Porto Jofre - best of the rest (animals)

 

Lots of Capybara in the hotel grounds

Giant Otter

Yellow Anaconda

Marsh Deer

Porto Jofre - days 2 to 5 - Jaguars

In total over the next 4 days we saw another 12 jaguars, including 7 in one morning! 15 were seen in total in 5 days. There were many jaguar highlights but seeing a mother with 2 cubs was special. 

 

 

 

Porto Jofre - jaguars - day1/part 2 - more jaguar action and birds

 Back out in the boat in the afternoon we saw another jaguar, our first giant otter and plenty of birds

Rufescent Tiger-Heron

    Striated Heron

Tropical Kingbird

Jaribu

Black Skimmer

Cattle Tryant

Rufous Hornero

Yacare Caiman

Giant Otter  

Other birds added to the trip list that afternoon: White-throated Piping-Guan, Bare-faced Carassow, Pale-vented Pigeon, Smooth-billed Ani, Common Paraque, Gray-cowled Wood-Rail, Pied Plover, Anhinga, Osprey, Amazon Kingfisher, Toco Toucan, Little Woodpecker, Crested Caracara, Barred Antshrike, Greater Thornbird, Rufous Cacholote, Common Tody-Flycatcher, White-winged Swallow, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Epaulet Oriole, Chopi Backbird, Banaquit. 

Porto Jofre - jaguars - day 1/part 1

Without a doubt our main target for this trip was jaguar, and we were not be disappointed. All of our jaguar "hunting" was done by boat. Each day we had a morning and afternoon session out on the water, sometimes slowly cruising searching the river banks for any sign of a cat, and other times, when news was received of a sighting by radio, haring along at full pelt to try to get to the site before it disappeared.  

Each morning (for 5 days) we were up at 5am, breakfast at 5.30am, on the boat by 6am. Back on site around 11.30am, where we had a few hours to rest, swim and have lunch before back on the boat around 2,30pm until sunset. 

Pantanal friends (left to right): David, me, Donnie, Julia, Sergio, Iris, Brian & Chuck 

Day one, within an hour of being out on the water, news came over the radio of a sighting, and we were off! Around 20 minutes later we arrived in a small channel (Black Channel). Up in a tree, just 20-30 metres away was a beautiful jaguar.

Eventually she decided it was time for a change of scenery and she climbed down. We tracked her along the bank a short distance before she entered the water to swim across to the other bank.

Pantanal, Brazil - birding from the bus

To get to our base in the northern Pantanal we had a long drive; 147k on a dirt track. Along the way we crossed 122 wooden bridges, some more rickety than others. The journey took around 5 hours with a few stops along the way to look at the birdlife inhabiting the many pools alongside the road. 

Maguari Stork

Southern Screamer

Vermillion Flycatcher 

Jaribu with chicks

Black-backed Water-Tyrant

White-headed Water Tyrant

Jaribu

Great Potoo - so much bigger than I expected it to be

Other birds seen on route: Greater Rhea, Muscovy Duck, Chaco Chacalaca, Bare Faced Curassow, Pale -vented Pigeon, Picazuro Pigeon, White-tipped Dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Gray-cowled Wood-rail, Limpkin, Black-necked Stilt, Wattled Jacana, Solitary Sandpiper, Yellow-billed Tern, Large-billed Tern, Wood Stork, Neotropic Cormorant, Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Cocoi Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Striated Heron, Capped Heron, Black Crowned Night Heron, Green Ibis, Plumbeous Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Black Vulture, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Black-collared Hawk, Savannah Hawk, Great Black Hawk, Roadside Hawk, Ringed Kingfisher, Amazon Kingfisher, Crested Caracara, Yellow-chevroned Parakeet, Rufous Hornero, Cattle Tyrant, Great Kiskadee, Gray-breasted Martin, Red-crested Cardinal.   

We arrived at Port Jofre late afternoon with the sun fading. Just time to have a very quick look around before freshening up and heading over the restaurant for a welcome meeting, over dinner with the rest of the crew.