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Published: July 26th 2008
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Tuiuiu (Jabiru mycteria)
The Bird of the Pantanal has a 2 meter wide wing span. After a 24 hour bus journey from Brasilia to Campo Grande, we booked into the HI Hostel across from the Bus Station.
After a big night out discussing politics and social issues, and two hours sleep we made our way from Campo Grande to the Pantanal. Actually it was Toms birthday so we had celebrate this joyous occasion with a few Skol scoops.
We booked the Pantanal trip from Pantanal Discovery, who have an office in Campo Grande bus station. It cost us e126 for three nights accommodation with all food included which is not bad considering you only have to pay for beer and water after that. We were like a reservoir heading into the Pantanal with all the water we were carrying, we were advised to bring it with us as it was cheaper than purchasing it out there. We brought 5 litres of water but we think Ciara and Anthony were expecting a drought as they brought nearly 5 gallonĀ“s of water lol!!. If you book the Pantanal trip through the hostel in Campo Grande, you get the hostel accommodation for free. One thing to note is if your doing a onward journey to Bonito, the public bus
Tuiuiu (Jabiru mycteria)
This bird is the symbol of the Pantanal. doesn't run on Sundays. Pantanal discovery got us to Bonito on Sunday after our three day trip using one of their own vans and were e25 per person cheaper than the Hostel (We had the Bonito transportation arranged before departure).
Day 1, of the Pantanal included the meeting of trouble,the infamous Ciara and Anthony in the middle of nowhere and being attacked by mossies before the settling into our new lodges. It was late by the time we got to our cabins so we had a typically Brazilian dinner and a few scoops and we all got to know one another. The water was freezing so we skipped showers not only for the first day but for the entire three days we were in the Pantanal, yes we were true backpackers, dirty and smelly and it was great (we self cleansed).
Day 2, this involved us getting up at 6.30am in the morning, this was not too difficult as it felt like we were sleeping outside anyways as were awoken up to the delightful sounds of the early morning birds and other noisy animals. After breakfast, we all got on our life jackets (not sure how these jackets
would succumb the gnashes of a Piranha) and set off on a boat trip down the Miranda river. This was so beautiful and amazing, especially seeing all the Caiman's hanging around the banks of the river, playing still as if we could not see them, or there tiny eyes floating on the top of the river, eyeballing all around them.
The symbol of the Pantanal is a stork called Tuiuiu (Jabiru mycteria), it has a wingspan of two meters. We spotted Eagles, Vultures, Hawks, Parrots and many more that we had not even heard of. We saw monkeys hanging from the trees and also Capybara the worlds largest rodent walking around the banks of the river.
Day 3, this involved another 6:30am start (we were used to them at this stage), today we were getting a jeep further into the Pantanal to do some trekking and hopefully spot a Jaguar. The weather was so cold we had to get out all our long johns so as to keep warm. All huddled together on the back on this jeep we set off our journey lead by Indiana Byrnes, see pics. After two hours of driving we came across road works
Session Mor
Outside our hostel in Campo Grande or in this case bridge works. The local farmer had taken down a bridge to do some repairs, meaning we couldn't get to where the guide wanted to bring us. Despite Anthony being a Structural Engineer we still couldn't get across,we think Anto was looking for a safe pass course or something like that as he was of no help to the lads!! Also when we got there they had a guy in the river looking for a hammer he had dropped, needless to say he did not look too comfortable and the bubbles surrounding him didn't make him look anymore at ease, the pictures tell all on this one. So we went back to a little shop and had some lovely beans and rice for lunch (we had beans and rice for every meal excluding breakfast).
Luis our guide had a plan to bring us around another few places that he knew of. We were dropped off at the side of the road with him randomly guiding us through the wetlands. We did see some snake skins, Monkeys and lots of Deers. We even got shown how to survive without water by using the vines. Claire and Ciara
The Middle of Nowhere
Drop off point from Campo Grande to the Panatal. were experts at this as the pictures will show. As we didn't get to see any Jaguar's (but there foot prints could be easily spotted) or as the guide couldn't bring us to where he planned he spent the last couple of hours searching for a Anacondas that he had seen two weeks previously. The mossies around this part were vicious, Claire's face got bitten twice in 3mins. The guide took off his boots and socks and in he went looking for the Anacondas, needless to say the rest of us kept a safe distance. He had no luck finding the Anacondas but there was a foul smell (not from us), he told us that the snake had just eaten and was digesting his food therefore it was hiding itself away as they are vulnerable to attack when had just eaten. When our trek ended, we headed back to the cabins for some more beans and rice (we could not wait) and of course a few scoops.
Day 4, our last day in the Pantanal. We were going Piranha fishing, which we would then eat for lunch. We didn't have to leave till 8am which was a sleep in
by their standards!! Not too hard to get up in the freezing cold, we swear it was colder than Limerick Junction on a Friday night in the middle of November!! We set off on a boat to a fast flowing part of the river. Using Bamboo poles with a line and hooks we started fishing for lunch, we had beef for the bait. It was so easy to catch them, simply drop the line in the water and wait for a bite, some got away with the beef but we managed to catch a few. Piranha can get a big a 1 kilo in the Pantanal and 5kg in the Amazon region, they have some lovely teeth too, see pictures!!
Our final lunch consisted of rice beans and deep fried Piranhas. They didn't taste of much and not even like chicken lol we were a bit disappointed!! (not because we ate them, it was us or them really).
That evening we got a 6 hour minibus to our next destination.
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