Extraordinary Wildlife Photography in the Pantanal

On one of our recent Brazil’s Pantanal Wildlife photo tours, a traveler kept a journal of his experience while on the trip. From spotting some of the most exotic animals unexpectedly to witnessing some of them in their natural habitat, this traveler’s life was forever changed after this trip of a lifetime. To help you get a better sense of what this photo tour is really like, read his journal entry below!

Wildlife Photography in the Pantanal: August 28-September 5, 2016

Despite the unexpected and highly uncharacteristic inclement weather, Ossian Lindholm, our pro-photographer, and Jean Duval Cypion, our guide, kept a seamless schedule and adapted our trip without compromising the quality of our experiences.  Our van was stuck in deep clay twice, but our trip was not short changed.

Beautiful bird species abound in the Pantanal; photo by traveler Chris Ang

Being in the Pantanal Norte was a magical experience. The surrealism, serenity were even greater with the vast and long stretches of virgin forests cut across by wide—and at points, narrow—rivers.

Daily we saw unique wildlife at every bend of street or river. Hundreds, if not thousands, of egrets, herons, jabirus, toucans, storks, ibises, kingfishers, electric blue hyacinth macaws, jacanas, hawks and an inexhaustible variety of bird species. It was sobering and heartening to seem them all thriving in their natural habitats, a point easy to escape us.

Hyacinth macaws; photo by traveler Chris Ang

On the riverbanks, we saw otters, kingfishers, herons, egrets, and anhingas getting fish from the water. High up on the branches, marmosets, howler and capuchin monkeys traversed adroitly through the canopies. Caymans floated on rivers and laid still as logs on its banks, basking in the sun. Iguanas relaxed on branches to enjoy nature’s heat source.

An unexpected jaguar sighting; photo by traveler Chris Ang

Then, the serenity that had stood still was interrupted as the boatman dashed and sped off, charging through the waters as we hurried to a reported jaguar sighting.

As expected,  the adrenaline rush from our speed boat continued as we joined others already there to see the majestic jaguar. We were told it was a female, our first (and thankfully not last) jaguar sighting. A slight rustle of leaves and then an unmistakable figure pushed out of the foliage and it was the spotted one, stunning and awe-inspiring. We were told we were “the lucky group” on this trip, as we spotted seven jaguars in various states of repose: stalking, swimming, hanging out and tightrope-walking on giant branches. At each sighting, I repeatedly forgot all of Ossian’s photographic lessons. Shutter speed, aperture, ISO, panning—it all abandoned me as I become hypnotized by the top predator of the Pantanal.

Egrets in the wild; photo by traveler Chris Ang

by Chris Ang, a Travel Vision traveler