Northern Pantanal - day 2

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Day 2 starts off with a very hearty breakfast, still don't understand where this massive appetite is coming from, and then onto a small dinghy to cruise down the Rio Claro for a few hours, spotting numerous waterbirds, Hawks, Kites, Iguana's, Monkeys and of course Caiman. The weather is overcast, so it means the animals are a bit docile, but it also means that us of the fair skin do not fry and crumble under the usual mid 30 degree heat and high humidity. Once again Flavio is a machine, pointing out animals with his eyes that are so well camouflaged, that we have trouble finding them with binoculars.

Our break after lunch allows us time to go through Flavio's encyclopedia-like mind and write down the names of the birds that we have managed to take a photos of. I have found that it is quite difficult to do bird photography, as you rarely can get close as they are always ready to take off at the slightest hint of movement. There are some very serious birdwatchers here, serious in both equipment and demeanour...

Then it is a drive down the transpantaneira hwy for 30km's, taking us to the halfway point. We are on the lookout for giant anteaters and macaw's, but do not sight either of the elusive creatures. We do manage to find a school of giant otters, hunting for fish in one of the little creeks. They are inquisitive and cute little things, well not that little really. They seem to be the monkeys of the water world here in the Pantanal. We also come across some Jaguar pawprints that are a few days old.

As the sun sets, the spot light is brought out and we cruise back at 10km's an hour back to the Pousada, spotting once again numerous crab eating foxes, owls, capybara's and one very startled Jaguarundi. The poor bugger ran out from the bushes in front of the combi, then jumped back into the bushes only to find a creek, then jumped back onto the road and ran 50m further up it before disappearing. Jaguarundi's are one of the big cats of the area, and for Flavio it was only the the 4th time he had seen one, and the first in 6 years, so we were very lucky. for anyone interested here is a link with some info on them: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguarundi

Back late in camp again, and no time for these crazy strong caipirinha's that the other guests keep telling us about, as tomorrow we are up at 4.30am to try and track the giant anteater.

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Comments

[Liz]

Great pics Neil
The capybara's are such funny looking things!