Pantanal and Iguaçu Falls

14th
A lazy morning of breakfast, catching up this diary (no chris, not dairy!!), packing our bags and waiting for our tour at 11am. A driver picked us up and dropped us at the airport where we met another person from the Caiman Tour company. We have no idea where we are going, other than we have a 4 hr bus ride ahead of us. Oh well, looking out from the plane on the way in, the surrounding area looked mainly farm land, so 4 hrs will be good to get away from it hopefully.The bus was small and there are 8 of us on the bus. The driver did not know much English, but that’s not a problem. After a couple of hours we stopped for a toilet and drink stop where we both got an ice-cream. It is so hot, and very humid! From the rest stop, we went a short distance and turned off the main road (VERY straight! We were driving for an hour and we had not seen a corner), onto a very narrow dirt road. It was in fairly good repair, very narrow, and all water crossings seemed even more narrow! Things started looking more promising as we started seeing a lot of birds flying around, then even an alligator on the road! Turns out that we are staying in a private farm, which is only 53,000 Ha! 5000 Ha is protected conservation area which the farm owners are not allowed to do anything in. The farm has 3 conservation projects operating where biologists stay and work, along with farming practices that aim to mitigate the impact the farming is having on the environment. The farm has 30,000 head of stock! We arrived at our lodge, a very nice place with pool and all the normal facilities. Our room is HUGE, with a separate bathroom and a screened balcony with hammock. Nice! The time was now 4pm, so a short break before a guided walk at 5:30 around the lodge area. On this walk we saw lots of birds, including a red and green Macaw, lots of different finches, egrets and many others I have no idea on the names. An alligator was content lying beside the road, and not much further along we saw the largest stalk in the world, a Jabiru Stork. It can grow to be 1.4m tall, with a wing span of 2.5m! The neck has a section with no melanin so appears red because of the blood! Got some really nice photos already, so really looking forward to the next few days!We were both excited to see more animals, so after our walk we stayed and kept wandering around. Shortly after a very large storm cloud was approaching and the sound of the wind in the trees in the distance started to increase. We headed back to cool off before dinner at 8:30 and avoid the dust and potentially rain. This also gave us a chance to check out the photos, we were not disappointed, but can always do better. Dinner was nice, steak, chicken, rice, salads, and fruit so once again not hungry. A slide show was put on after with a talk to introduce us to the farm and show some of what we may see. Looks amazing, so keen to see more tomorrow. Bed at 10:30 as wake up is 6:15 sharp. Military style ?
15th
Our Caiman walk (Alligator) started at 7 sharp. On our way we saw many small finches, some Hawks, Water Jakanas, snail kite, Toucan, king fishers, Agouti’s (a pig sized guinea pig) and other animals. The walk took about 3 hours in total, with the main objective to see a large number of Caimans, and as we found out, to get very close! We made our way to a concrete bridge where we could see more than 15 Alligators, all around 1.5 to 2m long, lazing around in the water. Our guide then went through a gate into the area and said to join him. Hesitantly the group obeyed, and crept our way to a clearing beside the water. Turns out we were going to feed them. After making some loud noise (Caimans have poor hearing), a few came out of the water towards us. The guide used a flimsy stick to tap the Caiman on the head to make it stop approaching… they behaved, surprisingly. They were rather clumsy at eating the meat thrown at them, and often did not seem interested. They are rather full at this time of year due to the large amount of fish in the abundant water. They need to be fat in order to survive the long dry season which follows. After feeding, we got to have our picture taken where we are holding the stick stopping the Caiman. There were many nervous smiles as photos got taken! On our way back along a raised road through some older forest, we got accustomed to being swarmed with Mosquitoes. They seem to be somewhat ignorant to DEET, much to our disgust. It helps, but does not stop all of them. Visited the Hyacinth macaw project where we watched slides on how they are helping to protect these birds, also went to their museum which details the history of the area and has lots of really good photos of the local fauna and flora. By now we were starting to melt as the day temperature is steadily rising, and with near 100% humidity. Sandy was in the pool as fast as she could get changed, while Chris was enjoying the air conditioned room clearing the photos ready for the next expedition in the afternoon. There is a pair of Toucans that frequent the trees in the grounds of the lodge, so this gave some opportunities for photos, but the light and distance from the birds is not making life easy. Plenty of time left yet. An Armadillo also lives around the grounds so got to see it out and about. Tried to go for a short walk to see more birds, but the heat is insane! We quickly re-thought our ideas and changed to