The Pantanal
James Lowen
Jaguar (© James Lowen)
The Pantanal is to the Americas what the Serengeti is to Africa.The aquatic heart of South America - stretching from Brazil to Bolivia and Paraguay - showcases some of the most breathtaking gatherings of mammals, birds and reptiles that you could ever hope to see. The numbers in the world’s largest wetland can challenge credulity, with the smallest of lakes often so crowded with fur, feather and scale that you’ll be pushed to spot an uninhabited metre of water. If you enjoy watching wildlife, the Pantanal is paradise. Author James Lowen picks his Top Five wildlife experiences...
There is no more sought-after mammal in the New World than the jaguar. And the Pantanal is undeniably offers the best prospects of seeing it, particularly along riverbanks at the southern end of the Transpantaneira highway. The feline king of South America's jungle is swarthy and spotted, for all the world like a bodybuilding leopard.
Giant Otter (© James Lowen)
While glimpsing a jaguar may be the Pantanal nirvana, the trip highlight for most visitors is more likely to be an hour spent in the company of a confiding, cavorting and snorting family of giant otters. These massive aquatic predators offer that irresistible blend of the elusive and showy – hard to find (so raising the blood pressure) but consummate performers (so worth the effort).
Enormous nests – constructed from thick, metre-long branches – enthroning isolated tall trees can only mean one thing: we are in jabiru territory. The avian giant of the Pantanal skies, this stork soars on wings that span 2.5 m. When excited, the jabiru's inflatable throat sac engorges with blood and turns vivid scarlet.
Jabirus Nest (© James Lowen)
A raucous roar announces the arrival of a hyacinth macaw, the world's largest parrot. This cobalt-blue beauty is also one of the world's rarest birds, its population having crashed as a result of habitat destruction and illegal trapping for the cage-bird trade. Thanks to enlightened landowners, however, it thrives in the Pantanal – so seeing a nesting pair is a birding must for every visitor.
With a muscular tail, hefty jaws and razor-sharp teeth, yacaré caiman are the bruisers of the Pantanal's reptile contingent. In the dry season, these crocodilians make a beeline for remaining waterbodies - and do so in their hundreds. These immense gatherings – which turn floating water hyacinths into a seething morass of scaly armour – are simply one of the most gobsmacking wildlife spectacles in South America.
Hyacinth Macaws (© James Lowen)
Yacaré Caiman (© James Lowen)
All photos by James Lowen (www.pbase.com/james_lowen), author of Pantanal Wildlife a visitor's guide to Brazil's great wetland.