Big mammals occupy a special place in human affections, especially large, predatory cats. The final mammal on the list was the Giant River Otter. We had great pleasure in seeing the rare activity of the rock wielding, nut cracking capuchins β one of only 3 known troops in the world to adopt this behaviour. Stopping off in the north of the Pantanal we were fortunate to see the fascinatingly weird Giant Anteater and the unusual Brazilian Tapir. Driving further south for several hours along the Transpantaneira dirt track we then arrived at the Cuiaba River at Porto Jofre, a sleepy village at the end of the track.
Jaguars are notoriously shy and elusive, however, in the Pantanal region of Brazil, Jaguar numbers are probably higher than anywhere else on the continent so there is a chance of encountering one and greatly increases during the dry period between June and November which is the season when the Pantanal waters are receding, so concentrating both prey and predator come into this area.
We also had the pleasure of seeing two small, cute ocelot. Throughout our journey we were treated to the sights of thousands of attractive, colourful birds. Following our successful hunt, we made our way to Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay before ending our trip in Rio De Janeiro.
Brazil Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world. Rio De Janeiro was the capital until when the newly built Brasilia took over that role. Brazil is home to one of the richest biodiversity is in the world - a vast 75, sq mile area of rainforest, dry woodland, Savannah and wetland. The Pantanal The Pantanal is a vast expanse of wetlands which straddles the borders of Brazil and Paraguay and Bolivia and is the best place to spot wild animals in the whole of South America and also the best place to see wild mammals outside of Africa.
