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interest is a fabulous bonus for the photographer and we are very much looking forward to returning for many years to come! Our photo journey started at Cuiabá airport, where we boarded our very comfortable coaster bus and headed for lunch at a typically Brazilian (‘pay for the weight of the food on your plate’) buffet restaurant before we set off southwest bound for the Pantanal. Again, we passed the half-finished tramway intended for the 2014 soccer World Cup as we left Cuiabá’s twin-city of Varzea Grande and then made our way through the seemingly endless dry cerrado countryside towards the gateway to the Pantanal, Poconé. Formerly a centre for the trade of caiman and Jaguar skins this town is now bedecked in murals of the Pantanal’s spectacular animals as its ecotourism economy grows. Where the hills give way to flat lands marks the start of the Pantanal proper, the tarmac ends and the Transpantaneira and its one million dilapidated wooden bridges begins. This year we had switched our first lodge to the delightful Pouso Alegre, set in 30,000 hectares of savannah grassland and marshes, interspersed with patches of woodland. It is a real haven for
wildlife but unlike our previous stop (nice as it was!), it is possible to see plenty of wildlife on foot here and particularly around the lodge buildings thus making it a pleasant change from endless boat and truck rides. Pouso Alegre is another attractive fazenda or cattle ranch, turned mini-ecotourism resort with a distinct rustic charm. Our first walk here passed by water tanks near the lodge, which produced a couple of Sunbitterns and a very approachable Capped Heron as well as numerous Yacare Caimans. A pair of Jabirus was collecting material for their huge nest, which contained some squatting Monk Parakeets. A couple of young Southern Crested Caracaras were perched on some interesting farm machinery and Blackcapped Donacobious, Greyish Saltator and Vermillion Flycatchers delighted the birders among us. A pair of Ferruginous Pygmy Owls was very obliging as were the pair of Great Horned Owls nearby, with their large fluffy youngster in tow. By mid morning it was getting quite hot so, after a pair of Masked Gnatcatchers, we retreated to the shade of the lodge grounds, just in time to catch a couple of monstrous Black-and-white Tegus going on their rounds, walking boldly past our chalets.
8 Wild Images Tour Report: Jaguars of Brazil’s Pantanal 2016 www.wildimages-phototours.com