swimming, followed by lunch, and a rest in the room until 4:30. Our canoe trip started at the lake beside the lodge. Sandy and I were unaccompanied in our canoe; the guide was with a couple of other people. We were hopeful to see more Caimans, perhaps snakes, and lots of birds, however the trip was rather uneventful, and soon became more exercise than sight seeing. We did go quite a distance up the lake, to where the water was covered by floating lilies and other plants. We passed some herons nesting in the top of some tall trees, and saw a hawk. There are loads of cormorants around and the usual Jakanas around. A couple of small Caimans concluded our wildlife. After 3 hours of paddling, the first thing we did when we returned was fall in the pool. Decided to go for a walk as it had started to cool down and we wanted to catch a sunset. We were not disappointed the sunset was gorgeous with lots of colour and a Caiman sitting in the water too with not a ripple around him. A few water birds around with a very noisy couple of water Jakana trying to protect their three babies that were not listening to their parents and dawdling about on the lily pads while their parents went mad with us being so close ? Dinner was eaten at 8:00pm not that many were hungry yet after lunch, however there was a very nice sweet dessert that had to be eaten, it would be rude not to after all ?A spot lighting tour was after dinner. The 8 in our group jumped up into a truck with canopy and we set off on a large loop of the farm. Our first sight was a small tarantula sitting at the base of the tree – I have no idea how our guide saw this but quite amazing and apparently can grow to the size of your hand. We passed the Caimans we had visited it the morning. They were all line up in the flow of the water fishing. This comprises of them sitting with their mouths open in the water and waiting for a fish to jump in, where they simply close their mouth and swallow. It appeared to be working very well! A very interesting sight to watch. From here we continued on and saw a few owls and a couple of other night birds. One interesting one was a small bird that is camouflaged like a branch. It sits very still and looks up. It trusts this disguise so much apparently people can get within a couple of meters. The cool breeze was nice as we headed back home for some sleep.
16th
This morning we ventured out on a horse back ride. We were not allowed to trot or gallop, only walk in a line. Still, this was good as it meant there would be no trouble. We were going through mainly flat fields with lots of vegetation and most of it with water up to knee deep. The horses were splashing water everywhere and everyone had very wet legs and shoes. Still, we got to see areas we would otherwise not have been able to access. At one point we stopped under some trees to let everyone catch up. Chris soon had to move his horse to get out of the way of a snake heading for shade. Our field guide also pointed out a jaguar spoor (footprint – for those like Chris that insist I have made this word up and that it must be in Afrikaans) which had been left in the mud. After an hour and a half we stopped for a drink and to rest the now quite sore bums. We were beside a small pond with the farm bulls, and more Caimans. It is a little strange to be quite relaxed when there is no fence between you and a few Alligators only a couple of meters away. We figure they must not be too hungry. Back on the horses and we made our way back to the lodge. We saw more of the usual birds, and another giant stork before making it back to the stables. By now we had forgotten about sore behinds due to the heat coming from the sun. Between 10 and 4 the temperature is so hot! After lunch we had a safari starting at 3:30. Back onto the truck. This time we saw the Blue Hyacinth Macaw, two were in a tree beside the road. We saw natural forest areas, and the areas converted to farming. These farming areas do not look much different, so it is pleasing to see the farming can co-exist with the natural habitat. Some monkeys were feeding on some new foliage not too far from the truck so also got to see them. Other than a few birds and more cows we did not see much else on the safari until we returned to the lodge. In a large tree were 2 red and green Macaws. Not very common in this area apparently, so we ended the tour here and stayed to get that perfect photo, or so we hoped. After staying with them for almost an hour, they finally flew off. A quick wander along to the stables where there are normally a few birds before heading back to the lodge. We were about to go to our room when a couple of people told us there were the blue hyacinth macaws back in the palms behind the lodge. They flew away when we started to approach, but they landed 100m further along. The light was going but we followed nevertheless. They are an amazing bird with such blue feathers! A couple of attempts at photos before retreating from the mosquitoes. The dinner tonight is a churrasco, or rather a barbecue with meat on large skewers (Basically Wild Fire in Auckland, local style).It was outside by the pool which was nice, but it meant that we had to contend with the Mosguitoes again. Oh well, more bug spray. We booked in for a bird watching tour in the morning, so off to bed again. Checked out our photos, and was rather disappointed with our ones of the red Macaws ?
