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Best of Brazil with the Pantanal

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Friday, September 3

USA

Depart from the USA this evening on your independent overnight flight to Rio de Janeiro.

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Saturday, September 4

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Arrive Rio de Janeiro and transfer to our hotel. After lunch depart for an afternoon at the Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro, a botanical microcosm of Brazil, showcasing Victoria Amazonica lilies and more than 700 species of orchid, and supporting many of the region’s common birds. We also ride the cable car to the top of Sugar Loaf, Rio’s iconic peak, for marvelous views of the city and its famous beaches. Dinner at a local restaurant and overnight at the Caesar Park Hotel.

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Sunday, September 5

Rio De Janeiro / Belo Horizonte / Serra Da Canastra National Park

A short morning flight brings us to Belo Horizonte where an overland drive to Serra da Canastra National Park takes us through the central part of the state of Minas Gerais. The rocky, hilly landscape is dotted with farms and pastures and the occasional dark green patch of remnant forest is lit by bright yellow and purple flowering trees. Dinner and overnight at our hotel.

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Monday, September 6

Serra Da Canastra National Park

A vast area of rugged mountains and termite-mound-studded grasslands, Serra da Canastra National Park presents a spectacular backdrop to our full day excursion. The wooded gullies and rolling savannas support unusual birds, including the comical-looking toco toucan and cock-tailed tyrant, as well as the world’s highest concentration of giant anteaters. We hope to have good photographic opportunities of these and other fascinating animals as they roam the grasslands. Dinner and overnight at our hotel.

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Tuesday, September 7

Serra Da Canastra National Park / Caraça Natural Park

Today we set out overland to Caraça Natural Park with stops for photos, birding, and lunch en route. Set among tall mountains and lush montane forest, this beautiful park was originally a seminary retreat. Our accommodations for the next two nights are in renovated rooms in a wing of the original 17th-century seminary, surrounded by park lands among high mountains and lush forest. Tonight we gather outside the church, hoping to witness a maned wolf coming to take meat, a tradition that began more than 15 years ago. Dinner and overnight at the seminary.

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Wednesday, September 8

Caraça Natural Park

We have a full day to explore the Caraça wilderness on various walks with special focus on the endangered masked titi monkey, often located early in the morning by its strange laughing call. We will also look for the uncommon black-tufted-ear marmoset. The many birds of the area include such gems as the elusive swallow-tailed cotinga and the hyacinth visorbearer. Dinner and overnight at the seminary.

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Thursday, September 9

Caraça Natural Park / Ouro Preto / Belo Horizonte

We depart Caraça early this morning, driving south to visit the World Heritage Site of Ouro Preto, a charming colonial city built from the fabulous wealth acquired from what were then some of the richest gold mines in the Western Hemisphere. After a lunch and a tour here, we drive to Belo Horizonte for dinner at a local restaurant and overnight at our hotel.

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Friday, September 10

Belo Horizonte / Cuiaba / Pantanal

We depart Belo Horizonte very early this morning and fly to Cuiaba. We set out for the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a Biosphere Reserve. The first 60 miles is through a disturbed cerrado transition ecosystem that leads to the raised-dirt highway known as the Transpantaneira. Suddenly, wildlife abounds; this is one of the finest birding regions on Earth. The astonishing biodiversity here includes an incredible array of mammals, birds, and reptiles. Fish concentrate in the few seasonal pools, which in turn are crowded with storks, herons, spoonbills, ibises, and limpkins, not to mention ever-watchful jacaré caimans that search the ponds for easy prey. We continue through a diverse blend of cattle country, forest, and swamps, with repeated stops for observation and photography. Our journey continues after dusk with an evening spotlighting excursion to look for crab-eating foxes, crab-eating raccoons, and other mammals of the area. Dinner and overnight at our hotel in the Pantanal.

