Pantanal, Brazil June 28 – July 11, 2024
- John and Gwyn
- Oct 27, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 30, 2025
In June 2024 my wife and I ventured to Brazil for Pantanalphototours’ 14 day Complete Pantanal Houseboat Tour run by Octavio Campos Salles. The group comprised 3 couples plus Octavio and Larissa, who joined us for part of the tour.
The tour started and ended in Sao Paolo. We spent 2 nights pre-tour, and one night post-tour, at the Marriott Sao Paolo Airport. All domestic flights, land transportation and most meals were included in the tour price. The itinerary covered 2 nights at Hotel Cabanas in Bonito, 3 nights at Fazenda Barranco Alto, 6 nights on the houseboat Panoramico, and 2 nights at Pousada Piuval.
The tour began with an early morning transfer from our hotel to GRU for a short morning flight with GOL to Campo Grande. This was followed by a 3 hour minibus ride, with a stop en route for lunch, to our first port of call Hotel Cabanas just outside of Bonito. After getting ourselves settled we drove to Buraco das Araras, a natural sinkhole, to photograph Red & Green Macaws in flight. Once again I had my trusty Pentax K1 and K3iii and having equipped my wife with a K5, we were the only DSLR users, the others being Canon and Sony mirror-less.
The days followed pretty much the same routine, up early, buffet breakfast and out before the sunrise!
Day 2 saw us back at the sinkhole in the morning, followed by lunch at Rio da Prata, a location ripe with fauna, with a golden armadillo crossing our path just as we arrived. After lunch the focus was on finding the Giant Anteater, and after a bit of searching we were rewarded with, not one but, two of the magnificent creatures.
Day 3. After an early breakfast we had time to take in the grounds and get some last minute shots before boarding the van to catch our charter flight to Barranco Alto, arriving just in time for lunch. The Fazenda covers 11,000 hectares bordering the Ria Negra with the accommodation set back approximately 500 meters from the river. It can accommodate up to 18 people in 6 spacious and comfortable rooms in a detached purpose built building. Meals are in a separate building comprising a dining room, bar and kitchen. Beer included! Here we would alternate between cruises along the river and game drives around the ranch.
The Pantanal was suffering from drought conditions and, unlike on my previous visit, there was very little water at the Fazenda making river navigation tricky and the watering hole, which last year was a magnet for wading birds, was chin high with reeds!
After lunch we took our first boat ride on the river. We were split into 2 groups, 3 with Octavio and 3 with Larissa. The river teems with life from the ubiquitous caiman and capybara to neotropical river otters, plus a myriad of bird species. It is also a natural draw for jaguars who, although they are not in high numbers here, can occasionally be spotted along the banks.
Day 4. Breakfast, early morning river cruise, lunch, and late afternoon game drive. The river cruise didn’t throw up any surprises but in the afternoon a Giant Anteater provided a lot of excitement. And as the light was fading a yellow armadillo and a tapir revealed themselves to us.
Day 5. The order was switched with a morning game drive, on which we observed the courtship routine of the greater rhea (the female looked as though she was having none of it!), followed by an afternoon boat ride.
Day 6. No set activity planned as today we would fly to Porto Joffre. So, after breakfast we took a last walk around the property getting in some final shots before the plane arrived. Fazenda Barranco Alto is a special place, in all, along with anteater, tapir, crab-eating fox, capybara, caiman, and armadillo, I counted 37 species of birds and I am sure I missed more than a few.
A short charter flight took us to Pantanal Norte, Porto Joffre, where, after getting in some shots of the Toucans, a short boat ride took us to the Panoramico, a stationary houseboat moored along the riverbank on the Cuiaba river. The rooms were spacious with en-suite facilities, all meals were buffet style, the food was good and the staff were excellent. The great advantage of the riverboat over Hotel Pantanal Norte is that it is much closer to the Jaguar hunting areas, cutting the daily commuting time down considerably. One day we tracked a jaguar along the riverbank directly across from the houseboat.
Day 7-11. The next 5 days followed same pattern, up at 5 am, breakfast and in the boat by 6 to navigate the waters of the Meeting of the Waters State Park in search of jaguars. Some days were more productive than others in terms of Jaguars but each day was a great experience, with Giant River Otters, myriad birds and great landscapes filling in the ‘gaps’. In all we observed 6 different jaguars, some on multiple occasions, coming away with some great shots and even better memories.
Day 12. After breakfast we transferred from the houseboat back upstream to Porto Joffre for the 4 hour van ride along the Transpantaneira highway to our final stop, 2 nights at Pousada Piuval, Pocone. Piuval, with 21 rooms had an almost resort style feel about it. The rooms are large, air-conditioned, and comfortable, if a bit basic. All meals were buffet style served in the large main restaurant. The lodge sits on 7,000 hectares and although the idea was to chill and recap we had a couple of safari tours and took advantage of walking around the grounds. We encountered capuchins, coatis and a southern tamandua along with many birds including a giant potoo, black skimmers, ibis, hyacinth macaws, and burrowing owls.
Day 14. Our flights to Sao Paolo were not until the evening allowing time for a morning walk around the grounds before boarding the van for the drive to Cuiaba. We had lunch at a churrascaria in Cuiaba before arriving at the airport. The airport was quiet, check-in was quick and flights were on time. Sao Paolo airport was chaotic but finally found hotel shuttle bus and spent a quiet night at Airport Marriott, which was excellent.
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Well done papa!! Good photos! xxx