I placed photos taken by my wife Susanne during our July 2014 ecotour to the Brazilian Pantanal. They may be found in the Brazilian Wildlife gallery: Brazil - Wildlife Gallery
the Pantanal always seems to be an exceptional place for wildlife-watching, but also very expensive due to the way the tourism operations are set up and that most (all?) of the area is divided into privately-owned holdings which requires a person to only be able to use tours to see the place. Would that be an accurate impression?
Very nice - you are so fortunate to have seen a wild jaguar out in the open like that. From what I hear they are reliably seen now by boat tours along the riverbanks. Joe and MaryAnn McDonald - a team of US photographers I met once who are really nice - lead a jaguar tour to the Pantanal where photographers get numerous wild jaguar sightings. The problem is it costs about eight thousand dollars (not including airfare), so I will not be doing that trip ever.
Yes about the only way to see this area is to do it with tours or a guide in the privately owned holdings. Also there are a number of researchers that are staying at various places in the pantanal that have arrangements to do their work. There were a number of jaguar researchers staying at the flotel with us and the world renown national geographic photographer Franz Lanting was there with a student. We researched this extensively and found a great group Brazil Nature Tours: Ecotourism Packages in Brazil | Brazil Nature Tours We did the Jaguar Extreme Tour: Jaguar Extreme Tour in Pantanal Vacation Package | Brazil Nature Tours We were the only ones on that tour (during World Cup time) with a really great guide that met us at the airport and was with us the whole trip. The cost was about US$3,500/person plus air and tips for 7 days. There were other tours that were less expensive for just US$1000 or more to other places within the pantanal and around Brazil. The Jaguar Extreme tour did have the more remote places and more jaguar sightings than the others. We had three long extensive sightings of jaguars and many sightings of giant otter families interactions. The Jabiru storks were exceptional there and numerous birds that would excite birding groups. One of the best parts of this trip was the ease of viewing the wildlife from comfortable boats along the rivers and guides that knew where to look for them. The flotel was comfortable also with rustic accommodations but very good air conditioning, food, and sleeping and private bathrooms. Also it was fun to interact with the other people there....the researchers gave lectures at night with great photographs and stories.
