On our drive to Campo Grande and then to the Pantanal it was depressing to see the extent of deforestation. Most of the area would have once looked like the Iguazu Falls jungle, however, only a few straggly trees remained amongst the mostly pasture landscape. Mmmm Beef!

 

After spending a night in Campo Grande, we made our way to the Pantanal (the largest fresh water wetand in the world), which straddles the border of Bolivia and Paraguay. We stayed at this nice farm for three nights amidst an abundance of wildlife. Funny how I had just finished mentioning to Levi how much I wanted to see parrots. The farm was surrounded by hundreds of parrots, of which we saw at least 5 different species. Other species of birds live throughout the farm and surrounding area; the storks and toucans were really cool.  We must apologize for a lack of good bird pictures as we do not have an adequate zoom on our camera. 

 

The farm also had a tame boar and an injured armadillo in the process of being rehabilitated. It really felt like we were living in a zoo!

 

When we weren´t finding shelter from the sweltering sun, we took several jeep and boat rides, and walks in search of wildlife. Near Rio Paraguay we saw tons of caimans (small alligators) and a couple of giant river otters bobbing their heads out of the water. We hoped to run into jaguars and/or pumas, as there are some in the area, but had no such luck.

 

To add to our memorable experience in the Pantanal we had a fun little adventure on our boat trip. During a torrential downpour our engine cut out. Paddling with only one oar was proving futile so our guide thought it would be best to dock the boat and walk along the shore to try to get back to our vw van. I was not too thrilled as we had to wade into waist deep water with caimans swimming only a few metres away because of overhanging dense vegetation blocking the shore.  Levi piggy backed me for a bit, but it was pretty useless. The water was getting too deep at some spots so we tried our luck walking further inland from the river.

 

Inland had its own special problems.  Our guide was not wearing shoes and was having a lot of difficulty trying to avoid several inch long sharp spikes jutting out from some foliage. After he got stabbed a few times and we ended up back at the river, further away from the van than we started, so we went to find the boat again and slowly made our way back (dragging the boat along the shore and using it to get around the deep spots).

Luckily someone from the farm was waiting with a 4X4 by our van when we got back since it was on its last legs and broke down half way back! Travelling just wouldn´t be the same without such crazy adventures!

 

Overall we had a good time.  The amount of wildlife we were able to see was impressive.  Unfortunately, much of the Pantanal is filled with cattle farms rather than conservation areas, which is a shame.  Maybe tourism will help change that.  From there we spent two days in Bonito before heading to Sao Paulo.