The Pantanal is a region in Western Brazil which also extends into Bolivia. It is considered one of the world's largest and most diverse freshwater wetland ecosystems and is one of Brazil's major tourist draws for its vast amounts of wildlife - and potential Jaguar sightings.

As keen as I was to try my chances at seeing a Jaguar - after seeing the price of tours from Cuiabá (around USD$2,000), I decided to explore the Pantanal from Campo Grande. There didn't seem to be a lot of reliable reviews on which company to go for, so I ended up choosing one that responded to my emails the quickest. The tour companies seem to work independently from the actual farms that you end up staying at, but everyone was in the same boat in this situation.

The transfer from Campo Grande took about 5 hours, but the accommodation we arrived at was pretty nice - much more luxuries on offer than in my time in the jungle - such as constant electricity!

The first night we took some foam noodles and just floated down the river - it seemed like a bit of a cop-out to include this as one of the "activities", but it was actually alright. Afterwards we played some 3-a-side football with the staff from the lodge (and beat them) which was much more enjoyable. Although we soon regretted being the "skins" team as we later discovered the amount of mosquito bites we earned during the win!

The remainder of the activities were much better - horse riding, fishing, canoe rides, trekking and finally a speedboat ride through the rivers - where I was extremely lucky enough to spot a jaguar for all of about 1 second. We turned the boat around and went back but it had vanished. We lurked around for a little while, and although we could hear it calling, we never saw it again.

The amount of wildlife we saw was very impressive, the most I've ever seen in the wild in my life - Capybaras, Caiman, Howler Monkeys, Macaws, Heron, Kingfisher, Stork, Falcons and more that I can't remember the names of. This is the only time on my trip I wish I'd brought along a better camera, so the photos here don't really do it justice. And while it wasn't the same type of experience we endured in the Amazon, it was a much better place to spot animals in the wild.