CAMPO GRANDE - BURACO DAS ARARAS - CUIABA - TRANSPANTANEIRA - PORTO JOFRE
ITINERARY
DAY 1
ARRIVAL TO SAO PAULO
Arrive in São Paulo, Brazil, at Guarulhos International Airport (GRU). No activities are planned for this day so you can rest up from
your travels. The transfer to your hotel is included; your hotel is about twenty minutes away and we can organize an early check-in
as an option for those that need it (Usually rooms can be available by noon; getting into a room earlier than that requires additional
charges. Remember, you have at least 1.5 hours to get luggage and clear immigration and customs; there is a restaurant and
public areas at the airport where you can relax if you don’t want to pay an early room fee.).
This evening you’ll enjoy a welcome dinner the chance to meet your guide and traveling companions, and learn more about our
coming adventure. We invite you to sample Brazil's national cocktail, the caipirinha, made with cachaça (sugarcane liquor), sugar,
and lime. We predict this may be the first of many.
Accommodations at Hotel Matiz Guarulhos (D,B)
DAY 2
FLIGHT TO CAMPO GRANDE - MATO GROSSO DO SUL
Today you’ll take a morning flight to Campo Grande (1h50 min). From there you’ll drive to Aguapé Lodge (around three and a half
hours drivetime to cover 195 km aproximatelly). You’ll stop in Aquidauana for lunch in a typical Churrasqueria, and enjoy simple
Brazilian-style cuisine. Later, continue to the lodge with stops for mammals and birding on the way there.
Stunning birds that might show up in the way are Hyacinth Macaw, Blue-fronted Parrot, Nanday Parakeet, Toco Toucan, Lineated
and White Woodpeckers, Narrow-Billed Woodcreeper, Greater Thornbird, Giant Cowbird, Crested Oropendola, Purplish and
Plush-crested Jays, Red-crested Cardinal, and many others.
You then gather with friends for dinner and for those that wish, the daily checklist.
Accommodations at Aguapé Lodge (B,L,D)
DAY 3 & 4
AGUAPÉ LODGE
Aguapé offers an excellent environment for birdwatching; a place where over 300 bird species have been recorded and is known
as the gateway to the Pantanal. You’ll have two full days to explore from the lodge, plus the pathway coming and going.
Interesting bird species are Southern Screamer, Blaze-winged Parakeet, Gilded Hummingbird, Toco Toucan, Pale-crested and
White-fronted Woodpecker, Red-billed Scythebill, Campo Flickers, and the Scarlet-headed Blackbird.
Both days, after an early breakfast, you embark on a safari drive with good chances to see the Undulated Tinamou, Capped Heron,
Jabiru, Savanna Hawk, Rufescent Tiger Heron, Buff-necked and Plumbeous Ibises, Roseate Spoonbill, Hyacinth and
Yellow-collared Macaw, Red-billed Scythebill, Orange-backed Troupial, and many others.
After lunch back at the lodge, you can enjoy a siesta during the warmest part of the day, and then take another safari drive until the
end of the day, returning in the dark with chances to see mammals like the Crab-eating Fox, South American Coati, Capybara,
Marsh Deer, Southern Tamandua and night birds such as Common and Great Potoo, Spectacled and Striped Owl, Pauraque and
Scissor-tailed Nightjar.
We find this area to be the best place to spot Giant Anteater in the whole region and we make the effort to find them, so keep your
fingers crossed!
Each day dinner will be served upon return, and for those that wish, the checklist.
Accommodations at Aguapé Lodge (B,L,D, both days)
DAY 5
BURACO DAS ARARAS CAMPO GRANDE
After an early breakfast at Aguapé, you’ll drive to an amazing destination. Buraco das Araras is a huge sandstone crater, a
geological formation resulting from the collapse of boulders creating this enormous cavity of about 500 m in circumference and 100
m deep located in the middle of the cerrado in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. It is home to a wide variety of birds, but especially
for the colorful Red-and-Green Macaws, hence the name of the cave. Here you’ll have the best oportunities to photograph dozens
of this colorful birds at very close range since this species use the crevices and ledges as nesting and roosting sites. After lunch you’ll
drive back to Campo Grande for a deserved rest.
Accommodations in Campo Grande (B,L,D)
DAY 6
EARLY FLIGHT CAMPO GRANDE TO CUIABA | NORTHERN TRANSPANTANEIRA POUSADA PIUVAL
After an early domestic flight to Cuiabá you begin the second (northern) half of your Pantanal adventure!
From here, you travel the famous Transpantaneira Road, perhaps only rivaled by Tanzania’s Serengeti road in wildlife spotting.
Your destination today is Pousada Piuval. Along the way, you might see Ringed Kingfisher, Red-crested Cardinal, Lesser
Yellow-headed Vulture, Toco Toucan, Jabiru, Limpkin, Capybaras (of course!), Yacaré Caiman, and more.
Pousada Piuval is located just 10km from Poconé. This is the first lodge on the Transpantaneira. It is small, about twenty rooms,
and part of a large (7,000ha), family-ran ranch. After check in, you can stretch your legs in a short walk. There is a lovely pool if
anyone wants to cool off with a swim. Accommodations at Pousada Piuval (B,L,D)
DAY 7
BIRDING & WILDLIFE SPOTTING ON THE TRANSPANTANEIRA | DRIVE TO PORTO JOFRE
After some morning wildlife viewing at Facenda Piuval, you’ll depart down the Transpantaneira, keeping an eye out for Red Brocket
Deer, Marsh Deer, Crab-eating Fox, Greater Rhea, Chestnut-bellied Guan, Bare-faced Curassow, and a mix of wading birds.
