The Pantanal - Brazil 2016

Day 4 continued... Porto Jofre to Jaguar Flotel

Porto Jofre transfer from truck to boat

We had about 10-15 minutes rest at the boat docking area at Porto Jofre while our bags were unloaded from the safari truck and transferred to the boat. Our ‘safari’ boat for the duration of our stay would be captained by Junior an employee of SouthWild, our hosts for the jaguar adventure. It could seat 10 people plus Junior, so there was room for our luggage to be placed around the unused seats at the back of the boat.

We all boarded the boat with much excitement about what we might see in this second part of our adventure and indeed the main event, this our main attempt to see our target species! The 20 minute ride was really pleasant and we got our first taste of zooming around on the boat as we went straight to the Flotel with no stops along the way (we were about 90 minutes behind schedule).

As we arrived at the Flotel the manager was there to greet us and guided us up to the lounge (where each evening the resident biologist gave a wildlife presentation). A staff member gave us a 10 minute presentation on the Flotel, how the wildlife viewing is managed, timings for trips and meal times etc. As we were late arriving we went straight through for our lunch, while our bags were taken to our rooms. I was over the moon to see they had Coke Zero (I prefer Diet Pepsi, but you’ve got to take what you can and this was a big improvement on no diet cola!)

Our jaguar viewing boat (boat at end of 'dock')

Boat ride to Flotel

SouthWild Jaguar Flotel

A bit about SouthWild Jaguar Flotel - the lodge is anchored near the mouth of the 3 Brothers River, in the centre of the ‘Jaguar Zone’. Morning and afternoon excursions go out between 7am & 11am and 2pm & 6pm in a radio equipped motor boat (to allow the captains to keep each other informed of what has been spotted & where). The Flotel has suites and smaller cabins – a quick read of TripAdvisor will give you feel for the big difference between the two styles of room. Our group was located in the suites so we had spacious rooms with two double beds, each with a mosquito net. There was plenty of desk area to spread out our camera gear and there were plenty of sensibly located power points with two adapters suitable for European & USA style plugs. The shower room was compact, with a small sink & mirror, toilet / bidet and reasonable sized shower, another larger sink & mirror was located in the main room. Meals were served as follows: breakfast 5am to 7am, lunch 11am to 1pm and dinner 6pm to 8pm. All buffet style, the choice was limited and cooking basic, but perfectly edible. Being on a Flotel has its restrictions with there being nowhere to walk during down hours, but as those down hours were very short, it wasn’t really a problem! There were bird feeders at the back of the Flotel hanging in the trees and many birds came to visit them along with some rather large caiman that would rest on the beach almost in touching distance. The Flotel had WiFi which was put under great strain by a group of Americans led by a professional photographer along with Marcos Felix (our originally intended guide). We were fortunate that our suite (number 12) was the closest suite to the WiFi’s route box, so we were able to get a signal in our room, although still slow during the day, it was pretty good in the middle of the night.

Afternoon Boat Safari

After we had refuelled in the dining room we checked out our rooms and unpacked our toiletries and set up our things in the 45 minutes we had before our first boat safari. Alan and I were so keen we were ready 15 minutes early and the boat hadn’t arrived yet. We are so used to African safari’s where, the vehicle is always there ahead of time and if you’re ready you get to go out a bit earlier. However, our group were the ‘just in time’ type, never late but on time. So we often found ourselves waiting for them (this was a first for us, up until now we have always found fellow wildlife watchers to be keen keen keen to get out and explore!)

Anyway, we left on time and headed out at 2pm on our first boat safari. Would we be lucky enough to see a jaguar on our first trip out? Would it be kind enough to come out into the sun and hang around for us to get multiple shots? I was so excited, my eyes darted from left to right and to left again, I didn’t want to miss a thing!

10 minutes out from the Flotel I spotted some movement to the right of us, I pointed to what I thought was a capybara splashing in the water. The moment my arm was out and my finger was pointing I could see spots… OH MY GOD, it’s a jaguar!!!! I couldn’t believe it, 10 minutes and we were seeing our first jaguar. By the time Junior had slowed down the boat the jaguar had climbed back out the river and back into the long grass & trees.

