PANTANAL JAGUAR SAFARIS — Local services in Região Geográfica Imediata de Cuiabá

I booked on the 10N Pantanal Wilderness Photographic Safari with PJS and I have nothing but good things to say about the whole experience. Leen was amazing throughout the whole booking process, tirelessly answering questions and helping to book the best trip for me.

From arrival in Cuiaba, everything ran so smoothly. Our guide, Fernando Buttura, was absolutely fabulous. He was able to spot and identify so many birds, mammals and reptiles, and is incredibly knowledgeable about the wildlife, history and overall culture of the Pantanal.

My trip involved three areas. We started at Hotel Baiazinha near the Taiamã Reserve, where we were lucky to see the beautiful red and green macaws, giant river otters and nine sightings of five individual jaguars, including a mum with a litter of three 5-month old cubs.

We then moved on to Piuval Lodge, where we spent 2.5 days on jeep safaris, taking in an incredible amount of birdlife along with two jaguar sightings at night near to the lodge. Fernando worked tirelessly to find us a Giant Anteater, which were proving very elusive during our stay. Not one jeep at the lodge had reported a single sighting the entire time we were there. Incredibly, on our last evening drive, Fernando managed to spot an anteater hidden deep in the shadows of a bush (I still do not know how he spotted it!). We were then privileged to watch as the Giant Anteater came out of the bushes and walked right past us before disappearing into the undergrowth again. We were so lucky that Fernando never gave up on finding one for us – even after we had probably given up hope!

Our final stop was at Hotel Pantanal Norte, where we returned to river boat safaris for the final 3.5 days. All I can really say about Porto Jofre is wow. The jaguars, giant river otters, tapir, caiman, birds, deer – all were incredible. The jaguar sightings far exceeded my expectations and I think our final count was 16 jaguar sighting of 10 different individuals in Porto Jofre. Fernando was great at getting us into position to get the best photographs, and went out of his way to find us our ‘own’ jaguar, so we were not always near to the other boats on the river. On more than one occasion, it was only our boat and maybe one or two others in the region which was fabulous. Fernando’s knowledge of the river and the local jaguar population was awesome and he was able to not only identify the jaguars for us but also explain their family history and typical behaviours.

To conclude, I cannot thank all the team at PJS enough for making my trip truly special. I do not think I could have asked for more and can highly recommend them for anyone looking to experience this...

September 2016: Being a female solo traveller, security and feeling looked after is my #1 priority, followed by photography. After approaching five companies recommended on Tripadvisor, Leen was one of only two responses (I can only speak English), so being the most interested in winning my business I booked and we exchanged several emails in the eight months leading up to my tour. There were two other sole travellers and we spent three and a half days exploring tributaries of the Paraguay river adjacent to the Taiama Reserve. Our accommodation was a purpose-built houseboat based about 15 minutes by boat from a pier, a few hours' drive from Cuiaba. It was basic but clean with air conditioning and the owners, although they didn't speak English, were kind and friendly and the food fine. Beer was available on an honour system and at a reasonable price. A typical day started with a stunning sunrise followed by about five hours on the river with the magical wafts of perfume from the Pombeiro trees' flowers, then back to the houseboat for lunch for a couple of hours, then out again until the light faded. The first night we saw a female jaguar who put on quite a show. I could sense our guide's relief that we'd ticked that box! Our boatman who was a local was always on the lookout too and was an excellent spotter. Although there were occasional fishing boats on the main part of the river, we enjoyed sightings of the animals without any other tourists around. Bliss! For me it was just the right amount of time to see what could be seen exploring all the tributaries within a reasonable radius of our base, and provided a further seven or eight sightings of jaguars. As well, we had three separate glimpses of otters (they don't like visitors), and watched marmoset monkeys, capybaras, caimans and numerous species of birds including toucans and myriad waterbirds. The last night at Piuval Lodge brought me (somewhat sadly!) back to 'civilisation' including WiFi, and provided another opportunity to see different animals-a tortoise, a fox, a pair of macaws and another one of those Kodak moments; two lizards jumping up at caterpillars which were crawling down a tree trunk en masse. Due to a flight mix up I missed the night and morning tours but the others saw an ocelot. I was disappointed not to meet Leen or have her or Andre as my guide but my experience - the peace and quiet (interrupted by the call of Southern Screamers), the scents along the river, the sunrises and sunsets and the feeling that we still have unspoilt pristine pockets of the world - made it worth all the time and effort it...

Spectacular 10 day Jaguar Safari! Leen (one of the owners of Pantanal Jaguar Safaris) worked with us to put together a perfectly tailored private safari for my wife and I. We visited 4 lodges over 10 days to experience various aspects of the Pantanal region and allow us to see a great variety of species and lots and lots of jaguars!

Our guide, Fernando, was simply outstanding. From the moment he picked us up at our hotel and headed out on a long drive into the Pantanal, we were immediately comfortable with his personality and his excellent English. Over the next 10 days we spent countless hours with Fernando in trucks, on boats, walking safaris and eating our meals together - he was a pleasure throughout - very knowledgeable, very funny and clearly very well known and very well liked at each lodge we arrived at which made us feel especially welcome by the staff at each location (which is a huge plus).

The food and hospitality at our 2 primary lodges, Baiazinha Hotel in Taiama Reserve and the Hotel Porto Jofre on the Cuiaba River was so much better than expected, The food served at each meal was outstanding - lots of choices and wonderful flavors on every offering and it never repeated itself - always something new and delicious to try at each meal. Plus, the staff at each of these places were extremely welcoming and helpful - a true joy to stay at each of these places.

The Araras Lodge, where we stayed for 2 nights was the only disappointment. Its an old ranch converted into a lodge and while the physical accommodations were very nice (clean and comfortable), the property that you did the overland safari on was extremely weak as far as available wildlife and the food served was definitely sub-par...the choices were limited at each meal and the food presentation and taste simply weren't very good. The only saving grace was the staff as they were absolutely wonderful, so it seems that hiring a new chef could improve this lodge dramatically.

Nonetheless, the overall trip was absolutely superb and I would do it again without hesitation. Many thanks to Leen for all her efforts in putting this together with us - she is very responsive and helpful with any and all questions you may have along the way which is very comforting. Then it was all Fernando who put the trip over the top - a real pleasure to spend 10 days with and a new...