There are about 6000 jaguars living in the Pantanal, most of them in the North part near Porto Jofre, although they can be seen in other parts of the Pantanal as well. The best season to spot them is the dry season as Jaguars hunt in the water and with the water level a lot lower than in the wet season, they have to come to the rivers that remain. Jaguars don’t just eat fish though, they eat lots of different animals, including deer, capybara’s, rabbits, birds and caiman. So the day after we drove off the cattle boat we went to arrange a tour. That wasn’t very hard, a guy approached us at our wild campspot. We talked, he offered us a good price (cheaper than we had expected) and he had no issues with us taking Finnley. Given the high temperature there was no way we could leave him in the van, not even parked in the shadow. The tour would be the next day and there would be one other person joining us. So for the rest of the day we set up camp at a different spot, next to the German family. Here Finnley finally got to run around off leash again.
The following day we arrived at the agreed location at 07.30. It was a grey day and a bit chilly so we were worried about not seeing any jaguars as they are less active than when it is sunny. Cats like the warmth and sun, big cats are no exception. Our guide said it wouldn’t be a problem, so we took off. The third person didn’t show so we basically got a private tour. The morning started of a bit slow and it was actually cold on the boat. But after about one hour the first sighting was reported. All the different tour companies use a radio system to let each other know where they have seen a jaguar. This means it can get quite crowded with boats. But everyone was very quiet and respectful. Boats take turns being in the front so everybody gets a good view.
So after a sighting came through we sped towards the location. And there we saw our first jaguar! And it was an incredible sight! These beautiful animals are so majestic! Honestly, I was so in awe of their beauty that I was in tears! No photo of video can do these gorgeous animals justice and if you ever get a chance to see them in real life, you should definitely take that chance! We saw 6 jaguars in total, walking, hunting and swimming. The jaguars weren’t impressed at all by all the boats, I guess the are used to it by now. Sometimes we were as close as 20m, other times further away. This of course also depended on the depth of the river.
We also saw some other animals that live in the Pantanal. Of course there were crocodiles (or caiman), several birds, capybara and some cute otters that were hunting and playing. We spend a full day on the water. Finnley did fine. Initially he sat up and looked around a bit, unimpressed. I think it really helped that he had just spend several days on a bigger boat, the moving water and the movements of the boats were not new to him. He got a bit bored and mostly just lay in his backpack. Only when there were other boats, thus more waves, he let us know this was not his idea of fun, but I managed to comfort him. And we had already decided we would spend another day at our wild camp spot so he could have fun as well.
It was an amazing experience, definitely a highlight of our trip!
Gaaf zeg! Jullie zien nog steeds mooie, nieuwe dingen.
hoi Jordi, sorry dat ik zo laat reageer, maar bedankt voor je reaktie. Ja, de pantanal was wel erg gaaf om te zien en te beleven. Daarna hadden we veel pech en zaten we 4 weken vast in Sao Paulo omdat de motor van de bus vervangen moest worden. Maar dat is nu gelukkig ook achter de rug. groetjes, Kilian.