Pantanal Panther Patrol

[janzin]

It's really cool to see so many of the same jaguars we saw two years ago! Patricia, Marcela, Ti...we saw them all! Marcela was just a cub when we saw her.

[kittykat23uk]

Beautiful photos! I need to get my jaguars identified, we didn't get any info about their names on our trip. 

[Miss Biscuit]

Thank you both!@kittykat23ukAlyson knew the names of most of them or could identify them in the book. The ones he didn't know, he asked the Jaguar ID Project. He actually didn't think Ti was Ti. Something about a scar not being on the nose. But the Jaguar ID Project said it was her.

I would have never been able to identify them myself. Now that I've looked at these pictures so much, I think I could identify a few if I saw someone else's photos. Some are definitely more distinctive looking than others.

[Miss Biscuit]

Next day

 

 

Out this morning and our first sighting turned out to be Ti again. Totally different location that we saw her the evening before, she was by herself and on the move.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We watched her move for quite a while but then she settled down and we eventually decided to move on.

[Miss Biscuit]

And here is a brief video of her going in the water:

 

 

[kittykat23uk]

Ah, now we definitely saw Ti last month! Had a nice sighting of her for sure. Lovely photos! I've just submitted some shots to the jaguar ID project and bought their ID guide. 

[Miss Biscuit]

We came upon 2 boats in a narrower section that were waiting. They said there were 4 jaguars nearby. We decided to park, put up the sun cover and wait ourselves. A few times we could actually hear them.

After a while, the other boats gave up. Alyson said we’d wait until 11 and then head back. We were an hour away from the hotel.

About 5 minutes later…

 

 

This is Manath and he is a big boy!

 

 

 

Turns out these were two mating pairs. While we were trying to position our boat to get a closer look, a fishing boat came speeding by and scared them off.

 

 

So Alyson once again says we will wait until 11. Then, my husband spots them off to our right…

 

 

This is Manath and Rio, a male cousin coalition. Rio is about 18 months older and though noticeably smaller than Manath, appears to be the dominant male.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They got out of the water and disappeared. We started to make our way back to the lodge. 

Before we got back, we came upon another sighting. This is Kyyavera.

 

Shaking off some water.

 

 

 

 

 

Here she is sitting pretty.

[Africalover]

Really enjoying your trip report and fantastic images. I will go there in the future.

Thanks for sharing.

[offshorebirder]

Looks like you had a great Pantanal safari @Miss Biscuit - thanks for doing this trip report.   I am glad the wildfires in the Pantanal did not harm your safari.

[Miss Biscuit]

After lunch I took my daily visit to the toucan tree. They do feed the birds here and the toucans and other birds hang out at the tree nearby. I never photographed them while they were being fed. They do make a gorgeous photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our afternoon outing, we saw Oxum briefly again which I've got a few but they aren't anything to write home about.

 

And the other was Kwang. Since we’ve returned from our trip, we have learned that Kwang’s body had been found. An necropsy showed he died from pneumonia at 8 years old, still in his prime. These pictures of him aren’t particularly interesting but I’m glad I have them.

 

 

 

 

Ok, Patrica and her cub...Take 3

 

We returned to the spot where Patricia was with her cub, and though we shared the sighting with about 10 other boats, it was special nonetheless. Patricia started out with two cubs but one was killed by a male earlier this year. Alyson said it’s unusual to have a cub this young at this time of year and could be due to Patricia being an older mom (13).

 

 

 

 

She still wasn’t fully in view and they came in and out of this natural hut (for lack of a better word). Sometimes still laying out but obscured by grass depending on your position. People would get complacent and sit down and start talking, only to miss a head peep out.

We repositioned a few times.

 

Then Patricia came back out and plopped down in what could have been a good vantage point for me…

 

 

 

 

If it weren’t for this weed!

I was standing on the bow of the boat so I couldn’t get around it, and we couldn’t move the boat without losing an otherwise good spot.

 

 

 

 

 

The damn WEED!

 

 

 

Patricia gets up and the little one stays for a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They return to their hut for a while.

 

Before peeping out a few times...

 

 

 

 

See a baby jaguar - check!

 

We got word of someone having a truly unusual sighting for the area. A group had spotted a maned wolf. We took off for the area but saw no signs. Later that evening, the group was in our dining hall. Someone had already posted their photo on instagram. They got a great, beautiful sighting. Very nice.

