Forest Adventure Brazil 8
Sara from Wildfoot spent last summer taking part in a wildlife viewing Brazilian adventure and logged her activities throughout the trip. For your enjoyment, we’ve been serialising her progress on the Wildfoot blog. Today, Sara moves to a floating hotel, spots yet another jaguar and spends time with local fishermen.
Day 8
This morning, I am transferring from Porte Jofre to Southwild Flotel, so I say goodbye to Nelson and Wilson and thank them for their great hospitality before heading off by boat.
After a short ride, I am met by Layra and Jose, who are going to look after me for the next five days, and head out for a morning boat ride.
Layra is busy telling me how wonderful the area is and how regular sightings have become when, lo and behold, we get a call over radio to say another jaguar has been spotted. I am beginning to understand why this region has been aptly nicknamed the Jaguar Zone!
Luckily for me Selema, as she’s been named by researchers, is not camera shy, and she walks along the bank for 40 minutes, giving me my best sighting and photos of the trip so far. Combined with the haunting cry of howler monkeys in the distance, I am in wildlife heaven!
After the excitement has subsided, we head back to the Flotel to check in and have some lunch. The Flotel is made up of a couple of floating buildings, one containing 12 suites and the other with 10 rooms, a restaurant and a presentation room, all of which are finished to a very high standard.
After a tasty bite to eat, we head back out on the water in the opposite direction to visit a local fishing lodge that is known for its great birdlife and frequently visiting Brazilian tapir. The birdlife is plain to see on arrival, with wonderful sights of hyacinth macaws, a chestnut mandibled toucan and a short-eared owl within the first few minutes of arriving.
The fishermen kindly invite us to join them for dinner, which is of course the Catch of the Day. Nothing quite beats freshly caught fish cooked on an open wood fire!
They use this time to tell us of their adventures on the river from days gone by, with one even laying claim to seeing the extremely rare black jaguar only a day or so ago while out fishing. We bide our time listening and hoping, but in vain on this occasion, as wildlife will never be predictable. Finally, we take the boat back to the Flotel at 11pm, well past my bed time!