17th
We got an extra hour sleep tonight due tot daylight savings changing here. A casual breakfast was followed by meeting our guide for the bird walk, or rather cycle as it turned out. With the bikes, we could cover more ground and be shown the night bird that looks like a twig, sitting on a nest with a chick. Very quickly we learnt that cycling and managing a camera is not easy! Still, we managed and shortly into our trip we spotted a giant ant-eater! We have not seen one before and it is rare to see on during the day. We jumped some fences with the guide and raced to get a better look before it disappeared into the forest. A couple of quick photos before it disappeared, but still great to see. Much larger than we thought they were. Back to our abandoned bikes to continue on. The next birds we found were 4 blue hyacinth macaws! Right by the road and with the sunlight being better than yesterday. They make a lot of noise, and are very social birds, preening each other and jumping about. We stayed with them for a while until they moved away, where we then headed to see the nesting night bird (Can’t remember the name!) When we were shown it, we couldn’t believe our eyes. This bird has excellent camouflage! If we had not been told it had a chick, we would not have known. The chick sits in front of the mother and blends in perfectly. Only a small beak can be distinguished from the front of the mother bird. The only movement it made the entire time we were watching was to slightly open an eye! The next stop was beside some mango trees where we saw a pair of birds related to the secretary bird of Africa, as they also catch and eat snakes. Our guide used an IPOD and speaker to call them closer, and it worked well! They came within 10m of us! After they went, we spotted a small humming-bird before it darted off. We continued on our way back to the lodge and found another type of humming-bird. The largest of the 3 species found on the farm, along with a relative to the wood-pecker. We were now back to the caiman area and forest. Our guide was hoping to see some monkeys we had heard earlier, but they were not to be seen. A tiger egret, Agouti and a different hawk did appear though. Deciding to continue due to the mosquitoes, we neared the lodge where a large heron was fishing in the lake. It caught a fish/crab thing before flying off. Back to the lodge where we found the red and green macaws again before finishing our bike ride. It was now 10am, and our bus leaves at 10:30, so time for a quick shower, finish packing our stuff and check out. The 4 hr bus ride is never fun, but the seats were comfortable and we were not crowded. A short stop for an ice cream and restrooms was the only break on the way to the airport in Campo Grande. We have 4hrs before our flight, and unfortunately there are no shops near the airport, besides which it is a Sunday. This equals a lot of time sitting in a nice café having some food (A really nice hamburger for a good price, and some drinks). Gives us time to catch this diary up and look at some photos. Still have 2hrs left, hmmmm, what to do now….
The flight to Sao Paulo was short, but the airport itself seemed rather chaotic! There were people everywhere, smelt pretty funky and at times difficult to get to our gate. We found that a lot of flights were delayed, including ours. Turns out we left about an hour late, and then had to wait on the plane to be refuelled for a while as it was parked at the far end of the airport (bus transport, not terminal). Finally landed in Iguacu and was met by our guide Marciel Dourado. We made it to our hotel at around 3am for some needed sleep.
18th
We swapped our tours around so that we had the morning to rest, and go for a casual walk along the Brazilian side of the waterfalls. The walk starts outside our hotel (very nice hotel with views over part of the falls while you eat breakfast), and takes around an hour. We finished breakfast around 10:30 and headed out. The views are amazing, the temperature is hot, and the air is full of water from the falls. There were people everywhere, and with a narrow path, those taking photos of people with the falls in the background slowed things up. But not to worry, that’s what everyone is here for. Not much wildlife – mostly due to the number of people- but we did see Quati, butterflies and people trying to poke a poor Tarantula out of a hole. At the end of the walk is a raised section of walkway that extends along the base of a cascade, out to where the water falls a second time to the river some 50m below. Out on the walkway is VERY wet, and it only takes a couple of seconds to become saturated. From there an elevator takes you up to the road level, where you can take a bus, or walk as we did, back to the hotel. We had organized to go and do the boat ride up the river to the waterfalls as we had heard good things about it. Marciel picked us up at 3:30 and took us to the boat tour company – Macuco Safari. The tour consisted of a short trip through the forest on an electric vehicle, followed by a 600m walk on a raised boardwalk, and then finally the boat ride. The boats seats about 20 people. Sandy and I sat up the front with the hope of getting wetter than most ? Armed with 2 x 200Hp outboards we set off. A couple of photo ops before our boat captain parked us under 2 of the smaller falls. The force of the water was intense, and the wind created from the falling water propelled the mist and water drops into your face so no-one could see. After manoeuvring such that everyone got properly wet, and then wet again, and just to make sure, wet yet again, we turned around and headed back to the jetty via a couple of grade 3 rapids that made sure you were wet. I must admit I was rather disappointed as we were a long way from Devils Throat. I think they need a couple of kiwi’s with the trusty jet boat to show them how to attack a waterfall ? Oh well, we got to see a few different perspectives so was worth the time. A short ride in a 4x4 back up the steep cliffs back to the main office, followed by another Jeep ride to our hotel concluded our outing. I was glad we were in an old vehicle, where none of the gauges worked, the steering wheel was more a steering guide with all the slop, and the gas was slowly putting us to sleep as we were completely drenched and making puddles on the seats. We spent the last of the afternoon around the hotel after drying off, with a beer by the pool. Dinner we decided to go to the pool area where a churrisco was being prepared. This bbq has to be the best meal to date. The selection and quality of the food was without fault. A quick check of the internet concluded our evening.
