A high and dry, wild and wet, majestic history medley – RTW 2018

[JohnM]

Well, a cracker final boat excursion. Three jaguar sightings! All pretty good, albeit fairly brief. Not that the animals run away in panic, but they only need to walk a few metres and they can disappear from view.

So, of the seven excursions, we had sightings on three. The morning and afternoon sightings on Sunday were very likely the same animal, although the afternoon sighting was a fair distance from the morning sighting but in the same area.

We can therefore chalk up at least four different animals. I’m happy .

I managed to get a few reasonable photos on my camera, so I’ll post those when I return and dump everything to my PC. While these toy pocket cameras may be quite adequate for things that don’t move, they are nigh on useless for wildlife. Far to slow to focus, process and zoom is highly limited.

A cloudless sunset tonight as we burned back to the lodge, and of course followed right now by another well-deserved caipirinha .

 

[JohnM]

Morning today was taken up by the drive to a new pousada (lodge) in a different part of the Pantanal. No river in this area, but it has patchy wetlands in a mixture of cattle-grazing estancias and bush, in the park. Estancias are run as ecotourism enterprises and as farms.

This visitor lobbed in just after lunch. It is a rehabilitated macaw released back into the wild in 2009. We were lucky it made one of its occasional visits now.

 

[JohnM]

Sunset over the Pantanal from a 25m observation tower at this pousada.





The first four days of the trip were on the Paraguay River, with all its lagoons and channels on the immediate river valley floodplain, so all very much a wetland - and prime jaguar habitat.

The last three days are still within the Pantanal, but a totally different landscape and drainage system. This area is a vast, very flat (altitude variation c. 3m) plain that wets up during the rainy season partly from direct rain but predominantly from a slow, spreading flooding from the several rivers that overflow their immediate valley floodplains.

It’s akin to the Okavango, but far less channelled. In effect, it’s a vast very shallow swamp at maximum water. As it dries out, which is the status now, much of the landscape is very dry with fine, silty soil like in the Okavango but depressions retain water for a more prolonged period.

Fish and crustaceans (eg. many crabs) gradually concentrate in these residual ponds and swamps, along with an equivalent rich concentration of birds and alligators.

Fabulous biodiversity and interesting animals - eg. spent a while watching three armadillos this morning.

 

[HeavyElectricity]

An amazing trip - thank you for sharing - I'm jealous . Great photos too!

 

[love_the_life]

Sounds like it is a wonderful trip so far. I have a love of the big and small cats - something about them.

 

[JohnM]

Hyacinth macaws just with my iPhone this morning. They are bigger than they look here. It’s very hard to see the beautiful blue colour until they fly. The other macaw that I took close up earlier is the blue and yellow macaw.



Spotlighting last night and very early this morning revealed three tapirs and crab-eating racoons and crab-eating foxes. Crabs, about 6-7 cm across are very common in the ponds and a great food source. Crab shells everywhere.

 

[JohnM]

Horse ride after breakfast today. Jackpot! We saw a giant anteater. Photos on my camera for post-trip posting.





The pousada is very pleasant.





Info board.

 

[JohnM]

Well, we really hit the jackpot this afternoon on our final day in the Pantanal.

Mid afternoon we set out for a small river at the far end of the estate for a little relaxing canoeing. On the way we make another giant anteater sighting. Then, on the way back as the sun set and night fell, we broke out the spotlight.

Jackpot on steroi_s! A puma! Very rare to see - and pretty much impossible to photograph - even for those with the gear.

Then, a pygmy anteater. Soooo cute. Again, photos on my camera for posting after I return.

I ask our guide at dinner how he rates this trip for wildlife sightings - he gives it a 10. Maybe there have been better singular sightings, but we rip it up for diversity. Happy days!

Tomorrow it is a 2 hour drive back to Cuiaba, then a GOL flight to Sao Paulo, overnight there, then over to Iguassu Falls for four nights on Sunday.

I struggle ever onwards...

 

[Bindibuys]

Watch your belongings in Sao Paulo, the one city I have no wish to return to.

 

[love_the_life]

Looks like you’ve been really lucky with the wildlife sightings. So envious!

 

[JohnM]

Watch your belongings in Sao Paulo, the one city I have no wish to return to.

I’m only there overnight at a hotel near the airport.

 

[JohnM]

Looks like you’ve been really lucky with the wildlife sightings. So envious!

Patience and persistence are key. I made sure I went on every viewing excursion. Both the last boat ride and last drive hit the big jackpots.

 

[JohnM]

GRU-IGU this morning. Four nights at Iguassu. Three full days is probably a little more than necessary but I need to kill a little time before heading to Costa Rica for the next expedition.

GRU.



Nearing IGU.







IGU

 

[RooFlyer]

I had a look up-thread, but couldn't see - I think you said you were only doing the Brazilian side? No doubt you'll know by now anyway, but I thought you could get day tours across to the Argentinian side with a special visa type.

Well worth it - from the Brazilian side you see the falls the best, but from the Argentinian side you are on top of them (especially at the Devil's Throat) and an entirely different experience. There is also a great D/F supermarket near the border on the Brazil side - best place for booze!