Edited October 23 by Miss Biscuit

[kittykat23uk]

Aww what a fabulous sighting! You must have been well chuffed with that! A maned wolf would have been a nice bonus! I've never seen one in the pantanal. If you love toucans then you might enjoy my trip report, when I get round to writing it 😁

[janzin]

Amazing photos, and a jaguar cub! What luck! This is really making me want to plan another trip immediately

 

I've never heard of Maned Wolf being seen in that area...incredible!

[Miss Biscuit]

Ok, we still have another full day and a half day to go.

Alyson wanted to return to the area where we had seen Rio and Manath. There was a chance they were done mating and would be ravenous. We could possibly see a kill. On our way we had two other sightings. One was of a male named Mikey but it was so brief, I don’t have a good photo to share.

The other was of this gorgeous female (despite the head wound). I love when you can see their back and face at the same time. This is Aguape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coordinating with two other boats in the area, we looked for Rio and Manath. We were the first to find them and they were on the hunt. We must have followed, waited and watched them for almost 3 hours. It was exciting!

Lots and lots up photos of Manath and Rio to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really like these next few of Rio. He's actually coming out of a yawn but it looks like he's growling or hissing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rio pounced and somehow I got it, it happened so fast. We were excited! Would we see a kill?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have no idea what it was but he didn't get it.

 

 

 

 

 

We thought they had spotted some capybaras on the other side of the river.

 

 

We positioned ourselves and waited.

 

 

Above is the moment we thought this capybara would be lunch. But they were off their game. I'll post a video in the next reply.

They went back across the river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

An affectionate moment between cousins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was close to noon and so hot. We decided to break off and return to the lodge an hour away. It was a great morning despite not seeing a kill. We got to observe the hunting and stalking behaviors and the dive. 

 

Edited October 24 by Miss Biscuit

[Miss Biscuit]

Here is the video with the capybara and a few others of them:

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

Awesome sightings of the jaguars! and fantastic sightings of the anteaters and a tapir as the icing on the cake. You had a good variety of birdlife too. 

 

The number of different jaguars in this area is amazing but it strikes me that the cats' territories are very close to each other? is that fair to say? or is the area so large that the boat can traverse through fairly quickly?  the coalition of the cousins also surprised me as I had thought that jaguars were more solitary like the leopards? is that considered as usual? I've never been to South America so learning all these is so interesting. 

 

  

[kittykat23uk]

Wow! This trip just gets better and better! What an amazing morning you had! 

[Miss Biscuit]

@Kitsafari

Thank you! You know, I didn't ask about territories. It's a good question. They definitely don't seem to stay put. We are in a speed boat so yes, we can cover a good distance quickly. But I don't know if they know to regularly look for certain jaguars in certain areas. We saw Ti in 3 different locations. The first sighting was very far out. Not that I knew where we were at all but Alyson said we were far out and you can also gauge by boat traffic.

I think there have been other coalitions. I don't know how often it happens. I'm a bit surprised they are cousins and not brothers/littermates. I should have asked more questions about that.

 

@kittykat23ukAnd it's not over yet! I feel really lucky. Thank you!

[Miss Biscuit]

Compared to the morning, we had a relatively quiet evening but still had a good sighting. We left out an hour later than we had been leaving. Some people do stay out all day and don't return for lunch. It is so hot mid-day, I did not mind the break from the heat. Also, it's an opportunity to have a restroom break. I do not know how they handle bush breaks here. I held it.

 

As I said, the mornings were cool and you get cold from the wind moving on the boat but by late afternoon, the jacket comes off and the sun protection comes on. I had sunscreen but also I had this light UV hoodie. Some people had their face covered too.

 

 

Also, here is what the sun looked like for most of the morning. This is just an i Phone photo too.

 

 

Here are some bird photos from before we returned to the lodge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And before I post the lone jaguar we saw this evening, I also got these cool toucan shots that were near the jaguar sighting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Tango and she sat for us in beautiful evening light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She moved back into the brush and we tried to find out where she went but never saw her again.

[michael-ibk]

Really great sightings and photos, thanks for sharing. 

[KaliCA]

I’m starting to plan to visit the Pantanal in 2026! So your trip report comes very timely. 

Why did you choose September over August?
You had amazing and wonderful jaguar sightings. What worries me some is the amount of boats at sightings. It’s like the Mara reserve but on water. Was every sighting crowded or mostly the late morning ones?

Thanks for sharing your glorious shots. Such wonderful memories, I’m sure. 
 

[Miss Biscuit]

Final Day

 

We have a morning boat outing, lunch and then returning to Cuiaba.