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Saturday, September 11

Pantanal / Porto Jofre

We spend our first morning in the Pantanal on the Pixaim River, searching for the family of giant otters that makes its home in this area. After lunch we continue southward towards Porto Jofre, making frequent stops for birds, nature-viewing, and photography as we head ever deeper into the Pantanal. We scan any wetland areas along the way for capybara and marsh deer, and we stop to admire the immense treetop nests of the jabiru stork, an iconic bird of the region. By the time we reach Porto Jofre, at the very end of the Transpantaneira, in the heart of the northern Pantanal, the sight of hundreds of jacaré caimans, dozens of capybaras, and a multitude of water birds will have presented a unique and memorable spectacle. Dinner and overnight at the Porto Jofre Hotel.

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Sunday, September 12

Porto Jofre / Pantanal / Cuiaba River

To fully explore this rich wetland area, we spend much of today in boats on the Cuiaba River to watch some of the area’s innumerable riverine birds, including kingfishers, terns, and skimmers, as well as keep a lookout for capybaras, caimans, howler and capuchin monkeys and, if we are extremely lucky, perhaps even a jaguar. Dinner and overnight at our hotel.

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Monday, September 13

Pantanal / Pixaim River

During today’s drive northward we search for the region’s rare and beautiful hyacinth macaw and stop for lunch along the Pixaim River. We continue to Araras Eco-Lodge arriving in the late afternoon, which gives us time to watch the hordes of birds at the feeders, to seek out local mammals, including coati, or to simply relax. After dinner another fascinating night drive takes us in search of crab-eating fox, great potoo, and perhaps even the ocelots occasionally seen in the area. Overnight at Araras Eco-Lodge.

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Tuesday, September 14

Cuiaba / Vitória / Santa Teresa

We return to Cuiaba, transfer to the airport for our flight to Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, then drive to Santa Teresa, a charming city whose tiled-roof farmhouses reveal its 19th-century Italian roots. The town is laid out in the shape of a cross; flowers and trees decorate its square. We visit the botanical garden of the Mello Leitao Museum, where flowers and feeders attract multiple species of iridescent hummingbirds, including the stunning swallow-tailed hummingbird, and perhaps even the scarce frilled coquette. Dinner at a local restaurant; overnight at our hotel in Santa Teresa.

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Wednesday, September 15

Santa Teresa / Muriqui Project / Lombardia Forest

After breakfast we drive to Santa Maria de Jetibá to visit the Muriqui Project whose mission is to study and conserve the populations and habitats of the northern muriqui. One of the world’s 25 most critically endangered primates, and South America’s largest primate, the muriqui is endemic to Brazil’s Atlantic rain forest region. Only a few hundred individuals remain and our visit to the project will help support this species.

This afternoon we visit the Lombardia Forest, which shares parkland with the Augusto Ruschi Reserve, home to the buffy-headed marmoset, maned sloth, brown capuchin, and masked titi monkeys. Birding here is rich and rewarding and we hope to find antbirds, manakins, puffbirds, toucanets, and many more rare and endemic species. Dinner and overnight at our hotel.

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Thursday, September 16

Santa Teresa / Vitória / Iguaçu Falls

After breakfast we drive to Vitória and enjoy lunch in town before boarding our flight to Iguaçu via Rio de Janeiro. Dinner and overnight at our hotel in Iguaçu.

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Friday, September 17

Iguaçu Falls

We have a full day to explore Iguaçu, one of the world’s most dramatic, and South America’s most celebrated waterfall. The falls are located on the Rio Iguaçu, just above the meeting point of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina, and surrounded by luxuriant subtropical rain forest. Today we visit the Argentinean side of the two-and-a-half-mile-wide falls to enjoy a glorious combination of furious whitewater, rain forest, and diverse birdlife, including caciques, toucans, and woodpeckers. Of special interest are the kettles of great dusky swifts as they swirl and dart through the rising clouds of spray and cling to the cliffs behind the falls; among them we may find white-collared and biscutate swifts. The endangered tegu lizard is relatively common here, and the number and colors of butterflies is astounding. Dinner and overnight at our hotel.

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Saturday, September 18

Iguaçu Falls / Rio De Janeiro / USA

This morning we take a leisurely walking excursion to admire the Brazilian side of the falls and to enjoy the most spectacular of all the views—the grand panorama. After lunch fly to Rio de Janeiro, then connect to your independent flight back to the USA.

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Sunday, September 19

USA

Arrive in the USA and connect with your flights homeward.

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