Bridges are hotspots from which you can take advantage of the presence of a huge food supply; Green Kingfisher, Great Egret,
Cocoi Heron, both Bare-faced and Green Ibises, and White-lored Spinetail are just a few species you may see.
You pass through scattered palm woodlands, cerrado scrub, and seasonally-flooded grasslands reminiscent of the Everglades.
Roadside ponds and canals are filled with waders: Roseate Spoonbill, Plumbeous Ibis, Limpkin, cormorants, herons, kingfishers,
and their predator, Yacaré Caiman. July water conditions concentrate the fish for foraging waders like Jabiru and Maguari Stork.
At Porto Joffe, the “end of the road,” palms attract several resident pairs of Hyacinth Macaw. From this little town on the Cuiabá
River, you board a small boat to reach our lodgings — two nights on a lovely houseboat. Rooms are air-conditioned, with private
bath. This “floating hotel” allows you to stay close to where the wildlife has been spotted; you explore from the houseboat each day
on smaller boats.
Check into your boat cabins, enjoy dinner, and then have a briefing on safety and wildlife we hope to see. If skies are clear, star
viewing is impressive; you can see the Southern Cross!
Optional fishing is available while you are on the houseboat portion of the tour.
Accommodations in private cabins on a floating houseboat hotel! (B,L,D)
DAY 8
FULL DAY LOOKING FOR JAGUAR, GIANT OTTERS, JABIRU & MORE...
Awakein the heart of Pantanal on the river to a host of sounds and the sight of macaws and more flying overhead. You’ll use smaller speedboats to spend
the day searching for the iconic Jaguar, known for their affinity to water. They are good swimmers, and often lay down along the
shore after a swim. Chances are good for encountering at least one individual, male or female or perhaps even together!
Lunch on board, and take a short siesta (yes, love that AC ... ). Later in the afternoon, try for Jaguars again. Wildlife is plentiful in
this remote part of the Pantanal, so once the main task is accomplished (a Jaguar, of course), you have time to admire other species
like Giant Otter, Black Skimmer, Pied Plover, Southern Screamer, and Yacaré Caiman. You can also visit little streams for skulkers
like Pygmy Kingfisher and Sungrebe.
By late afternoon you’ll return to the welcoming houseboat to celebrate your sightings with caipirinhas before dinner!
Accommodations in private cabins on a floating houseboat hotel! (B,L,D)
DAY 9
WILDLIFE & BIRDING ON THE LOWER TRANSPANTANEIRA
After two days immersed in the wildest part of the Pantanal, you return north, retracing your route. There is no hurry to get there
though, so you can cover some of the areas you previously traveled in more detail.
Perhaps you’ll find a troop of Black-and-Gold Howler Monkeys, Chestnut-eared Aracari, Snail Kite, Rusty-backed Antwren,
Common Tody Flycatcher, White-browed Blackbird, and others species as you drive to your next lodge. Watch for Cream-colored
Woodpecker, Ashy-headed Greenlet, Short-crested Flycatcher, Mato Grosso Antbird, Great Antshrike, and Purple-throated
Euphonia. Near water you find Whistling and Capped Herons, Pygmy and Ringed Kingfishers, Sunbittern, Black-collared and Great
Black Hawks, and Rusty-backed Spinetail.
Once you arrive at the Mato Grosso Hotel on the Rio Pixiam, you settle in and check the feeders for brilliant-colored troupials, Palm,
and Sayaca Tanagers, and Red-crested Cardinal. At this point in your journey you’ll have seen numerous mammals and birds, so
you can focus our efforts on finding anything missing from your list that you hope to see.
Accommodations at the Mato Grosso Hotel, Rio Pixiam (B,L,D)
DAY 10
WILDLIFE & BIRDING LOWER TRANSPANTANEIRA
It’s another morning for gazing at the sunrise while sipping good Brazilian coffee. This morning, pending what you still need to see,
you can take a safari drive, or a small boat ride on the Pixaim River to spot secretive species like Agami and Zig-Zag Heron. This is
a good spot for Giant Otters and, with luck and some searching, a Tapir.
In the afternoon you can enjoy the landscapes and more birds from an observation tower and walk through a trail in a stuning Gallery
Forest looking for special birds like Helmeted Manakin, Mato Grosso Antbird, Band-tailed Antbird, Black-hooded Tanager,
Blue-crowned Trogon, Rufous-tailed Jacamar and more.
Accommodations at the Mato Grosso Hotel, Pixium River (B,L,D)
DAY 11
BIRDING | RETURN TO CUIABA
After an early birding activity and breakfast, today you’ll make our way back to Cuiabá. The paved road is perhaps a welcome sight
as you bid adieu to the marvelous but often dusty Pantanal. Driving back to Cuiabá, the landscapes are iconic and make for great
pictures. You’ll also look for Black-capped Donacobious, Green-and-rufous Kingfisher, Little Blue Heron, and other species along
the way. The plan is to arrive in Cuiabá in time for connections to São Paulo for evening flights out. Plan on flights after 6:00PM. For
those not finding a good match up, you can return to Guarulhos and overnight near the airport, or simply overnight at a hotel we
regularly use in Cuiabá and start fresh the following day.
