A return to the Pantanal Sept. '22: The best-laid plans oft go awry....

[janzin]

During the heat of the afternoon we just rested; it was really too hot for birding between noon and four or so. I did wander around a little on the grounds and

found just a couple of more birds to shoot but it was really too hot.

 

Even these doves were just resting in the shade.

 

 

(Note on the above, it was pointed out to me that I incorrectly labeled the above photo, they are of course Scaled Doves.)

 

 

And I found a deer browsing in the field.  Doesn't it seem like his horns are gold-plated?

 

 

When we went out at 4 to the anteater spot, Julinho seemed a bit better (the meds must have kicked in.) He told us that he'd arranged for his cousin (there's always a cousin!), who was an experienced boatman and had trained with him, to be our boatman/guide from Porto Jofre.  There was just one catch--he didn't speak a word of English. Oh boy. Well at least we'd have a boat and a boatman!

 

Of course we were sympathetic to Julinho's plight (and he was very anxious about the surgery) but our long-anticipated trip with the expert jaguar whisperer was not turning out as planned.

 

As before, the anteater stakeout turned out to be a bust--we were there about two hours (along with others from the lodge) and we saw nothing come to the waterhole except for a couple of Brocket deer and some monkeys (all in too low light for photography anyway.) On the way back I asked Julinho, tell me honestly, how often do you see anteaters there? And he said maybe once every couple of months!

 

After dinner (which again, Julinho did not eat...) he said he felt well enough to take us for a night drive along the entrance road. We went up the road and back but only saw some flying nightjars.

 

 

Edited December 30, 2022 by janzin

[janzin]

I'd hoped to at least get another session at the feeders the next morning, but Julinho said we needed to leave early--no time for the feeders Which was disappointing but he did have to drive us to Porto Jofre and then all the way back to Cuiaba, so we understood.

 

Still, I got up and out a bit early to try and catch some shots of the Hyacinth Macaws, which so far we'd only seen either flying high or high up in very tall trees. In past visits they seemed to be nesting on the property, but not this time.

 

While looking for the Macaws I took a few shots of the Coatis that roamed the grounds. There were always some around, usually running away but I managed a couple.

 

 

They come in many colors/shades of brown and russet. This one seemed unusually dark.

 

 

Finally the Macaws made an appearance! Not the sharpest shot as the light was still very low (about 6:15 a.m.)

 

 

 

 

Would they land low enough??  Yes! Two cooperated and landed in a tree behind the restaurant area! And the sun was coming out now.

 

 

 

But I had to pull away and get breakfast, which Julinho had arranged for us to get a bit early, so that we could leave.

 

And it turned out, Julinho had left in the middle of the night to go back to Pocone to pick up his cousin, who would be our boatman.

 

The ride from Pouso Alegre to Porto Jofre is about three hours without stops and we really didn't stop much. Just once to let this Anaconda cross the road...

 

 

The only other stop we made was at a local's house where Julinho dropped off the three huge propane tanks that had been in the back of the pickup. He was, apparently, a beekeeper as there was a sign "honey for sale" but we saw neither honey nor bees.

 

During the ride we learned that indeed, the cousin (whose name I can't remember now) indeed spoke zero English, but seemed to be a very nice guy and Julinho had informed him that we like to see and photograph birds, so we hoped for the best on our arrival at Hotel Pantanal Norte....

 

[janzin]

But it was while we were stopped at the beekeeper's place that we got another unwelcome surprise. Julinho casually mentioned that we were staying not at Hotel Pantanal Norte, but at the Santa Rosa Pantanal hotel. What???? We'd purposely arranged our dates so that we got rooms at the Pantanal Norte, which we stayed at before and really liked. We knew their food was very good, the rooms comfortable (if a bit barren) and all the photo groups stay there. And of course we had paid for it! He said that the Pantanal Norte had cancelled the rooms, "oh didn't I tell you?" No he had not, and his communication before the tour was pretty lacking. Then he gave us some song and dance about how the Pantanal Norte won't give you take-away lunch for all-day outings, because one time some group complained about the take-away lunch. None of it made much sense and he could tell we were pretty upset about this change, on top of not having a guide!

 

Well he made a phone call and miraculously we were suddenly back at Hotel Pantanal Norte "but in the annex rooms" which he said are regular tourist rooms but placed back near the guides' rooms. That was fine with us.