When I went from the Brazilian side to the Argentinian side, I had a 'proper' visa (I was flying out of the Argentinian side airport to BA), but the crossing was sorta unique. I was using the Belmond driver/tour service and at the immigration point, He parked, took my passport and said to wait in the car. He went inside, got it processed and stamped, returned and off we went!

 

[JohnM]

I’m doing the Brazilian side tomorrow (Mon) and the Argy side on Tue. Wednesday is empty to kick around. Any ideas?

 

[JohnM]

Fairly quiet in downtown Foz do Iguacu on a Sunday night but I found a very good Italian-themed trattoria about a pleasant-stroll 1km from my hotel. They only do their pizzas (from a very extensive selection) on Sunday nights. No problem, as it was just what I felt like - with a bottle of again very good Brazilian Merlot.



Mmmmm - lots of gorgonzola .



Mmmmmm - very good Brazilian Merlot to wash it down .



The pizzas come on a hot plate. Perfecto! Now, why don’t other places do it that way too?



Life sucks... .

 

[craven morehead]

Fairly quiet in downtown Foz do Iguacu on a Sunday night but I found a very good Italian-themed trattoria about a pleasant-stroll 1km from my hotel. They only do their pizzas (from a very extensive selection) on Sunday nights. No problem, as it was just what I felt like - with a bottle of again very good Brazilian Merlot.

View attachment 132341

Mmmmm - lots of gorgonzola .

View attachment 132340

Mmmmmm - very good Brazilian Merlot to wash it down .

View attachment 132343

The pizzas come on a hot plate. Perfecto! Now, why don’t other places do it that way too?

View attachment 132342

Life sucks... .

Really sucks !!

 

[JohnM]

The last two days at Iguassu Falls have been jam-packed with full day excursions to the Brazilian side attractions on Monday and over to the Argentina side yesterday.

Foz do Iguacu is a large town, seemingly almost solely geared to servicing tourists to the falls. Nothing much else to do today, but the cill-out is welcome after two very full days. Out of here tomorrow morning IGU-xGRU-DFW before heading to Costa Rica for two weeks.

The Brazil side is more interesting for associated activities. The bird park, just over the road from the Iguassu Park entrance is exceptional and a must-do IMO. That took up a large part of the morning.

A few snippet pics.











I then did a helo ride over the falls in the last ride of the morning in this bird before the pilot went for lunch and another, different type of helo, took over.







It was then into the park after about an hour queuing, Disneyland-style. I later found out that it is the final week of school holidays.

Once into the park, shuttle buses ferry people the several kilometres to the falls. I had a boat ride ticket, so I stopped there first for a spin on the river below the falls. The options are a ‘wet’ or a ‘dry’ ride. Wet requires taking a change of clothes, as you cop a drenching even with a poncho on. I opted for dry to avoid the messing around, although I’m sure wet would have been a blast.







The wet ride continues into that spray.

The flow rate at the falls is fairly low at the moment - I believe at about 50% of normal sorts of high levels. Apparently 2014 was a monster flood that damaged boardwalk infrastructure, while I saw photos from 1978 when the whole falls ran completely dry.

 

[JohnM]

Out of the boat, and back on one of the many shuttle busses plying the circuit to get off at the terminus nearest the main falls.



I then walked back about 1.5 km to the Belmond Hotel. This pile is embedded deep in the park and reminds one of the Victoria Falls Hotel. The park closes for new entries at 1700h and everyone has to be out by 1800h. I enquired of the concierge whether I could get a dinner reservation in the restaurant (affirmative) and then get a taxi back into town. What they do is provide access to the hotel shuttle and a card with its timetable, and book a taxi to meet you at the park entrance when ready to go. Very good.

A bit of time to kill so I poked about the hotel and relaxed on the terrace, which has a view of a part of the falls over in Argentina. Took in the sunset, then partook of a well-deserved caipirinha in the bar. All tables on the terrace outside the bar were occupied by then.

 

[JohnM]

Dinner was reasonable, but not exciting. Typical of these sorts of places, the restaurant food is usually a bit 1970s and the clientele broadly consists of families with kids, slightly awkward young couples or old couples who sit glumly and don’t talk to each other. There is the very occasional solo traveller in the corner slurping wine and gnawing on a bone, scoping out the scene .

I thought the restaurant room didn’t live up to the general vibe. It had a slghtly empty 1950s feel rather than colonial splendour. Anyway, on I push.

Going with another Brazilian Merlot (which is to Brazil what Malbec is to Argentina), so I opt for meat and meat in the form of steak tartare and ribeye. The amuse bouche gave huge promise of things to come, but they were not realised. Not that it was bad; rather a bit plain and underwhelming.

The tartare was to cold and the meat had not been spiced up enough, while the ribeye was not very juicy. But I do like grilled vegetables. Finished with some good sorbet.

The wine was good in a softer, lighter-bodied more refined style than those previously tried. All up, the place delivered pretty much as expected, even if I had been hopeful of something a little more innovative - especially after the amuse bouche.