IT-BRRT028/7512

Brazil - Pantanal Wildlife Trail & Safari  

The base for the South American Wildlife Trail & Safari is the Baia dos Pedras Ranch. The ranch is located approximately 160 miles from Campo Grande in a 50,000 acres farm with very rich flora and fauna. It has a diverse landscape of savanna lowlands, seasonal wetlands and rich forest areas. The Pedras Ranch is also an active working ranch with over 5.000 head of cattle.
The Pantanal, known as the world biggest ecological sanctuary and largest wetland area, covers some 240,000 sq.kms of the upper Paraguay river basin. About 2/3 of it belong to the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, extending to the west into Bolivia and southwest to Paraguay. 
The riding trail cuts through the Pantanal region of the Nhecolândia district. During 6 days (5 full & 2 half days) the group will be riding on the vast lands while the omnipresent wildlife catches the attentions and provokes breathtaking surprises during the whole trail. It is imperative, though, to keep cameras ready at all times. On a night excursion we show you how to caress a Cayman's neck.

IT-BRRT02
Rates include all transfers in Rio, one night in Rio de Janeiro with lunch and breakfast and half-day private sightseeing tour, all meals and accommodations during the ride in Pantanal, professional wildlife guides.
8 days/ 7 nights   $ 2,590   
rates based on a minimum of 2+ riders
... additional riders $1250
2004 Dates:  05/10-05/17   05/29-06/05
06/19-06/26   07/03-07/10   07/19-07/26
07/31-08/07   08/21-08/28   09/06-09/13
09/25-10/02
and upon request for groups of 4+
Horses: The ranch owns among the very best of the Pantaneiro horses, a criollo crossbreed, adapted perfectly to the characteristics of the flooded lands.
Tack: South American saddles 
Airport:  Rio de Janeiro / Campo de Grande
Meeting: Campo Grande , gateway to the Pantanal, which can be reached with regular flights via São Paulo (GRU) or Rio de Janeiro (GIG). Return from Rio de Janeiro.
Transfer: Pick up from the Campo Grande airport and the private charter flight from Campo Grande to the Pantanal are included. The flight from Campo Grande to Rio is not (approx $300).
Pace: Moderate, trots and canters
Level: Good novice to intermediate+
Note: The trip starts in Rio and ends in Campo Grande.

Itinerary
Day 1 Meeting in Campo Grande and private charter flight into the Pantanal. (flight included). A private 90 minute airplane flight follows to the Fazenda Baía das Pedras, where the group is welcomed by the owners of the ranch, Rita and Doio. After refreshments and relaxation from the long trip, lunch is served - the first of all the delicious meals you will have. After a walk to help digest and start to learn about the magnificent birds and wildlife, you go on a short ride to test your riding legs.  The Pantanero horses are wonderful, suitable even for the less experienced riders.  The horses and the saddles are made for comfort and security - and there are many changes of horse during the trip. They are all calm, surefooted and yet forward going. You also may inspect the ranch and it's annexed  Pantanal boarding school, a social-educational project, idealized by Rita and dedicated to the children of the ranchhands that are working at the far away fazendas in the district of Nhecolandia, where otherwise no educational facilities are available. Dinner and overnight at the ranch.
Day 2  Early departure with destination Fazenda Pouso Alto. Riding through the partially flooded lowlands, the group arrives for a 1st break at Fazenda da Leda. Wellcome by the foreman João and his wife Zilda, who is happy to serve refreshing black coffee and homemade corncakes. Relaxing under huge Mangotrees Jõao takes on the story telling. Next break is for picnic- lunch in the open. Bananas, mangoes, homemade breads, dry meat mixed with roasted flour of the maniok root, help to restore energy. Late afternoon you arrive at Fazenda Pouso Alto Guesthouse where the group ist wellcomed by the owner Fernando. After a well deserved shower, you can watch the most fascinating Pantanal sundown while sipping drinks and relaxing in hammocks. Dinner, storytelling and overnight.
Day 3.  Today the group rides through the vastness of the Pouso Alto property, enjoying untamed wilderness and observing the typical wildlife of this region of the Pantanal. The group will set up camp for overnight in the open, right under the brilliant Southern Cross. Before sundown, piranha fishing. Spiced with fresh peppers, they serve as a delicious soup entree. The guest will sleep in hammocks, protected by mosquitoes nets.
Day 4. Riding in a huge circle, the group will return to the Pouso Alto early afternoon, with time to take a bath in the natural ponds of the flooded areas and go for a walk in the vicinity of the Ranch. After dinner, Jeep ride to watch night animals.
Day 5. Early departure. The destination is a campsite on the grounds of the Baía das Pedras Ranch. The camp is fixed right at the banks of a beautiful lake which hosts piranhas, Caymans, and all kind of prey fish. Some of it serves for dinner, so does the roasted suckling pig. All cooked to perfection on the open barbecue-fire. After refreshing drinks, cold beers and a good meal, the you will listen to Pantanal stories. Subjects like dangerous spotted jaguars, anacondas and brave horsemen, are told by the brave horsemen themselves. In the dark with the fire low, the fight for survival causes splashing sounds in the lake and of the nocturnal animals around. Sleep will come after all......
Day 6. Getting up early to watch and photograph the awakening wildlife, particularly the waterbirds, like pink spoonbills, storks, mackaws etc.
Enjoy a typical breakfast as the peones (cowhands) prefer it when they are trailing cattle. There might be a chance that the group will help to trail or round up cattle, that is if they wish.... otherwise the group will be riding towards the fazenda Baía das Pedras where arrival is estimated for the early afternoon. A splashing cold shower and an even colder beer or similar, a rocking chair on the terrace and reflections on the days just passed by, will probably be the the best thing to do, before a fare well dinner is served, while a surprise awaits the successful participants of the trail.
Day 7. After breakfast a last ride with the owners and farmhands to say good by to this wonderful land with it's astonishing beauty and abundance of life, all around. Return to the ranch. Pack your travel gear and after lunch you visit the Pantanal school. Transfer to Campo Grande and Rio de Janeiro (flight Rio not included). Transfer to a hotel at the Copacabana - evening show in Bossa Nova Club or Showhouse (show and dinner extra)..
Day 8
We will take you on a half day city tour including cable car to the Sugarloaf. Afternoon departure.

