If there’s anything more thrilling than making eye contact with a big cat predator, I’d like to know about it. Even when you know you’re safe there’s a chill in those cold killer eyes you don’t easily forget.
The Pantanal in Brazil is home to some of the biggest jaguars in South America. And I was lucky enough to get up close with them on my visit to this land of majestic animals.
Dusk was falling and the sky was shifting from blue to a dark orange as we careered down a saffron-hued dirt track. We’d been on safari for hours and, while other animals had been spotted, the jaguars were proving elusive.
The area is home to dozens of the big cats, but there’s a lot of ground to cover and they’re experts at hiding.
Bruno Sartori – our guide from the Oncafari Jaguar conservation charity – decided it was time for action.
A handful of the animals wear tracking collars to help with conservation efforts so we could use that technology to get close to one.
Bruno unfurled the aerial attached to the tracker and turned it this way and that until… there it was – a faint but promising pulse that told us a jaguar was somewhere near. Tense moments followed as the signal waxed and waned until suddenly, sprawled beneath one of the many clutches of trees and bushes dotted across the marshland landscape, there she was.
Even from a distance the creature was breathtaking – boxy and powerful shoulders were revealed as she adjusted to get a better look at us inching closer in our jeep. The coat is distinctive with tan fur dotted with a tapestry of black and orange rosettes. Her name, Bruno says, is Aroeira – and she’s as beautiful as she is terrifying.
She’s not concerned – she’s used to it. And she gets to her feet and slinks off into the twilight. We don’t follow so as not to spook her, but loop round to get ahead for a very close encounter.
As she sashays past that’s when it happens – she looks up as her powerful jaws are revealed in the jeep’s headlights and she catches my eye.
I’m left with shivers as she pads slowly across the marshland and away into the brush, probably to see to the cubs Bruno believes she’s just had.
The jaguar is one of the pack of five big cats found in ever decreasing numbers across the planet, and takes the prize as the alpha predator on the South American continent.
But thanks to the impressive conservation efforts of some dedicated people, coming across more than one of these animals on a trip here is likely.
The ride back to Caiman Lodge – our base for a wonderful four-day safari which offers the sight of these reptiles too, was almost as magical as the spotting of the cat itself.
As the skies darken, the place comes alive with animal sounds, especially the Formula 1 Frog, which recalls Max Verstappen on the home straight.
As we head home, a canopy of shining stars, with Venus bright and low, lights our way.
The land on which Caiman Lodge sits has been in the family of owner Roberto Klabin for generations, and now he’s tasked himself with what he calls “weaving back the wild”. Essentially he’s using eco-tourism to fund the protection of the wildlife that calls this land home.
The threat of climate change is everywhere, though, with drier conditions in the Pantanal wetlands leading to wildfires that have devastated surrounding areas. Though some recovery has occurred, Roberto is preparing for future challenges by constructing animal shelters to ensure wildlife survival.
The lodge is not easy to get to – there’s a 12-hour flight from London to San Paulo, followed by another hour-and-a-half in the air to Campo Grande, the closest city to Caiman. Then you’re in for a three-and-a-half hour drive. But once you are there, it’s worth the trouble. It looks and feels very much like you’d imagine safari land in Africa might be – dusty dirt tracks weaving through plains dotted with trees and shrubbery. There’s one constant – cattle roam the land as well as the wilder inhabitants – another source of income for the land’s owners. We’re on safari twice a day – in the morning and evening to avoid the midday heat, and most of the tours are included in the price of a stay.
In addition to animal spotting, you can also enjoy horse-riding and canoeing. Two charities, Oncafari and the Hyacinth Macaw Project, offer special tours.
Oncafari takes you to see jaguars, while the Hyacinth Macaw Project showcases its work in conserving this magnificent bird.
Founded by biologist Neiva Guedes, it has been studying macaws since the late 80s and providing support to ensure their continued existence, which has led to their removal from the endangered list.
The morning we spent with a team from the project, led by vet Maria Eduarda Monteiro, was a wonderful insight into the work.They checked on a couple of weeks-old chicks in two of the artificial nests the project has set up around the area, and found them both to be doing well.
Don’t imagine a stay at Caiman Lodge means roughing it. The luxury accommodation is comfortable and relaxing, and the lodge is surrounded by high fences to keep the animals out. The sense of isolation is always there. The food too is fantastic. Stays here are full-board by necessity, and it’s a buffet affair full of traditional Brazilian dishes (yes, lots of beef, obviously – but some fabulous vegetarian options, too). Caiman’s safaris, led by guide Rafael de Andrade, were equally thrilling as the hyacinth macaw and jaguar outings. The Pantanal offers its own big five animals: the jaguar, tapir, capybara, marsh deer, and giant anteater.
Could Rafael manage to track them all down for us?
Into our final safari, we still had a giant anteater to tick off our list – and there didn’t seem to be any around. Somehow Rafael seemed to sense something in the air, and got the driver to turn round and head back the way we had come.
Entering a lush green field over the crest of a hill, it came into view – the long-nosed beast with an enormous bushy tail was shambling through the shrubs, almost blind and oblivious to our presence as we dismounted the Jeep for a closer look. Mission complete. This floodplain, renewed annually by the rains, teems with thousands of birds and insects, and you might even see a tarantula the size of your hand crossing the road.
There are monkeys here too. It’s almost too much, if such a thing is possible – there is simply wildlife everywhere… for now.
So it was impossible to end my visit there without offering a salute to the wonderful people who have dedicated their lives to helping to make sure it stays that way – against seemingly insurmountable odds.
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