Look! There jag-uar!

Half a day's drive south from the geographical centre of the South American continent, Cuiaba, Brazil, lies the frontier of the world's largest wetland, the Pantanal. It is said to be the most biodiverse place on Earth, with a density of wildlife surpassing that of the Amazonian rainforests. It was another adventure that I had been eagerly anticipating. I had seen it on an Attenborough documentary, but I didn't really know what to expect. It was only following the long drive south, after we were taken by speedboat to our "floatel" in the midst of the wetlands, that I appreciated how much of an adventure this was really going to be. The half a dozen other guests joining the expedition were hardcore wildlife devotees, and more than hardcore photographers. These are people who travel the world with checked baggage solely for their camera equipment, and who flit between places like Botswana, Patagonia, the Arctic Circle and the Himalayas to see and capture wildlife, and in some instances, sell their footage to the BBC as fodder for those very same Attenborough documentaries. And there I was, very much with a "point and shoot and hope" approach to photography and on my first ever true safari! Possibly in out of my depth, I took comfort knowing that at least I was there with a comparable sense of appreciation for the wilderness we were setting off to explore.

The next seven days were spent in a strict routine. 5.30am breakfast to be ready to board the zodiac boats for the morning search for wildlife at 6am. Return for lunch at 12 before another five or six hours exploring the wetland tributaries in the afternoon. Dinner, bed, repeat. It was a schedule designed to maximise opportunities to see as many species as possible, and which proceeded each day, rain or shine (and fortunately there was not too much of either - we missed the worst of both the tropical storms and the stifling 45 degree heat which bookended the week). In the two days our floatel was moored in jaguar territory, we were blessed with nine sightings of the magnificent creatures, with five more remarkably lucky ones to follow over the rest of the week. Each and every time there was a collective rush of adrenaline followed by a hushed anticipation of what we might now be witness to. We saw them sharpening their claws and stalk cayman and otter cubs (thrilling), and listened in from outside the lair as they mated (creepy), but mostly we simply spent time with them as they relaxed or played by the water (majestic). Other highlights along the river banks included capybara, tapir, giant and lesser river otters, cayman, water buffalo, deer, iguanas, anacondas, along with several species of monkeys. And birds! Toucan, cuckoo, jabiru, rea, spoonbill, vultures, parrots, macaws, kingfishers, herons, hawks, storks and osprey, of the species I could name. Spring had sprung, and many of the nests were filled with insatiable chicks, their parents on a constant swoop for fish, and sometimes on the menu themselves if the cayman were fast enough. The mammalian parents were vigilantly on the lookout for predators, fretting frantically should they sniff one out. We watched these encounters unfold, attempting to capture some moments on film but never knowing what to expect. Each excursion was a new and awesome adventure and I quickly understood why people choose to devote their lives to chasing this thrill. Perhaps I will now need to invest in a bigger camera...