19th
Today is a big day. We have a visit to the Argentina side of the falls, and a visit to Itaipu Hydroelectric power station. We depart the hotel with our guide at 7:30 and headed off on a 40km trip to get across to the other side of the river only a few hundred meters away. The drive was interesting as we got to see some of the city, which is quite new comparatively speaking. We crossed the bridge over the river and stopped for a quick picture, however it is not allowed to get out of the vehicle. Another stamp in the passport and we were into Argentina once again. The park in Argentina around the falls is very small comparatively speaking, however they have constructed walkways over the water such that you can stand on the edge of the cliff right next to the main falls. There is 1,000 cubic meters of water falling per second on average and it certainly looks impressive falling a height of about 90m. There are 2 trains that carry around 400 people to the two main areas where the walkways begin. Our guide suggested walking 600m through the forest to bypass the first train. We learnt that this was to be first in the queue onto the second train which takes you to the centre of the falls. The spray from the falls is everywhere as you approach the edge of the cliff, so it does not take long to get soaked. Watching that amount of water falling into a sea of mist is mesmerising, and if it wasn’t for the large crowd of people and other activities to do, we could have stayed there for quite some time. We saw an earlier bridge that was built, however it was destroyed in the 90’s when a large flood swept parts of it away. We got back just before the train departed, normally every 15 or 30mins, and stopped for a quick walk of the upper circuit along the side of the river where there are many smaller waterfalls, looking like a bridal veil from the Brazilian side. We met an Australian who was on the boat trip yesterday with us, so got talking with him and suggested he join us on the Itaipu dam tour later in the afternoon, which he did. It was great having someone to talk and share stories with in English. The river was low so there were less falls than usual. Apparently the level of the river varies quickly depending on the amount of rain upstream. The amount of water flowing must be mind blowing in a flood as it reaches up to 2m higher than normal above the falls! Waiting for the train we had a family of quati (racoon looking animals) wandering around and trying to find food from tourists –even though you aren’t allowed to feed them. Also saw the most beautiful blue and black butterfly which landed a couple of metres away from us ?From the park we left and stopped in a shopping centre shared between Brazil and Paraguay. It is duty free, so a bit cheaper, and more modern selection. We were after a cheap point and shoot camera as our wide angle lens has finally seized totally at 70mm, which is a pain. It has not been possible to show the size and magnitude of the falls, and we have the largest, soon to be second largest, hydro power station in the world next. Sandy chose a Canon with 10x zoom and 8Mp, so impressed. Fairly cheap also so not too bad even after a lot of grumbling by me about spending more money… We passed the road to Paraguay, only 4km away, and continued on to Itaipu Dam. We were given tickets and on a bus very quickly. The dam is HUGE, there are 20 turbines running, and 2 alone would more than run New Zealand! The total installed capacity is 14,000MW. Each turbine has a 10m diameter tube falling 120m and has 700 cubic meters of water flowing each second. Therefore the total water passing through the dam at full capacity is 14,000 cubic meters, 14 x the amount falling over Iguacu falls. The spillway is impressive, I think it is 400m wide, with 14 gates capable of letting 60,000 cubic meters of water per second. The most they have let through to date is 36,000 cubic meters/sec. They only open when there is excess water, and would normally be open at this time of year, however the rains are later this year. A pity as it would be a sight to see! We passed over the dam wall and headed back to the entrance. We realized we were not on the tour we thought we were, instead the basic sightseeing one. We asked to do the one that takes you inside, but we were not wearing long trousers so were not allowed. A little grumpy at that as the parts we are going to be shown should be very safe. Oh well, rules must be there for a reason. We left there and made a quick stop in town before dropping our Auzzie friend off at his hotel. The plan was to go back to the hotel and then go to the bird park the next day, however we changed our minds