Arrived into Sao Paulo, overnight from Dallas TX, red-eyed, stayed right in the middle of the city, to turn my eyes into beige color, a block away from Avenue Paulista, great restaurants and museum scene. Next day, flew into Cuiaba, capital of Moto Grasso state in the south central part of Brazil, landed around 10am. More arid than I had imagined, although it was a dry season, mid September; faced immediate language barrier, luckily had Google translate whenever hand gestures would culminate into yoga poses. Rented a stick 4×4 Toyota Hilux diesel truck, as 60% of the way to Porto Jofre is dirt road and wood plank bridges that would rock like carpet looms. I was solo, dirt roads were dry, absolutely patchy cell phone coverage after half-way (Pocone), had grabbed a paper map, ETA was around 4pm. Food was on my mind, some good Churrascaria; this part of the land was razed for cattle grazing, so expecting some good eats. Found it – Pousada Pantaneira in Pocone, its at a Y junction, right before the entrance to Pantanal. Ate my spleen out, eyes were now 1% milky white, needed a nap, but road kept me alert. The dirt road journey began.
I had travelled across Central America to sight Jaguars – Coxcomb in Belize, Las Guacamayas in Guatemala, Rancho el Jaguar in Nayarit, Mexico, etc. but never sighted one, only PPPP – Pictures at the entrance, Pugmarks on the trail, Poop covered with termites and Prey that was abandoned. Someone informed me to venture into Pantanal in Brazil during September (dry season) for a higher probability of sighting Jaguars (Onca/Balam). It is very secluded part, majority of the few visitors there, are groups of buddies who are from Rio and Sao Paulo on fishing trips and reunions, so mostly domestic tourists. There are couple of above average pousadas (hotels) and others are limited in facilities. Language was the biggest problem I faced, even not Spanish, although I ended up liking that, I felt enchanted and ended up developing a new skill in communication – Enchanted Communication. No cell-phone reception, Wi-Fi was patchy and had forgotten to download google translate from English to Portuguese. I stayed at Pousada Proto-Jofre Pantanal for 3 nights, hard to find by road but am sure easy from the river as it sits bank.
No sooner I arrived, than I found the splendor of river life and how habitats develop with dependencies on all the provisions that river and the delta provides – thatched roofs, fish grills, palm baskets and ropes, alluvial soil smell, the faint buzz of distant motor-boats and mosquito nets. No matter where in the world you are, the river-life is identical, everywhere. Tired and slept with an early alarm, eyes were pink with strain from driving in the yellow sun reflecting off of yellow dirt road.
I was assigned a solo boat the next morning, which disheartened me a bit, because I was hoping to share with someone who could translate my guide’s Portuguese into Spanish or English, make new friends, etc. Mid-river I started wondering that if we capsized then the only communication we will have will be underwater and it wont matter whether we speak in Portuguese, Sanskrit, English or Zulu; although I felt left out on discussions about the surrounding flora and fauna, the village life, the engaging wild-life tales of the safari guides.
In my first hour, of the boat tour the first day, I sighted 3 jaguars, one after other, my eyes were full black at one point, my iris and pupil became so enlarged with the sighting that it took over the entire real estate of my eyes. In African safaris it is predominantly guaranteed to sight a leopard, cheetah and a lion, but jaguars are elusive, shy and spares, to find one in the wild is a matter of persistence and luck. The next 2 days were filled with other sightings, 7 in total, from jaguars crossing the tributaries, swimming, mating, treading partners, resting, hiding, etc. The second day, right after departing the pousada jetty, hyacinth macaw flew on top of us and perched on hollows of local Manduvi tree. Other than jaguars, I saw numerous other wild-life with enchanted hand gestures – Anaconda, various bird species and capybara. My guide would take me to various spots and until I saw with my own eyes, I had no clue of what we were going for, and then the Enchanted Communication.
Pantanal is a river delta, dry during September and October months, jaguars lurk around the remaining water tributaries engulfed around the main river – Rio Sao Lourenco (St. Laurent), they mate, hunt, poop and watch people watching them. There is no organized radio communication between guides, you go by the flow of people, a returning group will provide location of their sighting, all guides seem like long lost village buddies when they meet midriver, life is sublime on these boats but full of anticipation.
Nigh time, daily I hung around with a group of few lawyers and technology salesmen from Sao Paulo, who had caught some pintado fish, grilled in the impromptu brick-walled-grill over fresh lime and salt. Exchanged LinkedIn accounts and talked about Brazil and American politics, in English.
What to take for this trip:
Polarized Sunglasses (ski type), airy quick dry pants, long sleeve cotton shirt, waterproof shoes, headlamp, paper copy of road-map, sun hat, sunscreen, 4×4 vehicle, Portuguese to English translation (if you do not know Portuguese), dry bags (one additional for camera to take with you in the boat trips) and snack bars while on the boat.
Maven Voyager 