The Pantanal

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So having left Bolivia we returned to Brazil and booked ourselves on a 6 day trip to the Pantanal. For those of you that don´t know the Pantanal is a huge wetland in the centre of South America (spread across Brazil , Bolivia and Paraguay) , it´s half the size of France and the largest inland wetland on Earth. It is an amazing place for seeing animals !!

We booked to stay at a Fazenda (farm) right in the centre of the Pantanal. Our first day consisted of the drive in which was basically a 12 hour safari through the heart of the Pantanal - it was unbelievable the amount of animals we saw - toucans , blue macaws , caimen, capivara , coati´s (raccoon type animals), rheas (emu type birds), a big snake not too mention the hundreds of different types of birds !!

Having had a good nights sleep and fully recovered from the drive in (12 hours on a wooden bench on the back of a 4x4 hurts!) we went horse riding. Dans horse star appeared to be broken as he found himself always 20 metres behind due to Stars complete laziness !! At the other end Gina and Nani (our guide) horses seemed to be in competition for who should be infront - and were happily cantering along ! Gina managed to fall off !! Thankfully she wasnt hurt (which meant we could have a good laugh about it later) - although laughing at the time of the incident could have provoked a violent reaction.

We did so much in the Pantanal that if I describe each day in detail we will be here for ever. We went on night safaris and saw Pantanal foxes and a giant ant-eater , we went fishing for Piranhas on the most beautiful river we have ever seen (basically a flooded forest) , we caught and ate bbqed piranha , Dan swam in the river next to the caimen and we went out countless times in the 4x4 animal spotting !!

We had so much fun it was untrue - we made great friends with Nani and his girlfriend Alison - so much that we spent the following 2 weeks after the Pantanal travelling together. We met Adao - a real Pantanal cowboy ( or Pantaneiros as they are called ) who showed us how to lasso cattle and all the other parts of life associated with being a cowboy.

New Years Eve was spent with Nani and Alison, swinging in hammocks , drinking chocolate liquor and watching the stars. A perfect way to start 2005.

We decided to break up the 12 hour drive on the way back and camp for our final night in the hut that the Fazenda owns. Having driven through rivers of water (using all the off road capabilities of the 4x4) and getting soaked in the process - we arrived at the hut. And do you know what - it was only 5 mins down the road from a the last shop in the Panatanal - which also doubled as a bar !!! So we all sat around getting extremely drunk eventually passing out in a respective hammocks at around 3am ! A brilliant way to end our trip - and the next day it was back to reality and civilisation.

I want to finish on a serious note - if anyone reading this is going to Brazil and is visiting the Pantanal. Please , please negotiate a price for your guide with the guide himself. We paid the Fazenda a lot of money for our trip and not enough of it (I´m sure Nani wont mind me saying nowhere near enough of it) actually went to the guide. It is these people that do the work , they run around organising the activities usually without any support from the farm and its owners. Please negotiate with the guide and make sure that the people who do the work and make your trip an experience get paid what they deserve.

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