Pantanal Discovery tour to Pantanal and Bonito. — Attraction in Região Geográfica Imediata de Campo Grande

Short checklist for an unforgettable stay in Pantanal and Bonito

Gil is an amiable, talkative guy with a very positive everything-goes-attitude. We booked with him in Pantanal the Jungle Lodge and in Bonito the Pousada Remanso, both with various excursions with English speaking guides and, most important, transfers from Campo Grande to the various places and back. Allover everything worked out fine and in the end we were quite content. We were especially glad that the transfer cars were operated by professional drivers and that even the night run from Bonito to Campo Grande was a smooth experience.

However, it helps a lot to check everything before and during the stay - here our recommendations for successful vacations:

The Pantanal and Bonito offer many different choices. There are e.g. around Bonito several different rivers to snorkel, water falls to admire and caves to see. In general the different tours might sound similar, but in detail the focus of them is different. Check out on different channels like your travel guide book, trip advisor, Gil's homepage or Jungle Lodge homepage, what is more and less important for you to see and make your choice. Please note: These places are professionally run and booking a tour led by a local guide is compulsory - you cannot go on your own as it might be possible in your nature backyard at home. In some places there are limited overall numbers of visitors per day or maximum group sizes imposed. It is necessary to book ahead and Gil takes out much of the hassle you might be confronted with when you try to organize it on your own - especially when there is one activity in the morning, one in the afternoon, and transfers in between to connect everything.

After making your choice what to see and what to do arrange everything in detail with Gil and write it down, including precise time schedule for the various days, what is included and what not and what it will cost. Do not rely on flexible terms like "cave visit, river snorkeling and waterfalls", specify exactly where you are going to do what and when and whether an English speaking guide will be available or not.

Gil stays via Whatsapp in close touch with you. It is advisable to reconfirm with him before the next program point or transfer starts, if the activity location is confirmed and whether special needs will be fulfilled, e.g. two separate beds, English speaking guides etc. Gil is answering very quickly from early morning to late evening - you are never left alone.

You checked each point successfully? Enjoy your unforgettable stay in...

We contacted Gil (Pantanal Discovery) for organizing our tour in the Pantanal with our children. He was very kind and responsive at first glance and following his advice, we booked 4 days on site. He promised us a lot of activities (fishing, horse ridding, boat trip, etc...) and that we would be very happy. We were thus very enthusiastic and didn’t ask for a detailed plan... bad idea !

This “very good plan” on paper revealed to be very badly organized and without any respect for the clients. On the first day we arrived late at the farm (almost at night) and we had to literally run into a another pickup car to do the boat trip despite the very cold weather. The 10 of us were literally frozen and wet at night... and obviously we didn’t observe any animals. Good start...

The next 2 days were as disorganized as the first one and worst is the “piranha” fishing session: we were given a homemade fishing stick, and were left along the small water pad next to the farm entrance for the whole morning.

Our guide in the farm finally told us that, for the last day (the 4th day), nothing was planned: no possibility to do any activity (boat trip in the day this time, horse ridding, etc..,). We were here in the farm for the whole day without any activities planned apart from a walk around the farm “for free”.

When we called Gil to explain that we felt it was a bit unfair, he said there was no other activities possible indeed and if we wanted to leave earlier he could refund us for the last day... that’s what we did.

After about two months requesting for the reimbursement he promised (approx. 900 R$), the only answers I’ve received from him is very rude insults by text message...

I do not recommend Pantanal Discovery to organize...

We were really happy and confident while preparing this trip, as Gil reacted to all emails and messages. He even sent pictures of himself with happy families to reassure us as we were travelling with young children and said he would come himself at the airport to pick us up. Once arrived, he welcomed us with the credit card reader, took the smily selfie with us and that’s the last time we saw him :) After that we were put on a van riding way too fast and we knew absolutely nothing of where we were going, who were the guides etc. We were transferred after a few hours on another truck where we finally met our guide. We reached the “guest house” during night. The guides were friendly and did all their best to make us happy, however it was clear that Gil just fitted as many people as possible in the same tour so the stay was really not adapted to young children (and really we and our kids are not difficult!) As an example trails were often very long, in the middle of the Main Street, under the sun and for an undetermined duration. We were supposed to stay for 4 days (which we paid for already) and when other people left we asked what was the planning for the last day and we were told there was nothing planned but we could have another treck by foot. No boat no horse nothing. Us and our feet. Kids were really tired so we asked if possible to leave with other tourists the same day. Gil said yes and promised to refund the last day, which he never made and when we left the country he sent very...