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Published: March 20th 2006
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The
Pantanal is a jungle type region in the west of Brazil and 3 main cities are used as starting points. I got the overnight bus from Foz to
Campo Grande. Worst bus ride so far as we had to change buses twice due to one smelling like a toilet, and one breaking down! Then an old man sat next to me and shoved his knees into me all night. The bus rage took over and I had to slam the arm rest on his legs to get him to move them, dirty old man!
Arrived at 7.30am although no-one told me the clocks were different here so it was 6.30am. As I was getting my bag from the checked area, a tour rep starting asking if I had a tour booked. I said I am busy at the moment and have just woke up, he responded with "You're Dutch aren't you, it's obvious, idiot!" Great welcome to Campo Grande. As I then walked around the station getting my bearings he continually shouted "Stupid" at me, fantastic customer relations... Thought I'd start at the tourist office a few blocks away, but got given dodgy directions, after 20mins walking with my back
Pirahna
I caught one!! pack I asked again and found it was completely the other way so luckily those people gave me a lift back. Only to find the tourist office was closed to staff training! ahhh!
Finally booked a tour in the bus station with Pantanal tours, the nicest people. R$300 for a 3 night tour with all food and activities, pretty good really. The couple running it were extra friendly and let me use their computer rather than pay for the web and when 4 Aussies came in, gave them a lift to buy a memory card and helped them collect their bags. Fantastic service and no rude, shouting man in sight.
Got the 10.30 bus to the junction with the Pantanal road, basically a man sat in a shack selling about one can of coke per day. We sat there for about an hour, hoping we hadn't been forgotten, but finally the truck came to take us to the farm. 45mins down the dirt track and we arrived at
Pousada Santa Clara. It was a real farm! Cows, sheep, pigs, horses, all self sufficient. The pool was in the sun so really hot and not refreshing at all, but the hammocks
Fish gutting
Marcelo fish gutting in the shade were fantastic and just what I needed after 2 days on buses.
All meals were eat as much as you like and everything from the farm. Excellent meat, salad, rice, fruit. The only added cost was the beer and all drinks which were paid for using a bead system You were given a chain of R$25 of beads, red worth 50cents and blue worth R$1.
Our new group was a great bunch, 4 Aussie girls and 1 Kiwi bloke. Chatted to the people already on the tour, American, Aussie and Kiwi they had seen loads of animals. But they had been grouped with the 11 Israelis so had a low patience level by this stage and were sick of the noise.
The next morning at 8am we went on a boat trip and saw some birds then stopped in a slower part of the river for
piranha fishing. The bait was steak so after losing a lot of steak to the fish we were sure if this was actually cost effective... I was first to catch a piranha but it jumped off my hook before
Marcelo, the guide, could catch it. Then I caught a huge yellow
Horse riding
Slowest horse ever! piranha and that got away too, very annoying. Out boat caught 12 fish in total, more than the other two Israeli boats so we were pretty pleased.
There is a lot of down time during the middle of the day due to the heat so after lunch was lazing in the pool and the hammocks and slept until about 3. Then the Israeli's went horse riding with Marcelo while we went for a car ride and walk with the driver. We saw nothing, so by this time were annoyed. None of us had watches including the driver so we had no idea what time we were getting back but Marcelo arrived in his car looking for us, opps.
After dinner a few beers and an early night, I think we slept too much in the day.
At 8am after breakfast it's our turn to go
horse riding. Very slow horses and mine was old so I was fine seeing as I'd never ridden a horse before. Walked for about 2 hours in the jungle but still saw nothing, ahhh!
After lunch the Israeli's left and 2 Germans arrived. So at 3pm they joined our group for the
car safari. We
Caiman Catching
Marcelo "Dundee" has caught a Caiman! had low expectations as thought the animals wouldn't come near the road and would be scared of the car noise. But it turned out well, due to rainy season there is very little dry land so they love to be near the road. We saw a
fox, deer, tons of Caiman and Capiburas. Marcelo caught us a caiman and called for the driver to help. But he stood about 10ft away looking scared and was no help at all. Saw tons of birds,
hawks, vultures, jabbaroos and finally
toucans! Excellent day. We stopped at the end of the road at another farm for a drink and they had tons of piglets. They were so cute.
We turned back and stopped to watch the sun set. Then Marcelo got the spot light working to try and spot more animals on the way back. Tons and tons of Capiburas and the bizarre night jar birds that sit like toads. Zane was annoyed as still no closer in his search for the lickable toads, one of these days he'll find the right country... Still no Jaguar, Anaconda or monkeys 😞
Straight to dinner where 2 young Aussies had arrived, they had left their
Safari Truck
Me, Zane, Daisy, Vero, Yvonne and Shirley. The German couple were hiding. bag on the bus during the lunch stop (all long distance buses stop for meals) and had their wallet stolen, nightmare!
Last night so we had to use up our beads... and ask for more! So lots of beers later we got kicked out and had to sit in the hammocks. Got to bed about midnight not sure if our planned sunrise walk was on or not. At 4.30 Marcelo knocks on the door, so yes it was! Zane got in later than me after random walking in the dark so couldn't be bothered to come with us. Turned out not that great, we walked up the track from the farm but it was cloudy so not a very good sunrise. Tons of monkeys howling, apparently meaning it would rain.
After breakfast we went on a boat ride with the owner and his wife and saw tons. More caiman and capibura and at last
howler monkeys. Then toucan and iguana. Turned out pretty well. We stopped at a section without piranhas... and went swimming. A lot cooler than the pool so very refreshing. Again no watches so I was in a panic to get back as I had a bus
Toucan
Is it a Toucan or a Onecan?? to catch at 1pm. I was supposed to leave just before lunch started at 11.30 but Marcelo had a chat with the women and I got a special plate of food early! yay! Best lunch of the trip.
Marcelo drove me down the dirt track back to the shack at a crazy speed, I thought the car was going to fall apart some of the holes we fell in. As there are only 20 or so farms down this long road everyone knows each other. So when a man was stood at the side of the road, we had to stop and give him a lift, just in case they needed his help one day. Got to the shack at 12.30 and waited for the bus, it was early (as this isn't a real stop) so good job we had hurried. 5 hours later back to Campo Grande in time for my 8pm bus to Florianopolis.
Zane, if you ever happen to find this blog. Marcelo is not gay, he
is the one in the guide books and he didn't catch us anymore caiman as the German couple looked too scared. And you kept my book!!!!!
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