It’s OK we have plenty of time to see another one and get a photo, I was just happy we had seen one… this was going to be easier than I thought. We slowly moved along the shore line in the hope the jaguar would show itself again. Another boat had seen us stop and was looking too, but slightly ahead of us. They were pointing, it had been seen again. We moved along to where they were to get a view of it and there is was a jaguar out in the sun clearly visible to us and we were stopped and able to get photos of it… wow, I was already quite emotional, but when it walked to the edge of the forest and made that unmistakeable call a mother big cat makes to her cubs I almost broke down! The 9 month old cubs responded to the call and came out into view, I was now in floods of tears… I was telling myself “hold it together Liz, all your photos are going to be blurred if you keep shaking so much”. As the tears rolled down my cheeks, Alan looked at me and smiled, he knows what I’m like when I have scenes like this before me. But this was more than a “Liz is off again” smile, it was a “wow, I know exactly how you feel, isn’t this amazing” smile.

Throughout our time at the Flotel we were fortunate enough to have Parker, the resident biologist, ride with us in our boat. She was able to look up who this jaguar was, using a set of photos on her phone with head shots showing their individual markings. This was Ruth and her two cubs (Charley and Nessi) - Ruth also known by the name Iris. She was first seen in 2008 and has been seen for the past 7 out of 9 seasons. Estimated to be about 10 years old, maybe a little younger. Both cubs are about 9 months old. They don’t yet know their sexes – but at a guess by their personalities, Nessi is a little more shy and reserved and is thought to be a female, she has more of a "W" shape on her forehead. Charley is often in the front and more bold and is thought to be a male, he has more of a "U" shape on his forehead.

So how come they have names? Well they don’t, these names are used by the Flotel & its resident biologist so they can identify the jaguars for their guests. Both Alan and I thought this was great, we have stayed at one or two remote lodges where the guides go out every day yet they don’t appear to know the animals they are viewing. If you’re there every day there is no excuse for not knowing something of the history of predators like big cats and bears – they usually have territories so are seen in the same areas, they have battle scares or markings to help tell one from another and from the size of it and the number of seasons you have been viewing it you should be able to make a guess at its age. The Flotel also gets its guests involved in naming the jaguars, if you get a good quality full face photo of a new (to the Flotel) jaguar you get to name it! The cubs Charley and Nessi were only seen for the first time a few weeks before our visit to the Pantanal, by a Scottish couple who got to give them their names. A really nice touch, which no doubt will make guests want to come back to see ‘their’ jaguars again.

We watched the family of three climb down into the river, swim around some dead tree branches, get out the river walk along the beach and repeat. I was in control of myself now and was able to enjoy the spectacle without tears in my eyes, although that beaming smile did not leave my face.

This was a very special sighting and while they hung around, more and more boats arrived to watch. Fortunately we were at a wide section of the river, so there was plenty of space stopping any confrontations. When Ruth decided she was going to cross the wide river, the boats all lined up and gave her the space to swim across with the cubs. We watched as she led the way and then slowed and let them pass her so she could swim behind them so she keep an eye on them. Safely across, they climbed out and were gone. 20 amazing minutes that had made the whole trip worthwhile, if I didn’t see another jaguar on the trip I would not be going home disappointed.

Jaguar Ruth & her cubs attracted all the boats!

We were all relaxed now, just able to take in the experience of pleasant boat ride in a beautiful location with water birds flying overhead. We saw our first clear, nicely lit capybara and we briefly stopped to take some photos before continuing on.

Along the river you often see locals and tourists fishing and three gentleman in a boat waved to us to stop and pointed into some dead tree branches in the river. Naun and Junior wanted to continue on but we were quite content to take a look to see what it was. It turned out to be our first giant river otter sighting and we watched it swim around the branches occasionally teasing us with a quick sighting as it checked us out.

Capybara

Giant River Otter

So how do you top three jaguars and a giant river otter sighting in the first hour of your first boat safari… well with another jaguar of course! This time a male, Marley, approximately 2 years old, his mother is Jeni and he has a sister named Ryan (they thought it was also a boy).

Marley had been spotted sleeping on the bank by another boat and there were about five boats on scene hoping he would sit up, move or just do something. Me, I was just happy to see another jaguar and Alan and I took lots of shots of him twitch his ear, roll his head and blink. He did look up a couple of times as if to say “no, I’m not ready to move yet” and then he put his head back down again. He did this for about 20 minutes before getting up and moving into the forest just out of clear sight.

Some boats left but there were a few of us that moved across to the other side of the river into the shade and waited for another 20 minutes, when Marley decided to put on a bit of a show and sit in the open. We weren’t the boat at the front and you sometimes encounter inconsiderate people on other boats that stand up and block the view for others. Fortunately Marley was in an elevated position so I was able to shoot through the forest of people. Marley being somewhat of a poser, decided to give us all an opportunity to get some decent shots though and he moved along the beautifully golden lit river bank for 40 minutes, giving us his ‘coming out of the forest’ look, followed by the ‘coming out of the long grass’ look, ‘drinking’ look, ‘I’m a complete poser’ look and ‘taking a swim’ look.

