Today is devoted to exploring the wildlife of the northern Pantanal Wetlands in a small group with a lodge guide. This is one of the last untouched wildlife sanctuaries in the world, stretching over 96,000 square miles (250,000 square km). Daily activities are likely to include guided walks, horse riding, birding, jeep rides, boat rides and/or night walks.
Comprising a wide variety of habitats ranging from Brazilian savanna ('cerrado') and grasslands, to semi-arid woodland, Amazon and Atlantic rainforests, the Pantanal offers much easier game viewing than in the dense jungles of the Amazon Basin. These vast tropical floodplains are home to an amazing diversity of wildlife including 159 different mammal species, 93 reptiles, 53 amphibians, 260 fish, over 1,100 butterflies. It is also home to over 650 different bird species including the spectacular blue Hyacinth macaw, a parrot cloaked in deep indigo plumage with yellow eye patches, and the Jabiru stork - the second largest flying bird in the Americas after the Andean condor.
Millions of capybara, the world's largest rodent, and caiman (similar to alligators) live here as well as the nocturnal Brazilian tapir, one of the largest mammals in South America with a strange trunk-like nose. You can also hope to see the Crab-eating raccoon, South American coati (nicknamed the hog-nosed raccoon because of its pig-like snout.), Crab-eating fox, Giant anteater, Lesser anteater, Collared anteater, Black-striped capuchin monkey, Brown capuchin, Howler monkey, Agouti, Tayra, White-lipped peccary, Collared peccary, Chacoan peccary, Red brocket deer, endangered Marsh deer, the ostrich-like Greater Rhea and the diminutive Black-tailed marmoset. If you are fortunate you may see an Ocelot, a spectacular wild cat also known as the Dwarf leopard.
Bird watching is outstanding with colourful species including the Roseate spoonbill, Southern screamer, Chestnut-bellied guan, Bare-faced curassow, Red-legged seriema, Chestnut-eared aracari, Blue-crowned parakeet, Orange-backed troupial, Barred antshrike, Blue-crowned trogon, Toco toucan, Yellow-billed cardinal and the diminutive Rufous-tailed jacamar. You can also see several species of ibis, egrets, storks, herons, kingfishers, skimmers, terns, hawks, kites and a host of other raptors and passerines.
The flora is also astonishing, with over 3,500 different species including many aquatic plants, as over 80% of the wetlands are submerged during the wet season.
Along the waterways you can hope to see vocal families of endangered Giant river otters, anaconda and many other mammals, reptiles and birds. The riverbanks also offers the best opportunity to see the apex predator of the region - the mighty jaguar - although sightings are rare in this region. If you wish to see jaguars include Porto Jofre to your itinerary, where jaguars are regularly spotted walking along the riverbanks.