Santa Clara, the Pantanal (wetlands), Brazil.

After Rio we wen on a detox to the Pantanal area of Brazil. The Panatanal translates in to the Wetlands and is a protected area home to Anacondas, Toucans, Caimens, Piranha´s and Puma´s to name a few. Many of the farms in the area have caught onto the idea of eco tourism and typically offer a 4 night stay including all food and activities for the duration. We chose one that was recommended to us by Mat and Gabby who we travelled with in Argentina, called Santa Clara, roughly 3 hours from Campo Grande. Five activities were included, Piranha fishing, night time safari, horse riding, bush walk and a boat ride. What wildlife you saw was look of the draw, we did see many monkeys on the night safari and bush walk, but not much else, where as another group saw monkeys and an anaconda. The Piranha fishing couldn´t have been much easier, pretty much as soon as you put the rod in you would get a bite. They were quite could at getting the bait (beef) off the hook however without getting caught, and as soon as you did catch something the caimens would be after it. The other activity which I have posted photo´s of was from the boat ride. For this 6 of us and a guide went out on a small motor boat and saw some baby caimens, many adult caimens, and the largest rodent in the world (forget the name now), and also fed a caimen using a piranha as bait on the end of the line.