Note: There is plenty of time for wildlife observation and photography, swimming in the rivers, fishing, etc.
The trails lead through large areas of bush land and require occasionally crossings of rivers on horseback.

Meals
All meals are highlighted by local cuisine, some of the most delicious meat you have ever tasted, home made breads, beignets and rolls, exotic fruits and vegetables, home made cheeses, compotes, and cane fudge and caramel sauces. During your trip you will be treated to fresh piranha, caiman, suckling pig, a BBQ of the hump of the Asian cow, and many other delicacies local to the country and the Pantanal.

When is the time to visit Pantanal?
Good time to visit Pantanal is from June to September, June and July being probably best two months. This is Winter in southern hemisphere and temperature is more pleasant. This is also the best time to view animals. This is nesting season for most birds. There is limited number of water sources available and most animals concentrate around these places.

Pantanal
According to Portuguese-English dictionary, PANTANAL is a "large swamp or marsh". In reality the definition is not precise . The term Pantanal is applied to a large land mass which becomes partially submersed during the raining season, covering an area of about 210,000 square kilometers in Central-Western Brazil, Eastern Bolivia and part of Paraguay. The largest portion of Pantanal, about 140,000 square kilometers lies, in Brazil, stretching over two states-- Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. By comparison, Florida Everglades has only 10,000 square kilometers.
The vegetation of the Pantanal is mainly a mixture between three of the most important Eco-systems of South America; the Chaco with its dry forest formations to the south, the savanna-like Cerrado to the east and the Amazon jungle to the north. As a result of the topography and the seasonal climate the landscapes consist of swamps, seasonally flooded grass and woodlands, and various types of forest (evergreen, semi deciduous, gallery etc.). This mixture has caused the Pantanal to house the highest concentration of wildlife in all of the Americas.
In the Pantanal region occur around 700 species of birds (compared to about 500 in all Europe). It is one of the most important breeding grounds for typical wetland birds such as heron, stork, ibis and pink spoonbill that are found in enormous flocks. The magnificent Jabiru with its red neck and black head; the biggest stork of the Americas is known as the symbol of the Pantanal. Quite evident are also the 26 species of parrot including the endangered blue hyacinth macaw, the world's largest parrot more than one meter long. Of other characteristic birds can be mentioned the rhea – the South American version of the ostrich. The large quantity of birds of prey – represented by 45 species – indicates a well balanced ecosystem."
"The Pantanal is a huge plain of marshy areas. The flooding period justifies the myth about its origin that says that it used to be a huge inside ocean, the Xaraés ocean. This hydrographic complex yet includes, countless of bays and lakes with the most diversified areas, linked or not by booklet and runways which are small perennial or even periodic rivers. During the river flooding or rains, it takes place an extraordinary linkage among rivers, river arms and the bays. The river water finally becomes only one: The Xaraés ocean. During the drainage period the region, enriched by humus, becomes the most and more rich concentration of natural foods which will sustain its entire flora and fauna. It is the period that the most large and vigorous grazing land of the world becomes green."

Jaguar

Caiman

Anaconda