the heat (they had already done a morning session) so we pretty much walked with the occasional trot. It was still fun particularly when the horses waded through deep rivers and we got wet.
Before dinner two massive Blue Macaws flew over and sat in the
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The Spider next to my size 5 shoe tree near where we were sitting, they are quite rare so we felt privaledged to see them. We didn´t know at this point it was going to be an evening full of wildlife. Much later in the evening our guide offered to take us on a nightwalk, so we went back to our hut to change into our boots. I was just sorting out my stuff when Noel said to me " I think you had better walk away from the massive spider". I turned round to see a big fat tarantula bigger than my hand on the floor next to my bag. I nearly wet my pants. I went to get our guide and stayed away from the room whiler he (and everyoine else it seems) stood around looking at the spider. From the loud screams coming form our hut it sounded like it was on the move so I was glad I kept away (Noel was hanging around taking photos). Our guide captured it in half a plastic bottle and set it free outside.
By now I was off the idea of a night walk as I had the willies, but Noel persuaded me to go. I
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Tas and the baby alligator was really worried about very step I took, we were walking through long grass in the dark and I was paranoid we were going to step on a snake. Our guides took us to a river where one of them jumped in and pulled out a baby alligator. Noel and I got a chance to hold it, the poor thing seemed petrified so we were pleased when it got released back to the river.
Back at the farm we sat around outside and had a few beers. We were running through the dramas of the day when a girl came running from the toilets screaming. Everyone rushed over and a guide went in to find a viper on the toilet floor. The guide stabbed it with a stick until it was dead as it was too poisonous to handle.
Hardly anyone slept that night (except Noel who snored through the night) and in the morning I was craving a bed and air conditioning. It was so hot. Everytime you had a shower you felt good for about two minutes until the sweat started to spring from your pores again. The maximum daytime temperature was 37 deg C and
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Death of the deadly snake the night time temperature was 31 deg C, coupled with the humidity it was hotter than anything we had ever experienced.
It was our last morning in the Pantenal and our final activity was Pirana fishing. We were given bamboo sticks with a hook on the end and a bit of meat stuck on. It was so hot and we were in direct sunlight with no shade, so after about thirty minutes of dangling our sticks in the river (Noel being a staunch vegatarian used a leaf as bate) my head was getting too hot and I had to head back to the farm. (No one caught anything).
After lunch the truck took us up the bumpy road to the bus stop about half an hour away. We stopped twice, once for Eve to be sick (travel sickness) and once when we got a puncture. We were lucky enough to catch a heavenly air cionditioned minibus and by 8.00pm we were in a hostel in Bonito where although it was still around 30 deg C we had both a fan and a bed.
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anonymous
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Sweet baby jesus of nazareth, that is a spider. I love temperate climates (repeat until sick)...