 

Meantime when we arrived at the Pantanal Norte, the manager greeted us (and Julinho) warmly and as it turned out, there was absolutely no issue getting the lunches for all day outings. In fact they seemed happy to give us the lunches, and once they found out we liked those little peanut candies they give out, they gave us bags of them every day! The room was stuck in a little alley and had no view and maybe a bit smaller than others but it was okay as we were not in it all day. (In fact after two nights they offered to move us to a waterfront room, but by then we were settled in our cozy room and saw no need to move.) We were just happy to be in the Pantanal Norte for a variety of reasons, some of which I'll relate later.

 

So I don't know what the deal was there but since then I heard he'd pulled the same attempt to switch the hotel with another client.

Edited December 29, 2022 by janzin

[kittykat23uk]

Janet it's a real shame that you had this experience with Julio and as you know I'm pretty upset and annoyed for you that you had to go through this because he had the same health problems when he was guiding our group back in 2018 and he was scheduled to get an operation soon after we left. I'm particularly annoyed with him because I have also suffered from gallstones myself and I know how debilitating and agonising that condition can be. I really did try to reassure him about the surgery he was facing at the time. I honestly thought he'd gone for it. Poor guy must have really been suffering a lot. I'm also wondering whether his attempt to switch rooms is an attempt to save on costs. As you say he's very competitve in comparison to other companies, and from what I recall he doesn't set out a breakdown of accommodation vs guiding costs, so perhaps it is that? Or perhaps it is something that has gone on between him and that particular lodge. Who can say? 

 

Your photos are lovely, especially the Toco Toucan , coatis and Jaguar. I can at least attest that the giant anteater does sometimes come to that waterhole as I filmed one there on our trip . However as with a lot of wildlife just because something is there one night doesn't mean it's there another night. We found that ourselves on our Ecuador trip.

 

 

 

[Botswanadreams]

I don't think that he refused in 2018 to had his surgery after our trip. Gallstones after gallbladder removal - however, they can also form again in the bile duct after the operation, since the bile is constantly being reproduced in the liver. I had it two years ago. 

[janzin]

@kittykat23ukvery cool that you saw the anteater there. I wonder if something has changed in recent years, as Julinho also said the last time he saw one there was months ago. One of the reasons we stayed at Pouso Alegre on the way down was specifically to try and get anteater, which we have only briefly glimpsed on our last trip. I actually would not stay there again due to the run-down nature of it and the food issues, there are other choices now including some new lodges that seem nicer, or Rio Claro.

 

 

[janzin]

3 minutes ago, Botswanadreams said:

I don't think that he refused in 2018 to had his surgery after our trip. Gallstones after gallbladder removal - however, they can also form again in the bile duct after the operation, since the bile is constantly being reproduced in the liver. I had it two years ago. 

I'm pretty sure he did not have any prior surgery, as during our conversations with him about it he was clearly terrified of it, and asking us a lot of questions about anesthesia and surgery in general.

 

Anyway, it does make one realize that when dealing with any guide that is basically a one-man show, you run a risk if they get sick. It's just not something I'd ever put much thought into! But it can and does happen. Luckily he did do right by us in the end, as you'll see. I cannot at all fault him for how he handled it given the circumstances (but the thing about the hotel was irksome!)

Edited December 29, 2022 by janzin

[kittykat23uk]

They had a tame anteater there when we were there as well, she came right up to us. I recall Christa got pretty close!  

[janzin]

1 hour ago, kittykat23uk said:

They had a tame anteater there when we were there as well, she came right up to us. I recall Christa got pretty close!  

oh just keep rubbing it in! One of the reasons we wanted to go to Barranco Alto was also because of their anteaters. Oh well, we just had to settle for jaguars.

[kittykat23uk]

You definitely had some nice jaguar sightings 😍

[Bush dog]

Your pictures are as usual excellent!

 

I wonder if the inca doves would not rather be scaly doves?

[janzin]

After settling in our room, and saying farewell (and good luck!) to Julinho, we went for a quick lunch before heading out for our first afternoon boat safari. This would be the only time we ate lunch at the lodge, because all the other days we would be staying out on the boat the full day and taking lunch with us.

 

We met our boatman at the dock at 2 p.m. and we were off! As I mentioned, Julinho had instructed him that we were interested in birds and he definitely understood that. And he of course was quite experienced with positioning the boat and staying in touch with the other boatmen so in that sense we were in good hands.

