Wildlife of the Pantanal

Our guests will want to know what type and how much wildlife they can expect on one of our excursions. Simply put, more than you can imagine or even take in. It's like trying to take a drink from a waterfall.

Take the caiman crocodiles for example. I grew up in Middle Tennessee and never saw anything like them before except on the Discovery Channel. After a day or two on the Paraguay River and seeing literally hundreds of them (there are over 30 million in the Pantanal) you almost quit paying attention to them. Well, almost.

When I took this picture I had grown accustomed to them enough to get in as close as I could. I was about 5 feet away and in a boat but he still had my full respect. Caiman are slow movers unless they are attacking and then they are lighting fast.

Any photographer will love the Pantanal because of its diversity of wildlife. Take this picture for example. Two capybaras seemingly posing and saying "cheese" for me while being accompanied by a great ibis in the background. What you can't see is a caiman croc just off to the right. I didn't see him til after this photo was already taken.

Though I've been taking pictures for years, this was my first stab at wildlife photography. The Pantanal makes it easy and after you return home, you'll have plenty of National Geographic quality photos of your own to display with pride and show off to your family and friends.

You can see more of my pics from the Pantanal at my Flickr site

http://www.flickr.com/photos/westnashvillegringo/