As I wrote in our July blog we took so many photo’s during our Pantanal adventure that it required a separate blog. After spending about 4 hours organising all the material, it turned out we have 1067 photo’s and videos! So its not just going to be one separate blog, but two. And although the 2nd part of our adventure also involved a boat, it was a completely different adventure than this first one. So stay tuned for part two 🙂
The Pantanal is located in the west of Brazil but also stretches out into Bolivia and Paraguay. It’s the biggest wetland in the world with a surface of 150.000km2. The name comes from the Portuguese word pantano which means swamp. We visited the area in the dry season, in the rainy season about 80% gets flooded and the water levels rise up to 3 meters higher, meaning a lot of the area can’t be reached. As you read in our July blog we encountered a lot of farms and fires and those, together with pollution and several other activities like fishing, are a big threat to this area. Which is a serious problem because the bio diversity here is suspected to be even bigger than in the Amazon. If only the Brazilians realised and appreciated what an amazing country they have!
Given the amount of water, visiting this area by boat makes the most sense. Transportations of goods and cattle also often happens by boat, cattle boats to be precise. Regularly cattle from the farms along the river Paraguay needs to be taken to Corumbá. So there are cattle boats going to and from Porto Jofre to Corumbá. Porto Jofre is a small settlement at the end of the Transpantaneira highway and close to the Pantanal Matogrossense National Park. This is also the area where part two of our adventure would take place.
For years overlanders have been using these cattle boats as a form of transport to get to Porto Jofre as well. It is possible by car, but coming from the South it is about a 1000km detour. And of course travelling across a river is a nice change and adventure! So we contacted a cattle boat company and we would go with them to Porto Jofre on their boat on the 26th of July. So one day in advance we arrived in Corumbá where we met up with a German family who would also come with us on the boat. However Friday 4pm came and went and our contact didn’t show. We got in touch with the captain, Macedo ,through WhatsApp and he told us his engine was broken and he couldn’t make it! Not only were we very disappointed but also worried about the down payment through PayPal that the both of us had already done… There were several other cattle boats docked so we tried those. But only one had some staff on it and they were so drunk, they couldn’t even give us the number of their captain… But fortunately for us, behind the scenes, Macedo contacted another cattle boat captain, Douglas, who was going to Porto Jofre that evening. So we drove through narrow streets to another harbour on the other side of town. And after some talking we could go with him and Macedo would transfer our down payment to Douglas, a great solution! We finally got on the boat at 19.30 and it was a very tight fit. The Germans couldn’t even fully open their doors. Their kids were in the camper part of the truck and the boy (about 5) opened a window for them to climb through! Oh well all part of the adventure!
After we left we checked out the main boat, or the pusher boat. Here we found the bathroom, which fortunately was kept nice and clean. On the top part of the boat were some huts for the passengers and on the lower part people slept in hammocks. Although I can’t imagine sleeping there. The noise of the engine, the lights, the constant movement of people and the heat made this cheapest option also an incredible uncomfortable one! We were glad to sleep in the van, further away form the engine and all the activity on the boat.
For the next two days we relaxed on the boat. Enjoying the view, spotting wildlife, reading and talking. And eating rice, beans and meat two times a day :/ Finnley wasn’t sure of it all but he did alright. He would sleep or explore the boat a bit on his leash. Staring at the water which he obviously didn’t trust! Especially the water plants, that seem to come towards the boat and then suddenly disappeared under the boat gave him a bit of a fright! Overall it was a sometimes a bit boring for him I guess. But it also prepared him for what was yet to come…
Several times a smaller boat would dislodge with goods to deliver them to a farm along the river. Twice we stopped to unload lots of goods. The 2nd time on Sunday afternoon it took over two hours and most people got off then as well at what seemed to be a big farm or perhaps several smaller farms together. From here we took 3 pigs with us and given to noise they made I was quite happy that the rest of the trip had been without cattle.
Macedo had told us we would arrive in Porto Jofre very early Monday morning and then leave the boat when it was light. We hadn’t thought to ask Douglas about this, but of course he had a different schedule. So we went to bed as usual on Sunday evening, only to get a rude awakening at 02.30 am! We had arrived and were as fast as possible and unceremoniously kicked of the boat. Again it wasn’t easy getting the big truck off the boat and this time he had to drive backwards as well! But he made it and after some driving around in the dark together we found a place to park for the night and to at least try and get some sleep.
The next day we would arrange part two of our Pantanal adventure.
Enjoy the video of this adventure!
What an adventure! Whose dog was onboard? Was he able to potty on shore enough times?
Hi, no the dog went on the boat and no that wasn’t cleaned up after ???? It does depend on the deliveries they need to make, but we had only one stop where we could go on land and that was on Sunday afternoon. There were three dogs, one belonged to the boat, one to a passenger and I don’t know about the third dog. You could definitely bring Maya but she would have to go potty on the boat.