Depart US.

Arrive in Campo Grande. Meet your (Portuguese-speaking) driver for transfer to hotel. Program Orientation this evening followed by dinner at the hotel. Check in starts at 2 pm.

Start your day with a sunrise visit to the Avenue of the Macaws, where from June through November, you should encounter both Blue-and-Yellow and Red-bellied Macaws, which are two species that you will not see well on any other places during your Brazilian expedition. Also visible with a high probability at the edge of the forest within a few hundred meters of the macaws are playful, mischievous Coatis and regal-looking Bare-faced Curassows. This curassow species will be seen well on other parts of your trip, but the Coatis, however, are likely to be seen parts of your trip, but will not be nearly as easy to photograph well. Return to the hotel for a pretty spectacular buffet breakfast, followed by a 4-hour drive on pure asphalt to the lodge in Bonito. During the drive, you pass large fields where we normally spot 10-30 Greater Rheas. As you probably know, this ostrich-like bird is by far the largest bird in the New World, and if any of the rheas are close enough to the road to be worth photographing, we will pull over and work on them. In the afternoon (around 2 or 3 pm), embark on a 20-50 minute drive in search specific fields for beautiful, bizarre Giant Anteaters. In 2022, a SouthWild researcher discovered a particular 1,200-m by 1,800-m open valley that for some reason that we do not yet understand yields excellent sightings of 3-12 Giant Anteaters every afternoon. On 29 January 2024, this SouthWild researcher is beginning a systematic project of intensive observational research of the behavior and territoriality of the Giant Anteaters of this valley, which, logically, we have christened “Giant Anteater Valley”. It is our hypothesis that there are 10-20 specific Giant Anteaters that frequently visit that valley to forage for ants and termites, so one of the first lines of research will simply be figuring out photo-based identification of each of the different individuals. As far as we know, no other site in the world is known to have more Giant Anteaters per day than this one valley, and we are delighted to report that this valley lies only a 35-min drive from the group’s hotel.

Begin the day with a 45-min drive to Macaw Canyon (“Buraco das Araras” in Portuguese), renowned as the world's most spectacular location for up-close observation and photography of any of the planet’s seven very colorful species of macaws. (For those of you who are wondering, the very colorful species of macaws include the Scarlet, Red-and-Green, Blue-and-Yellow, Hyacinth, Lear’s, Blue-throated, and Red-fronted). In the case of Macaw Canyon, it is the Red-and-Green Macaw (sometimes called “Green-winged Macaw”) that is the featured species. Enjoy a hot, hearty buffet lunch only a 7-minute drive away at the headquarters of Recanto Ecológico Rio da Prata, and then return no later than 230 pm for an afternoon dedicated to capturing more imagery of the amazing macaws flying back and forth in the canyon both at eye level and, most spectaculary, below you. Normally it is almost impossible to find a place where colorful macaws fly BENEATH you!

After breakfast, embark on a three-hour, two on asphalt and one on a dirt road, to Pousada Aguapé. Engage in various activities and outings at Pousada Aguapé, with a vehicle at your disposal for private photography outings. Aguapé is strategically-located in the very southern edge of the enormous Pantanal wetlands, and has long been a favorite of photographers in search of an excellent mix of Pantanal wildlife. The rooms, pool, and especially the cuisine at Aguapé are all outstanding.

Another day of private outings by safari vehicle and even by motorized river canoe.

Breakfast then morning activity at lodge. Early lunch at lodge then 3-h transfer to Campo Grande, remain ready with your camera for interesting wildlife that you might see on the first hour, which is on a dirt road through the southern edge of the Pantanal. Afternoon visit to Prosa State Park, a 400-acre state park in the eastern part of the city (open until 4 pm, closed on Saturdays and Sundays). Avenue of the Macaws ends at the entrance to Prosa State Park, and the state park is rich in Coatis and Bare-faced Curassows, in particular. The entrance to the park is located 1,800 m from the hotel. Afternoon visit to Prosa State Park, a 400-acre state park in the eastern part of the city (open until 4 pm, closed on Saturdays and Sundays). The southernmost terminus of the 800-meter-long Avenue of the Macaws lies merely 100 meters from the entrance to this park. This forest park and the Avenue of the Macaws offer more opportunities to photograph at close range both Blue-and-Yellow and Red-bellied Macaws and of course the engaging Coatis and stolid Bare-faced Curassows. The chance to see wild curassows of any species, not to mention this particularly-handsome one, in which both the males and females are especially attractive, is very rare. Various curassow and guan species occur from Mexico to northern Argentina, but most of those species are extremely shy and very hard to observe or photograph. Only where there is no hunting at all for decades and decades do you find some locations where curassows become easy to observe, and the Pantanal and this city park in Campo Grande are the best places in the world to photograph any of the largest species of curassows. The funny, rather “afro” looking feathers on top of the heads of this species of curassow makes them particularly jaunty-looking and elegant. The entrance to the park is located 1,800 m from the hotel, so we reach the park and return from the park in a minibus.