 

But oh what a morning! We saw 10 jaguars this morning, 7 of those we hadn’t seen before.

First was a brief sighting of sleepy Pollyana.

 

 

 

These next 3 I think I have mixed up in my list.

 

I really think these next photos are Ti again because I’ve got so many other photos that I know are her and I’ve looked at her so much that I think it’s her even though she isn’t next on my list. But Kyyavera is next on my list so these could be her.

Unfortunately, I didn’t make good notes on sightings. We followed her for a while.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So these next 2, could also be mixed up but I think this is Kyyavera but not sure:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think these are Guaraci because somewhere in my mind this name matches with the images/setting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back on track, I know from here on out the names are correct.

This is a young male named Ipepo and though it was a brief sighting, I loved the light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next sighting was more lengthy. This is Bororo and I love some of my shots of him. He has a very menacing look to him.

 

 

Shaking the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really like these next few..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These next few are of Apeira.

 

 

This is a Ousado, a rather famous jaguar. I’ve seen several kill videos/photos of him on Instagram. He’s the only collared jaguar we saw. For those that don’t know, he had sustained 3^rd degree burns on his paws during 2020 wild fires. He was captured and treated for over a month and released. They wanted to track his progress, hence the collar, and he’s done wonderfuly. The collar is no longer functioning and is supposed to fall off. We asked Alyson why they don’t remove it for him. He says this is a question many have asked. Perhaps since he’s doing well, they don’t want to unnecessarily tranquilize him.

I, personally, don’t care for photos of collared animals but these you can’t see it much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a brief sighting of Donal and I don’t have any usable photos of him.

 

We finished our day with Marcela again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had lunch at the lodge before making the long drive back to Cuiaba. We said goodbye to Alyson and stayed a final night at Amazon Aeropuerto Hotel.

 

 

Our trip was fantastic. We loved Alyson and I'd definitely want him to guide us again. We were very happy with Pantanal Jaguar Safaris and I'd booked with them again too.

Thanks to everyone on Safaritalk for their trip reports and advice! I'm excited to read the other trip reports from Safaritalkers that also recently went to the Pantanal.

I'm hooked on the cats. I'm desperate to go back to Patagonia for puma tracking as I didn't even have it on my radar as something to do the last time. I love that it's more active too. Plus the last time I was there I didn't do the Towers hike and I regret it. 

 

[janzin]

What an incredible trip! So many jaguars, and so many excellent photographs! I'm glad to see Ousado still doing well.  Very glad that Pantanal Jaguar Safaris gets another excellent review too. I must return soon!!

[Miss Biscuit]

Thank you all! @michael-ibk@janzin

@KaliCA

I could have just as easily reversed the trip and done the Pantanal first and Peru second which would have put the Pantanal the last week of August. I think they are both prime months. The later in the season, the lower the river is and so that is supposed to be better for viewing, beaches are exposed and such. October is the hottest month. I wouldn’t have gone late September or October. We could have gone any time but I did want it to cover the Labor Day holiday.

No, not every sighting was crowded like that and our guide liked to move on if it got too crowded. The cub drew the largest crowd that we stayed for. But it’s not unusual to have 3 or 4 other boats at a sighting. I mean boats come by and look to see why others are stopped, some move on some stay.

[kittykat23uk]

Wow! What a fantastic trip you had! You saw so many jaguars I'm a bit jealous as we certainly didn't have as many different individuals on our tour and I regret not having longer in the pantanal this time. We did see a collared male as well, I think it's the same individual because I recall there was some talk about him being burned in a fire. 

 

I want to go back already!! Thanks for sharing this fantastic report. 

[Alexander33]

You really had some special sightings. The conventional wisdom is that the southern Pantanal is better for Giant Anteaters, and, indeed, we’ve only seen them briefly a few times along the Transpantaneira, so you definitely had some good luck with them. 
 

And 23 individual jaguars in 4 days is certainly a high number. We had 14 and 15, respectively, on two trips of 5 days each on the water, and were very happy with that.  And while quality over quantity counts for me every time, you also had the quality. The photos of Oxum with the iguana and Bororo’s stepping into the river, in particular, are standouts, IMO.  (Also, the photos of the Toco Toucan’s drinking out of the river are not something you see every day).

 

Now that you mention it, I do remember the beds at Pantanal Norte as being hard as rocks, but I guess we were just so tired (and happy being there) that I slept well anyway. Such a great destination; I can’t seem to get enough of it. I hope that the area will recover decently from the terrible fires this season.