Brazil

Wednesday 7th December 2016 – We woke early and reached the frontier by 6am. This was our last land border of the trip and we weren’t going to get off lightly – it took three and a half hours to get into Brazil. Hopping on a bus we were horrified when it drove straight back over the border – another three and a half hours to get back into Brazil might have pushed Alysa over the edge. Luckily the bus was just turning round; we were quickly waved through and soon on our way to Corumba – the first proper town inside Brazil. From Corumba it was about eight hours by bus to Campo Grande where we booked straight into a hotel and slept. Tomorrow we would try to organise a trip to the Pantanal.

Thursday 8th December 2016 – It was remarkably difficult to find good information online about budget trips to the Pantanal and in the end we decided to visit the airport where we thought we could get more info. We made it to a bus station near the airport and decided to walk the remaining kilometre or so rather than try to figure out which bus to take. About halfway there the heavens opened and in seconds we were soaked. We dashed into a Subway for shelter. We ordered a couple of veggie subs which the lad serving us filled so generously he literally had to lever them shut to wrap them. There was just one office at the airport offering Pantanal tours and the sullen girl staffing it had no interest in helping us. Back at the hotel that night Alysa tried a different line of attack and emailed a few companies for information. We would see if we had any replies in the morning.

Friday 9th December 2016 – We had set our alarm for 6am but for some reason it didn’t go off. We woke about 8am and checked our emails – there was a reply from Ecological Expeditions who had a trip leaving at 10am. We thought we would be too late to go on the trip but Whatsapped just in case. To our surprise we got an immediate reply – the rep was on his way to our hotel and in the space of less than two hours we were on our way to the Pantanal! The drive to our fazenda, Arara Azul was in two parts – a five hour minibus journey on surfaced roads followed by a two hour drive along dirt roads in the back of a pickup truck. As we drove along the dirt roads we saw caiman and all manner of wetland birds. Finally we reached our lodge perched on a high piece of ground between two lakes. As it was low season we had been given our own room. Partway through unpacking we heard the sound of a large knife being sharpened outside our door. This, it turned out was our guide, Gabriel. Covered in caiman bites and with an anaconda tooth lodged in one hand he was what you might call a mans man. After dinner we explored the fazenda, fed caiman piranhas and watched capybaras grazing by the lake.

Saturday 10th December 2016 – Our first activity of the day was horseriding. As we waited for our horses to be saddled we watched beautiful hyacinth macaws feeding on palm fruit just metres away. The horse ride was wonderful – the horses walked happily through forest and grassland, stopping to graze whenever they spotted a particularly succulent patch of vegetation. We spotted wild emus, jabiru storks, herons and capybara. At one point a startled deer dashed into the forest to our right but luckily our horses didn’t spook too badly. After lunch we went piranha fishing. Alysa and I caught a couple of yellow bellied piranha each while Gabriel caught about forty. After dinner we had some free time so went on a night walk.