The Pantanal

After leaving Bonito, we travelled along a dirt track for about 6 hours and arrived into the Pantanal. This place is mind blowing.
On our way to our accommodation of hammocks in a large barn, we stopped to watch otters swimming and eating the fish they had been throwing to each other, caiman laying by the side of the water, the 2nd largest storks in the world and numerous other mammals milling about the pond.

Where we are staying, 3,000 hectars in size, they have their own caimans, horses, maccaws, parakeets and other bits of wildlife.

We are loving seeing the wild toucans flying around - Chris says they are like big blackbirds with bananas in their mouths!! But seeing them outside a bird park and when you´re relaxing in hammocks is something else.

After a morning spend on horse back - and after cooling off (it´s about 30 degrees at 9am) the group went Paranha fishing! It was so much fun! I don´t know how many Chris caught, but I got three and one other fish but that got thrown back in.

Picture it, we're standing in a swamp with lilypads growing through the murky water and 9 idiots standing in a row with bamboo rods trying to catch piranhas without getting bitten, oh and did I mention there were caiman in there too!!!! Chris and I fairly ran when one was coming towards us then disappeared under the water!!! (if you look closely, there's one in the photo between us!) But the piranhas were our dinner and they tasted really good.

We have really enjoyed our time in the Pantanal and tonight Chris held a caiman. The guide also liked Chris' head torch!!!

We have seen so many things that we would never have imagined. It´s really hot and humid and with no fans, air con or fridges it´s really back to nature - and the noises are really loud when there´s only electricity for a few hours in the morning and night. It makes you appreciate the silence.

On our morning walk before leaving to get the train to Bolivia, we saw 2 howler monkeys in the trees. You watch these animals on nature programmes and now you see them in reality. And it's even better through binoculars!

Next stop - Bolivia.