Tourism

We would like to make it clear that in our description of the Pantanal we speak of the total area, meaning the Pantanal in Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, as well as the parts that lie in Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia.

Of the 120,000 tourists who visit the Pantanal each year because of its nature (in this case Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul), 70 % are foreigners: mostly people from Germany, Switzerland and Spain, who want to get to know the flora and fauna of this ecological sanctuary. The majority of these foreign tourists is recruited by travel agencies in her native countries. The demand increased right after the "ECO 92", which made environmentalists and experts on ecotourism aware of Brazil. Besides the traditional tourist destinations in Brazil (such as Rio, Bahia and Iguaçú), these foreign guests increasingly include the Pantanal in their travel itineraries. Figures on Mato Grosso do Sul state that the local part of the Pantanal (which is smaller than the part in northern Mato Grosso) made a turnover of 60 million $ - while the entire tourism turnover in this state even amounts to 100 million. Visitors stay in the Pantanal for five days on average, which is two and a half times longer than the average visit to Foz Do Iguaçú. Foreign visitors' expenses amount to roughly 250 $ per capita, which is almost triple of what they spend at other destinations - 85 $ on average.

The gateways to a visit to the Pantanal are Campo Grande in the south-east, Corumbá in the south-west and Cuiabá in the north. The accommodations scattered all over the Pantanal offer visitors a very simple tourist infrastructure, which is no comparison to the infrastructure in the Amazon region - which is why we only recommend a few (which, compared to others in the Pantanal, are first-rate accommodations). However, out of consideration for the protected fauna, these only offer enough room for small groups of visitors.

The northern Pantanal

It makes up a third of the complete Pantanal area while about two thirds belong to the south. We would like to stress that we do not necessarily prefer the southern Pantanal. On the contrary: the northern Pantanal is less overrun, a fact the animals have noticed, too. All in all we would recommend the northern Pantanal more, also because here we can work together with experts in their jobs who put together individual combinations of tours for their guests. Also, the accommodations we work with have specialised in foreign guests and do not accommodate native tourists or anglers whose rude and noisy behaviour used to lead to complaints by other visitors.

The most important gateway to the Pantanal with the best infrastructure is the capital Cuiabá, which can be reached by plane from every city in Brazil. Although the distance from there to the Pantanal is still 100 km, you will find all kinds of transports available to get you there fast and comfortably.

If you have a programme in the animal paradise of the Pantanal in mind, you should contact us soon so we can reserve an accommodation for you.

Equipment

Here in the Pantanal you can not buy anything, so please make sure you come well-prepared. Since your stay will probably take place in the dry season from May to October, you should take with you clothes for warm days and cool nights. Long trousers and long-sleeved shirts and blouses are an effective protection against mosquitoes. Don't worry: they are not too much of a bother at this time of year. As a repellent we recommend "Repelex" (available in every drugstore in Brazil). You should also take with you some kind of headgear for protection against the sun, sunglasses, a light raincoat, trainers or light hiking boots and a sweater for cool evenings. A pair of binoculars, a torch (flashlight) and a travel alarm clock to be able to get up before sunrise can come in useful as well. And don't forget to equip your camera with a telephoto lens: 300 mm are enough to get the not-too-shy animals to fill your frame.

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