South & Central America

The Pantanal

Although less well known than the Amazon Basin, the Pantanal in the central west of the country offers better wildlife viewing on account of its more open habitat. Covering just under one million square kilometres, the Pantanal is the largest wetlands in the Americas and is home to one of the greatest varieties of flora and fauna on the planet.

There are two principal seasons in the Pantanal, with the wet season lasting from October to March and then the dry season from April to September, which is generally the best time to visit. Game viewing activities are possible on foot, by horse back, by boat and in 4WD vehicles and offer excellent opportunities to enjoy this extraordinary diversity of wildlife.

The game viewing throughout the year is excellent, but different things can be seen at different times of year with the wet season being especially good for bird watching with a phenomenal amount of aquatic birds filling the air with sound and movement as they come to breed.

The dry season tends to be better for the mammals as there is little surface water and so they come back from the higher land to feed. From anteater to caiman, capybara to giant river otter and armadillos to jaguars, the variety of animal species is phenomenal and the bird list is even more impressive at over 650 recorded species including the strikingly coloured toucans, macaws and parrots.

Our preferred properties include:

Caiman Ecological Refuge
Embiara Lodge
Fazenda Barra Mansa
Fazenda Barranco Alto
Pousada Rio Mutum
Fazenda Rio Negro

Xaraes Lodge

Pousada Aguape