The Pantanal by Ecotour Expeditions

Trip Description:The Pantanal

The Pantanal

A comfortable lodge, surrounded by wildlife.

To the south of the Amazon basin in Brazil lies one of the world’s least known but most extraordinary natural areas: The Pantanal. It is an enormous grassland covering over 89,000 square miles, the approximate area of Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland combined. In some ways it is comparable to the savannas of Africa with its vast prairies divided by lazy meandering rivers forested at the waters edge. The Pantanal is also teeming with life.

Along the rivers among the trees there are clouds of birds that chatter and cavort in rookeries of thousands of nests. There are countless caiman [South America's crocodiles] lounging and snoozing on the beaches in full view and rather unconcerned about our presence. Herds of 150 pound capybara, giant guinea-pig-like rodents, graze near the waters edge pausing only to glance at us with their slightly timid looks. Roaming the sea of grass from horizon to horizon is a fantastic collection of mammals like Giant Anteater, Jaguar, Marsh Deer and wild Peccaries.

The wildlife of the Pantanal is spectacular and our stay there is in a comfortable lodge with a very well thought through natural history program. An extraordinary place that everyone interested in nature must sometime in their lifetime visit.

While at the lodge we spend our days exploring the small rivers and streams that drain this vast wetlands. There are excursions across the broad savanna by four wheel drive vehicle. A number of our passengers have been able to walk through the knee high grass to closely observe Giant Anteaters with their three foot long snouts that have a tiny mouth at the end.

Expect to see clouds of bright pink spoonbills, hundreds of large caiman lying on the shore, howler monkeys and spider monkeys cavorting in the tree tops and herds of the worlds largest rodent, the capybara, lounging on the river banks.

This trip consists of travel by plane to south central Brazil and drive for another 4-6 hours on a raised roadway across and enormous Savannah. While at the lodge guests spend their days exploring by aluminum skiff the small rivers and streams that drain this vast wetlands. There are also drives across the vast grassland by four wheeled drive vehicles and optional horseback riding. Visitors can expect to see clouds of bright pink spoonbills, hundreds of large caiman lying on the shore, howler monkeys and spider monkeys cavorting in the tree tops and herds of the worlds largest rodent, the capybara, lounging on the river banks. The accommodations are very comfortable and the staff professional and organized

Trip Length: 5 days 4 Nights
Availability: Saturday through Wednesday
Accommodations: Very comfortable and clean lodge.
Activities: Observe the abundant fauna of the largest seasonally flooded Savannah in the western hemisphere.
Cost: $1,050 double occupancy/ $1,259 single occupancy (2000 prices)
Includes: All accommodations, transfers, all meals, local guides, vistas of clouds of birds, and a good look at many of the large mammals of South America.

Very often passengers will combine this trip with our Amazon trips in Brazil an absolutely fabulous natural history experience. Give us a call and we will help you coordinate the trips.

How to Sign Up for a Trip To the Pantanal: Give us a call at 832 327-7299-594-0147 to reserve the space. We will ask you to send us a non-refundable deposit in the amount of $300 US dollars. These should be sent to Andetur Brazilian Travel Club., c/o Paypal.com.

We will send you a confirmation kit which describes the steps for preparing for the trip as well as addressing all of the practical details involved in traveling in the neo-tropics. But don't worry, it is easy to get ready for our trips. For the nitty gritty details on refunds and other business aspects of the trips, follow this link to Administrative Details.

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June 11, 2000