 

We passed this bank of skimmers but didn't stop as we were eager to get on with the jaguar hunt. But I did grab a flight shot as we sped by.

 

 

It wasn't too long before we found our first jaguar!

 

 

But unfortunately the zero English did come into play as we really couldn't ask our guide any questions, such as the names or even whether the cat was male or female, or any history of the cats we saw, etc. So this was a bit disappointing. (Later I was able to identify this particular cat as Oxam, as we acquired a wonderful book put out by the Jaguar Identification Project https://www.jaguaridproject.com/  )

 

 

We actually purchased this book right on the river from the researchers who were working with the project. Shopping from boat to boat! It's a really fabulous resource. However, for the most part I am NOT going to identify each and every jaguar I post here...it's too time consuming and I'm not so sure most folks care. I will identify ones that I know offhand

 

I'm also not going to go deeply into the moment-by-moment play-by-play, as for the most part I don't really remember So there will just be many strings of photographs except where I can interject something interesting. I hope no one gets bored with jaguar photos, as there will be quite a lot!

 

Anyway, excited by our first jaguar (who retreated into the forest after this sighting) we continued on.

 

Stopping for a moment for this very cooperative Southern Horned Screamer.

 

 

And eventually another kitty...

 

 

Who soon started swimming...

 

 

More birds...

 

 

 

This one was a lifer for us--one of the few we had on the trip.

 

 

A final jaguar for the afternoon...

 

 

And a last surprise at the very end of the day. The guide was just pointing and of course we didn't know what he was saying...at first we thought it was a monkey but on closer look, a more unexpected surprise, a Tayra!

 

 

A caiman in golden light...

 

 

So all in all a very good start, even with the communication issues we were happy--a three jaguar afternoon!

Edited December 29, 2022 by janzin

[janzin]

12 minutes ago, Bush dog said:

Your pictures are as usual excellent!

 

I wonder if the inca doves would not rather be scaly doves?

OF COURSE you are correct, my bad! Most certainly Scaled Doves...I had this right in my list but just shows I shouldn't label the photos from (poor) memory. Thanks for the correction.

[Atdahl]

Well, just like @kittykat23ukwe had a glimpse of an anteater at the Pouso Alegre watering hole as well.  That was back in 2016 of course and it only came out of the bush for a moment AND was the only anteater we saw the whole trip (including later that trip at Barranco Alto).  Luckily, the southern pantanal (and Barranco Alto) made up for it with lots of anteaters when we went back there in 2018.

 

Sorry to hear that Pouso Alegre has become a bit rundown.  We loved our stay there and the owner is indeed an avid herper.  

 

Glad that you sorted out your accommodations at the river. I would be just as upset as you were.  We have nothing but good things to say about our experience with Julinho back in 2016 so its unfortunately to hear about the issues he had on your trip.  So far, it sounds like things are proceeding well given the problems so far.  But, that's added stress you certainly don't need. 

 

Your pictures are outstanding as usual.  I will never tire of photos of jaguars in the green grasses on the banks of the rivers.  Brings back such great memories.

 

Oh and finally.  I am so JEALOUS or your extraordinary tayra experience and photo.  It's fantastic!

 

Looking forward to more.

 

Alan

[pedro maia]

I could’t miss a Pantanal report, and your photos are always outstanding @janzin, another reason to follow the TR.

 

I’m a bit envious of the tapir, which has became my nemesis in the Pantanal, I didn’t get to see one in my two trips.

 

Sorry to read about all those inconvenients and let me tell you you wouln’t have like hotel Santa Rosa, it’s the kind of hotel that doesn’t belong to that place, with all inclusive wrist bands and zero management.

 

The Julinho issue puzzles me a bit, in 2013 I tried to hire him, when I was about to confirm the deal he sent me an e-mail saying that he wouldn’t be able to guide us because he was going to have a job interview for a commercial pilot place in one of the Brazilian airlines, I don’t remember which, I wasn’t impressed with what happened because for some reason I wasn’t tottaly convinced with the situation.

[janzin]

1 hour ago, pedro maia said:

I could’t miss a Pantanal report, and your photos are always outstanding @janzin, another reason to follow the TR.

 

I’m a bit envious of the tapir, which has became my nemesis in the Pantanal, I didn’t get to see one in my two trips.