Deciding we had nearly his complete portfolio captured, Marley swam across the river, spotting a vulture on the bank and over optimistically decided to creep out of the river to try and hunt it. The cunning vulture knew very well he was there and hopped about just out of reach and flew as soon as he got close enough to be of any danger.

100 minutes after we first set eyes on him it was time to head back to the Flotel as the sun was starting to set. We seriously could not have been any happier, this truly was an amazing place and THE best place to see jaguars in the wild!

Zooming back to the Jaguar Flotel at Sunset

Pantanal Sunset

Day 5 - Jaguar Flotel

Glorious Sunrise in The Pantanal

Early Morning Mist in The Pantanal

So the routine is the same every day, so I won’t ramble on about having breakfast, blah blah blah… but we were up before dawn, which allowed us to capture some beautiful shots of the sun making its appearance.

Out on the boat at 7am we spent the majority of the morning bird watching, looking out for jaguars and hoping for a call to come through on the radio. This time of year there are some nice narrow water ways that lead into dead ends where the water gets shallower and the birds sighting are more frequent. We enjoyed a leisurely ride spotting what we could.

Jaguar Speed!

Then at 10:30am we got the call a jaguar had been spotted, our first taste of ‘jaguar’ speed in the boat… whoosh! 15 minutes of spray as we tipped this way and that as we sped around the bends of the waterways.

As we arrived at the location where the sighting was we slowed right down as ‘Patricia’ came into sight along a sandy section of the river bank. Ruth, the mother jaguar we saw yesterday, is also the mother of Patricia. She is approximately 5 years old and has a brother named Jorge who is occasionally seen in the area. Patricia currently has 2 very young cubs, about 3 months old and no, we weren’t fortunate enough to see them! We had Patricia in view for a whole 60 seconds before she disappeared again… Not all sightings are like yesterdays, but still, she was kind enough to come out into full view, so I’m not complaining and we had jaguar number 5 in only two boat trips!

Afternoon Boat Safari

Back to the Flotel for 11am we ate early so we had more time to transfer photos and get ourselves ready… which I did, while Alan walked up and down the Flotel spotting birds and caiman.

This afternoon we would look for giant river otters and we headed in the opposite direction going east from the Flotel instead of west. We slowly travelled about an hour stopping for some birds when we got a call that the otters we had seen on our first afternoon were out… so we quickly made our way west, back past the Flotel to find several otters doing their poo & wee-phoria dance where they ensure their lovely (ahem) scent is distributed across the river bank, marking their territory. These guys were very inquisitive and kept popping up to get a sight of us and to tell us what they thought as they called out their loud squeaky squawky language.

Yellow-billed Tern

Black Skimmer

Capybara

Weighing up to 75kg (165 pounds) and measuring nearly 1.4 metres (55 inches) long the Capybara is the largest rodent in the world. They mostly graze and eat aquatic plants, but also fruit and bark from trees. An adult capybara can eat 3.5kg (8 pounds) of grass. Like cows they regurgitate their food and chew several times… they also eat their own poop to provide bacteria that helps their food digest (yuck).

Hunted by jaguars, anacondas, caiman and large eagles, when they sense danger they produce a bark which alerts other members of the group. They also purr, whistle, squeal and grunt. If they manage to avoid getting eaten they can live on average 8 to 10 years.

They have one litter a year and a pregnancy lasts 5 to 6 months and they usually have four young. All females in the group take care of young ones to help protect them from jaguars. They will feed from their mother’s milk for 16 weeks and will also start to graze after only a few days of being born.

Capybara

Yacare Caiman & Armoured Catfish

Naun spotted a caiman with a fish and once it had noticed we had stopped it did a squirrel on us and froze. We waited and waited and waited, we even pretended to look the other way to see if it would prompt it to eat its meal. Finally, it got fed up of waiting to have some privacy and it snapped the fish in its jaws a couple of times to brake its bones and then swallowed it whole.

Onwards for more bird spotting we stopped at a nice sandy beach for our sundowners. Anna, the youngest of our group asked if she could get out onto the beach and after Naun had checked for jaguars… Anna went for walk and on the other side of sand bank was a giant river otter that was hunting for its supper. We all got off the boat to have a look. We watched the sun set from the beach and then made our way back to the lodge for our dinner and another after dinner presentation by Parker.

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