The Pantanal

In the Pantanal we met nature. We didn't just watch it, we slept with it and took a shower with it. Since Nature's biggest game is the game of the hunter and the hunt, it is no wonder that we were hunted by a sharp predator. The agent of "Ecological Expeditions" spotted us at the bus station in Foz do Iguazu (about a 1000 km from Pantanal) and offered us 4 days and 3 nights safari in the Panatanal. We were a flock of 4, at that time, after we met another Israeli couple, Ariel & Sharon (read this sentence again without the '&' sign...). A flock does has its strength, so we got a good price and a free night at their hostel.
We didn't spend any time in Campo Grande when we arrived the next morning. The guys from Ecological Expeditions arranged a pickup from the bus station, and after a short shower we were on our way to the camp in the Pantanal.
The Pantanal is a tropical wetland and the world's largest wetland of any kind, it's about 3 times larger than Israel. In its wet season it's composed mainly of swamps and small islands, and the only mean of transportation are boats. Now (May) is the beginning of the dry season.
The whole safari in the Pantanal is around the camp. The camp itself has few huts for sleeping (on hammocks), a kitchen and a dining room. We preferred to sleep in a tent. The camp had also few showers where you can wash yourself in front of the starring eyes of the large (the size of a small melon) toads and all the flying insects around. At night you can actually hear all the mosquitoes calling their families for dinner as soon as you turn on the light. At the first day we put the mosquito repellent every 5 minutues, but by the forth day we had realized that the mosquitoes can't understand the word repellent in English, so it was worthless and we just had to get used to the bites.
Except for the first day, in which we arrived late to the camp, we had activities most of the waking hours. We did a short walk on the second day with our guide, Sandro, and where able to see a marshed dear, a fox, some birds, a Coati, and a family of monkeys that where not so keen to see us so they peed on us from above. We also did a day safari on the roof of a large 4x4 truck and saw plenty of birds, including Toucans, and Macaws. The day safari turned into a night safari. Sandro sat in the front of the roof and searched for animals with his spotlight. Suddenly he signaled the driver to stop, and turned his spotlight to one of the sides. Deep in the sand, hiding from the world was a small (and a deadly) snake. How Sandro was able to see it is beyond our understanding. Maybe it is their pet snake and they put it right before we got there...
The Pantanal is mostly private territories of ranchers and cow breeders. We had one close encounter with the cowboys and the cows on the first day. We were about to get into the truck on our way back to the camp when we heard a full herd of cows going back from their breeding farm. There where skinny cows as far as the eye can see at the front and the rear sides of the truck. Maybe it is not wildlife, but this is also a part of the Pantanal, and the scene was beautiful.
Because most of the territory is private, a lot of the places are fenced. The only time that we had to crawl under such a fence was the time we got into the water with the caimans. A caiman is a medium sized alligator which is very common in the Panatanal. We entered the water right next to their favorite place where lots of caimans use to lay down and worm their cold blood in the sun. We were able to get pretty close to them before they turned and started swimming away while cursing the tourists that come every day and disturbing their rest.
We didn't have to get out of the camp to see the wildlife, though. They came to us. The skies where full with caracaras, a medium sized predator bird, and with green parrots. We also saw an armadillo running just outside the camp.
The third day was the most fun. It started with a boat trip on the river, which gave us the oportunity to see some water birds such as the King fisher, and some predator birds such as the black hawk.
The second part of the day was dedicated to a horse ride through the swamps of the Pantanal. We literraly got into the swamps, when the horses walked with most of their bodies inside the water. The horses where quite well behaved, as opposed to the horses of Cerro Castillo, except for two horses that decided to sit down while gently rolling their riders off their back. Its a good thing they didn't do that in the water...
On the last day we had the choice between Piranha fishing and joining the day safari again. We joined the safari, saw some Capybaras (a 40 kilos version of a rat) from very close, but decided to leave the truck and walked the way back by foot. When the dominant sound of the engine disappears, you can hear the true soundtrack of the Pantanal. You hear all the birds flying, singing, and screaming, while other animals move inside the vegetation, hidden from the eye but not from the ear. We were also rewarded by seeing some giant river otters, which are an endangered specie in the Pantanal. The Piranha fishers, on the other hand, didn't had so much luck. The water wasn't worm enough, so the Piranahs just didn't grab the bait, and they came back empty handed.
We finished the safari and got to Bonito, which is, contrary to its name, a simple and touristic town with lots of travel agencies and great coconut shakes. Bonito is famous for the river snorkeling trips in the rivers around it, so we did one in Rio da Prata. We had a driver that picked us up from the hostel and drove us there. While on the way there, the eagle eyes of the driver spotted an Anteater and burrowing owls, while on the back he found Oren a nice Toucan. We got down to the river with a guide, put the snorkeling gear and started swimming. Actually we didn't have much to say about the direction because the stream took us with it. We took some underwater pictures with a camera we rented. Oren spent most of the time chasing those elusive fish for a quick portrait picture.
The snorkeling was nice, but in our opinion it was too short and lacked variety of fish, while the price was expansive.
We left Bonito after 3 days and took a flight from Campo Grande to Salvador de Bahia.

Tip 1 : The company that took us to the Pantanal, "Ecological Expeditions" is very recommended. The guides are very profecional and the atmosphere is very friendly. You can get a good price if you come in a large group and bargain. You don't need to look for them, they will find you...
Tip 2 : At the camp, the tents seem to be much better than the hammocks, ask for them when booking the safari.
Tip 3 : The town of Bonito is nice only if you got some extra money. There is a lot to do, but the prices are very high. The snorkeling in Eilat is much more impresive and much cheaper.