The Pantanal - Brazil 2016

We quickly settled into our rooms, and then went for lunch in the lodge dining room. Whilst it had some of the usual staples, the view of the group was this maybe the best food of the trip and the chefs were prepared to add a few more flavours like garlic.

After a short relax, we met up for an afternoon boat safari. Heading west of the lodge, along the river spotting lots of birds, including kingfishers and herons including boat-billed hiding in the tree branches during the brightness of the day. It was a much gentler experience drifting along slowly, although the boat was significantly smaller than the jaguar watching ones.

Once back at the lodge we had a bit of time to get a few shots of a Chestnut-eared Aracari, before getting ready for our first Ocelot experience.

The lodge has constructed a split level hide, in the forest area along the river to the east, a short walk from the lodge. They also have a well-positioned tree and fallen branch, to which they have added some bamboo trays to hold chicken to tempt the Ocelots.

Whilst we wouldn’t normally support the baiting of wild animals for photo opportunities, this is probably the only realistic way you would get photographs of a wild ocelot. The approach is similar to how they bait wild bears in Finland, getting people into the hide before sunset, place the bait and then sit and wait. They have positioned a soft light and use a soft spotlight at times to illuminate the animals. Obviously, there is a concern at them becoming habituated, but at present I felt the cat, whilst taking advantage of a free meal, was still very wary of the situation displaying natural behaviours, and will hopefully remain that way.                   

Anyway, we set up in the hides whilst it was still light, wondering what camera settings to use. Naun suggested the use of flash, but I do not like to use that for wildlife and decided I would try without it.

The local birdlife know the score, and a persistent Rufous Hornero tried to make off with the chicken, whilst watching out for a hawk, which was trying to make off with it!

Eventually dusk arrived and just as the light was fading we heard the alarm calls of birds in the forest. Then, in the half-light the Ocelot emerged. It was obviously very wary and slowly crept up to the stand, before snatching its first bit of chicken and dashing back into the undergrowth.

However, that seemed to lift its confidence, and whilst still very wary and alert, it then returned several more times, treating us to some great acrobatics and the opportunity to get photos and video. I have to say it was one of the most challenging things I have tried to do with a camera. Checking images and trying to adjust ISO etc. to keep the shutter speed up with sufficient exposure, even with the lighting it was frustratingly hard, and I experimented with a few options.

We did get some reasonable shots and some interesting effects where any movement of the cat made for blurring of its markings. Fortunately, Liz also took some video of the ocelot with her new 7D with the 100-400mm lens set at 100mm and the results were pretty good.

Eventually all the chicken was gone and the ocelot disappeared back into the darkness.

We packed up (hard in the dark so headlights were very useful) and headed back to the lodge for dinner.

We woke early and took advantage of the morning sun to get some photos of the birds that frequent the lodge. The lodge staff put out seeds for the birds to encourage them to perch on the well positioned trees to catch the ‘golden hour’ morning light.

Each monring a pair of Toco Toucans would arrived along with a southern caracara that sadly met an untimely end – the story goes like this (written by Liz)… Alan noticed there was a great kiskadee hanging upside-down from the top of one of electricity poles. I told him they don’t naturally hang like that so it must have electrocuted itself. Alan pointed it out to anyone that would listen “oh look at the dead flycatcher”… he’s not good with bird names… anyway, later that day we noticed the kiskadee had gone and looked at the bottom of the pole to find our southern caracara had also electrocuted itself. We guessed it saw ‘an easy meal’ but it turned out to be a shocking one! 

After breakfast, we headed down to the boat dock again and set off, this time in an easterly direction along the river. The skipper had caught some fish while we had our breakfast, which he used to entice birds to swoop down and take from the water. We all got good practise at shooting the action shots, of kingfishers, black-collared hawks and great black hawks, although on closer inspection of the results, more practise may be required before we master the technique! To get a feel for how challenging it was watch how fast the hawk comes & goes and then quadruple that for the kingfishers! 

We continued past the Hotel Pantanal Mato Grosso, where we had made a comfort break on the way down to the Flotel and then spent a very pleasant couple of hours exploring the waterways, and viewing the wildlife.

We spent some time with a group of giant river otters that were very vocal, especially when they saw our skipper had some fish!

Another highlight included a troop of black howler monkeys which we watched move through the trees. One had a tiny baby clinging to its back.

As always we saw lots of caiman and more species of birds than I can remember.

Our skipper was excellent at spotting snakes along the river bank and we stopped a few times to get some photos as they moved along the edge of the bank.

We also saw a colony of proboscis bats under the concrete road bridge across the river near the above hotel.

We returned to the lodge around 12 for lunch and a rest before our afternoon walk into the surrounding forest. Naun had said we could have another opportunity to view the ocelot if we liked that evening and the group all jumped at the chance. We also noticed that we had been joined at the Lodge by the photo tour group from the Flotel while we were out.

After lunch, I went for a climb up the viewing tower to see the Jabiru stork nest - an adult jabiru is 120–140 cm (47–55 in) long, 2.3–2.8 m (7.5–9.2 ft) across the wings, and can weigh 4.3–9 kg (9.5–19.8 lb). They hold the record for being the tallest flying bird in South America, even their beaks alone can be a foot long! They eat fish, molluscs, and amphibians and occasionally will eat reptiles, bird eggs and small mammals. They have been known to live 36 years.

I was joined by Liz and Chris for a walk over to the nearby trees where a nesting pair of hyacinth macaws were, and another vermillion flycatcher, which we all had fun trying to capture a photo of!

At about 3pm, we gathered again and set off for our forest walk, mainly to try and see the local black-tailed marmosets. We eventually found them deep in the forest, but they were very shy and we didn’t really get a clear view of them. One of the local lodge guides had gone ahead of us and found two Potoos. These are amazing nocturnal birds who during the day blend into the forest brilliantly. In fact the one looked for all the world like a tree limb until we saw a slightly different view.

We were joined by the phototour group, some of whom again displayed a single-minded lack of awareness and courtesy to others around them… and could not spot the Potoo… and did not thank us for pointing it out.

Potoos are only active at night and sleep during the day. Like most other nocturnal birds, they have plumage that acts as camouflage and gives them the appearance of a piece of tree bark or broken off stump. Although potoos have a small beak, their mouths are huge. Their large mouths helps them in catch moths, beetles, and other insects during the night. Potoos don’t build nests, they lay a single egg and place it in the nook of a branch or broken off stem.

Once back at the lodge we had dinner and it was my turn to take the solo night drive. Again we did not spot too much, a tapir, a deer and an instant flash of an ocelot’s rear (indicating that they are indeed still wary of humans).

Then back to bed for another well-earned sleep.