September 6: The Adventure Begins!
The Road to the Jaguars
This is the Transpantaneira Highway…
Transpantaneira Highway, Mato Grosso, Brazil
©️APaige Baker, 2019
To call it a “highway” is stretching things a bit—it’s just over 90 miles of dirt road. It crosses no fewer than 122 extremely rickety and completely terrifying wooden bridges. (More on that later… ) And it’s bumpy. VERY bumpy.
But from April to October, the Transpantaneira is the path to jaguars, capybaras, birds, and all manner of other amazing flora and fauna that most people will only see on “Animal Planet.” The rest of the year, the road is under water; the people who staff the ecotourism lodges shut everything down by the end of October and leave to do other things.
I kept meaning to ask those staff members about what they do in the rainy season, but we were all busy, and I never got around to posing the question. But I do know what one group of Brazilians does when the rains come.
Raising cattle is a big business in this part of Brazil. As you get closer to the entrance to the Pantanal, you begin to see herds of very thin white cows, trying to graze in fields full of termite mounds. [The cows look like they are starving to death and the termite mounds look like gravestones. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a sucker for a graveyard photo!]
At the end of October, the local cowboys drive the cattle up the Transpantaneira to lush northern pastures before the rains start. They do this on horseback, of course—while holding the reins in one hand and their smartphones in the other. [No joke—I actually saw one doing that.]
I hope this poor bovine got a decent meal before it BECAME a decent meal!
Skinny Cows and Termite Mounds
©️APaige Baker, 2019
There is no doubt when you arrive at the entrance to the park:
Welcome to the Pantanal!
©️APaige Baker, 2019
It doesn’t take long until you start seeing some of the millions of caimans that inhabit the Pantanal. This guy was having a hard time eating his lunch. Caimans don’t have tongues and they basically have to line their prey up with their gullets and choke it down. We watched this one for quite a while and he STILL hadn’t managed to swallow that enormous fish by the time we had to leave….
Caiman eating its lunch
©️APaige Baker, 2019
Our first lodge was the Pousada Rio Claro. We spent two days there photographing birds from boats in the middle of the Cuiabá River.
Let me tell you something. My hat is off to bird photographers. It’s the most difficult shooting I’ve ever done, and even the other photographers on my tour—who were all MUCH better and more seasoned than I am with a DSLR—struggled with getting good shots. I had to throw away almost all of the 1,370 shots from the first day.
But here are a few I kept. I don’t claim that they are great photos, but they make me happy:
Yellow-billed cardinal and Black-hooded parakeet
©️APaige Baker, 2019
Yellow-chevroned parakeet, Pousada Rio Claro
©️APaige Baker, 2019
The Cuiabá River is beautiful and peaceful. Within a short period of time, I felt my whole body starting to unwind from all the pre-trip and travel stress. Views like this one helped. [That’s a pale-vented pigeon flying across the left side of the screen. Many thanks to our wonderful Brazilian guide, Paulo Boute, for helping me identify it!]
Cuiabá River
©️APaige Baker, 2019
Ringed kingfisher
©️APaige Baker, 2019
Caiman with passengers
©️APaige Baker, 2019
I know this image of a black-collared hawk looks photoshopped, but I swear it isn’t!
Black-collared hawk with piranha
©️APaige Baker, 2019
As we finished our shoot and headed for our dock, I got my first glimpse of real, live CAPYBARAS!!
Capybaras
©️APaige Baker, 2019
The first of many magical sunsets on the Cuiabá River…
Sunset on the Cuiabá River
©️APaige Baker, 2019
Sunset, Pousada Rio Claro
©️APaige Baker, 2019