Depart hotel at 3:30 am for 20 min transfer to the Campo Grande Airport for 5:20 am flight to Cuiabá. 55 minute flight with an additional 10-15 minute of taxiing time on the ground in Campo Grande and Cuiabá. This flight does not operate on Sundays. 6:30 am arrival at Cuiabá, then transfer to the Slim Hotel for a full, hot buffet breakfast before starting 5:30 hour transfer in van or minibus to Porto Jofre, which lies at the southwest tip of the now-famous "Jaguarland". Jaguarland the 60 miles of interconnecting river channels that contain both the highest density, and most habituated wild Jaguars in the world. Jaguarland represents only one half of one percent of the entire Pantanal. As you know the Pantanal is the world's largest freshwater wetland, and is more than 10 times the size of the original extent of the Florida Everglades. First drive to the southwest of Cuiabá on pure asphalt for 70 minutes to reach the modest cattle and gold mining town of Poconé. Then slowly drive 2-2.5 hours south of the town, first on asphalt and then raised dirt road to SouthWild Pantanal Lodge, where you are surrounded by exhuberant Pantanal wildlife. Stretch your legs and have lunch before continuing for another 2-2.5 h by road down the last stretch of the Transpantaneira raised road. Reach the end of the Transpantaneira where it reaches the north bank of the 200-m-wide Cuiabá River to the end of the road on the north bank of the 200-m-wide Cuiabá River. After a short bathroom break, board your Jaguar search boats at about 2 or 3 pm and start cruising for 40 minutes or 1 h or so for 16 km upstream to the Jaguar Suites. Search for Jaguars during that boat ride. Then carry out a 2-3-h-long boat outing to search Jaguars, Giant Otters, and other wildlife until near sunset. Settle into your room at Jaguar Suites in the heart of Jaguarland. Frequently we even see Jaguars from your bedroom on Jaguar Suites, with the big cats strolling slowly along the riverbank either a mere 15 meters from the starboard side of the ship or 80 m away on the opposite riverbank. Dinner then wildlife lecture.

Two 4h boat outings in search of Jags, Giant Otters, and more. Normally, a four-night stay at Jaguar Suites yields 7-15 sightings of 6-11 different Jaguars, and this rate of sightings has been steady since 2016. Dinner then another wildlife lecture.

Two 4h boat outings in search of Jags, Giant Otters, and more. Dinner in the evening with another wildlife lecture.

Two 4h boat outings in search of Jags, Giant Otters, and more. Dinner in the evening with another wildlife lecture.

Breakfast at Jaguar Suites, check-out, boat 16 km downriver to arrive at the roadhead at Porto Jofre.
Road transfer to SouthWild Pantanal Lodge in open-sided, roofed safari truck or trucks (depending on group size). Lunch at SouthWild Pantanal, where on 20% of days during August, September, and October, we see one or more Jaguars on the banks of the 60-m-wide Pixaim River, often within 400-1000 m of the lodge. Afternoon 2-h motorboat outing on the wildlife-rich Pixaim River.

Explore the surroundings of the lodge and another boat outing on the river, and try for our unique Howler Monkey Experience (new in 2024!)--a Global Exclusive. In this new monkey experience, daily we see Black-and-Gold Howler Monkeys at only 10 m from your lens, and at eye level, as we have an 7-m-tall tower erected in a part of the forest that the monkeys love. This attraction has taken years to perfect. There are 15 species of howler monkeys in the world, and this is the only place in the world where if you give us at least two days at SWP, we can guarantee that you can see and photograph howlers, in this case Black-and-Gold Howlers, at such close range at eye level. Later, from 30 min prior to sunset until 90 min after sunset, wait at our Ocelot Experience to try to see one of these lovely spotted cats. Our Ocelot Experience is the only place in the world where one has a good probability per night (not 100%, however) to see a wild Ocelot in nature at only 6-10 meters and in very good light for photography.

Breakfast at SWP. Morning group transfer to Cuiaba airport.