Itinerary Jaguar Essentials 5-Day Private Tour with Santa Rosa Pantanal Hotel and Pouso Alegre Lodge

Day 1 - Cuiabá to Porto Jofre: Exploring the Transpantaneira

You can meet your guide outside the security gate at the airport when your flight arrives in the morning or at your hotel or hostel in Várzea Grande or Cuiaba at the agreed-upon time.
We will then transfer to Pocone, the gateway to the Transpantaneira Park Road (105 km, 1 ½ hours).
We will stop in Pocone to purchase last-minute items and continue along the Transpantaneira safari-style, stopping to observe, photograph, and understand wildlife.
We will stop for lunch in Pocone or along the Transpantaneira, depending on our departure time.
We aim to arrive in Porto Jofre at the end of the Transpantaneira (145 km) in time for dinner by 19h00, with nocturnal spotlighting along the last part of the drive.
We will check into the rooms, have dinner, and spend the night at the Santa Rosa Pantanal Hotel.

Day 2 - Porto Jofre and the Labyrinth of Rivers

We will begin with breakfast starting between 05h30 and 07h00 before departing by motorboat upstream, navigating a labyrinth of rivers including the São Lourenço, Piquiri, Cuiabá, Três Irmãos, Corixo Negro, and the Caxari Channel. During the early dry season, from April, when temperatures are cooler, days are shorter, and mosquitoes are fewer, we generally pack a picnic lunch and return to the lodge before sunset, spending the day plying the waterways with experienced rivermen. Our objective is to offer at least 8 hours on the river. Most wildlife, especially avifauna, is more active in the early morning and late afternoon. Because of the nature of how we observe Jaguars by boat along the riverbanks, where they come to hunt, drink, swim, and enjoy a cool breeze & avoid insects often throughout the day, it can be advantageous to bring a lunch along during the dry season. It also allows us to explore farther from our base, and we have several hours to find Jaguars without the company of other boats that elect to return to the lodges during the lunch hour. During the rainy season, the tendency is reversed: We return to the lodge for lunch as we more often spot jaguars closer to our base rather than in the more remote regions that are frequently flooded in this season; there is a risk of thunderstorms, and longer days give us more time to return to the lodge, avoid mosquitos and not face the heat of the midday summer sun. Either way, after a full day of Jaguar spotting, we will return to the lodge by sunset, have dinner, and spend the night at the lodge, with the option of a brief nocturnal spotlighting safari after dinner. Overnight at Santa Rosa Pantanal Hotel.

Day 3 - Porto Jofre - Jaguars, Endangered Giant River Otters & Anacondas

We will again begin with breakfast sometime between 06h00 and 07h00.
We will again depart for the rivers, looking for Jaguars, Giant River Otters, Anacondas, Jacare caimans, Capybaras, Brown Capuchins, Gold & Black Howler monkeys, and shorebirds that are typically found in the area.
Depending on the group's preferences and yesterday´s results, we may target the areas where we are most likely to find Jaguars and Giant river otters or explore areas of the rivers we hadn’t passed the previous day. Lunch on the river or in the lodge will also depend on field conditions and the group's preferences.
We will again return to the lodge by sunset, have dinner, and spend the night there, with the option of a short nocturnal overland spotlighting safari.
We usually spend a minimum of about eight hours on the water.
Dinner and overnight at Santa Rosa Pantanal Hotel.

Day 4 - The Transpantaneira & Pouso Alegre Lodge

We will again begin with breakfast, starting sometime between 06h00 and 07h00.
After breakfast, we will depart safari-style and return along the Transpantaneira Park Road to the Pouso Alegre Lodge (110 km, about 3 hours) in the early morning when wildlife is most active, stopping to observe any interesting fauna.
We will continue along the access road for 7 km to the lodge, where we will check in, explore the grounds, and have a brief respite before lunch.
In this area, we have good chances to see Giant Anteaters, Tapirs, White-lipped and Collared peccaries, Hyacinth Macaws, and a tremendous variety of avifauna.
In the afternoon, we will trek along the extensive trail system on this 7000-hectare wildlife reserve. This will be followed by a nocturnal overland spotlighting safari along the access roads and a short section of the Transpantaneira.
We will have dinner at 19h30 and overnight at the Pouso Alegre Lodge.

Day 5—Pouso Alegre back to Cuiaba
We will take a sunrise hike to the observation tower along elevated trails.
We will return to the lodge for Breakfast at 07h00. Depending on the season and field conditions, we will have an activity in the morning, such as a trail walk or safari along the access roads on the reservation. We will have lunch at the lodge or in Pocone and then transfer back to Cuiaba to your hotel to meet your outbound flight or onward to one of our other destinations.