and decided to go to the bird park now and try to do the other tour at the power station tomorrow before our flight. This was ok, so off we went. The bird park has many birds, mostly rescued by officials catching people trafficking them between countries. There are many macaws, parrots, toucans, stalks, an aviary of hummingbirds and butterflies, caiman, turtles etc. Sandy nearly stood on one of the birds in one aviary, but I think Sandy got more of a fright. The bird was eating the insects that landed on our legs! A small bird landed on Chris’s head which was quite a surprise. The final aviary was with a lot of Macaws, including the Blue Hyacinth Macaw we had seen in the Pantanal. They are very large when they are up close, and at one stage, about 10 of them flew from one end to the other, missing our heads by only centimetres. After 3hrs, our stomachs were complaining and it was time to go to the hotel. Our guide organized to meet us at 7:15, and left. As we entered the hotel, we saw the river was higher and there were more waterfalls. We decided we would grab a quick drink, leave our bag in the room and go for another walk like the first day. It was 6:30, so had a little over an hour before dark. We were the only people on the entire track! We saw many lizards, quati (racoon looking animal), a tarantula, monkeys and a grasshopper. It is so peaceful and very nice to see the falls in the evening. We went right out to the edge of the falls and watched the water until the light was fading. After a slightly eerie walk back almost in entire darkness, we sat down for some food. Chicken wings and chips, a smaller option than the previous nights indulgence. Time flew so after doing the usual photo download and a bit of last minute clothes washing, it was sleep time – and much to the body’s disgust a short one.
20th
Woke up a little early as the room air conditioning made it like a fridge! A quick breakfast of fruit, could be trouble later in the morning … before checking out. Our guide is great, always early and cheerful. Back to the Itaipu dam, this time in the appropriate clothes, and off onto the special tour. A short video showing all the positive aspects of the dam was shown before our bus picked us up. This time we did the same route, but stopped on the dam wall by the pistons used to close the intake gates and could get out. Looking over the edge is quite impressive! On the bus and down to the main control area. We had a quick look into one of the large “cathedral” areas, a hollow section in the dam wall used to save concrete without compromising strength, before heading into a building to see the control room. The room sits in the middle and controls 10 generators at 50Hz for Paraguay, and 10 at 60 Hz for Brazil. Paraguay only uses a fraction of the 10 generators it has, so after the energy passes through Paraguay (legal reasons) it is converted to 600kV DC and fed directly to Sao Paulo in Brazil. We saw the main summary screen in the control room. There was one generator shut down for preventative maintenance, another in idle mode, ready to run up to full power in less than 1 minute, and the other 18 were producing 12.290MW. The generators produce electricity at 18kV, which is then stepped up to 500kV for distribution, and in Brazil, this is increased further to 725kV due to the large distances some of the energy is transmitted. We were then taken down to see the generator shaft, a 3.6m diameter steel shaft connecting the turbine to the rotor in the generator. The ride down in the elevator was different, as ironically the lights in the lift were not working and when the doors shut, it was completely dark. The generator shaft was very impressive to see, and we also got to see the control mechanism for the pitch of the intake fins, a means of adjusting the amount of water flowing to the turbine, and hence it’s generating output. When the dam was built, it was predicted to take 90 days to fill, but a large flood came and the dam was filled to capacity in only 13 days! Apparently there is enough water in the dam to give 4,000 litres to every person on earth? Not completely sure, as I thought I heard 2.5 billion cubic meters of water. Anyway, it is a lot!
This concluded the tour so back to meet our guide to take us to the airport once again. Got our bags checked to Lima, Peru, and waited for our plane. A short flight, only 1.5hrs, and we were back in Sao Paulo where we have a 6hr wait before continuing to Lima. We found a courier shop, so sent a few more photos home, followed by a nice chocolate and banana crepe. Now sitting updating this, have a sore behind already and still have a couple of hours left! Last day in Brazil!