 

Sorry to read about all those inconvenients and let me tell you you wouln’t have like hotel Santa Rosa, it’s the kind of hotel that doesn’t belong to that place, with all inclusive wrist bands and zero management.

 

The Julinho issue puzzles me a bit, in 2013 I tried to hire him, when I was about to confirm the deal he sent me an e-mail saying that he wouldn’t be able to guide us because he was going to have a job interview for a commercial pilot place in one of the Brazilian airlines, I don’t remember which, I wasn’t impressed with what happened because for some reason I wasn’t tottaly convinced with the situation.

We actually saw two tapirs...the first one on the Transpantaneira but just as we were about to get some nice photos another vehicle pulled up and it spooked. We didn't see any on the river so it was fortunate we saw these two.

 

Interesting what you say about Santa Rosa. I thought at the time that'd I'd remembered a trip report where someone had negative things to say about the Santa Rosa hotel, or maybe it was from reading on TripAdvisor, so we were really unhappy initially when we were told we were going there.

[Kitsafari]

agree with the others - superb photos. and so jealous of all the sightings you've had. every single species would be  lifers for us! sorry to hear about the troubles, but hopefully they're the last of them for the trip. 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

Loving this report, so many really beautiful photos.

[janzin]

First thank to everyone following along and for all the lovely comments, much appreciated!

 

Before I get to Day 2 I want to mention one reason I really love staying at the Hotel Pantanal Norte, and that's because we've always met such great people there. Last trip we actually met Bill Given and his group from The Wild Source (whom many of you know.)

 

This trip, at least that first dinner, we were feeling a bit alone since we had no guide to talk to about the day's sightings, etc. Immediately upon entering the dining room I saw Leen (the co-owner) of Pantanal Jaguar Safaris with her two clients.  At first I was hesitant to say hello since we had booked this trip with another guide but we did walk over to say hi and she recognized us and warmly greeted us, gave us big hugs. Later in the week her husband Andre (who'd been our guide last time) arrived with his clients and he was absolutely thrilled to see us, we even met him early for drinks before dinner one night.

 

Not only that, the South African company Wild Eye was there with a group and I knew their guide Andrew Beck from Facebook. We chatted on the buffet line and got to be very friendly during the week. And their local guide, Ricardo Casarin, came over to introduce himself to us--everyone of course had heard about what happened with Julinho, since he is so well known there. Ricardo offered to help us in any way he could, acting as translator if we needed with the hotel staff (who mostly spoke English anyway) etc. etc. Everyone was super friendly and it really made us feel more comfortable.

 

Every day on the boats we'd pass these people and wave, sometimes sharing sightings, sometimes next to them at a sighting and it really added a dimension to our trip.

 

Okay, back to jaguars and birds

[janzin]

The 2nd morning started out with a bang. We headed directly to a channel where there had been two mother jaguars, each with two cubs, apparently hanging out on and off for the last few days. (The cubs are not tiny cubs, about six or seven months old.)

 

We rounded the corner and practically before I could even get my camera up we came upon the hunting jaguar mother.  Unbelievably I was quick enough to get what is probably my best jaguar photo of the entire trip.

 

 

This is Medrosa, also known as Amber because of the color of her eyes.  Her cubs are Rio and Marcela, who we'd spend time with later. The other mom in this channel was Patricia, and her two cubs Krishna and Kasimir. We'll see them later too

 

Immediately after this she dragged her catch into the woods.  After a very short while she reappeared on the top of the bank. (Did she eat it that fast, or bring it to the cubs...not sure.)

 

 

 

I'm going to leave this post short as there is much more to come. 

[Atdahl]

Wow, love the shot with the caiman!

[Double Dare]

Your photos are gorgeous!  Now I am going to have to start thinking of the Pantanal.....

 

[AKR1]

2 hours ago, Atdahl said:

Wow, love the shot with the caiman!

+1

[Africalover]

Wow - National Geographic quality images. Super TR.

Thanks for sharing.

[offshorebirder]

On 12/27/2022 at 7:28 PM, Alexander33 said:

I can vouch for the accuracy of this, as that was our experience as well.  Luckily, our guide had warned us in advance, so we were always right there as soon as the door opened!

 

I am sorry, but To Hell with anywhere that cannot feed each of their guests sufficiently and forces them to compete for limited food.   

 

They should be ashamed!