Tour 10: Cuiabá - Chapada dos Guimarães – Fazenda Carandá - Transpantaneira

13 days/12 nights, offered from April to November only

This programme includes a wide range of the best lodges in the northern Pantanal, combined with a visit to the mesas of Chapada dos Guimarães. The programme offers the highest possible amount of comfort (by Pantanal standards) and the best service. You will get to know two completely different regions of the Pantanal.

1st to 3rd day (2 nights): Chapada dos Guimarães

Our travel guide will pick you up at Cuiabá airport and take you to Chapada dos Guimarães in an air-conditioned minivan or car (depending on the number of travellers). Here you will spend two nights at the pousada Penhasco (or a different but similar lodge) and experience the unique beauty of the local mesas. After breakfast visit to the national park. During the hike through the highlands you will get many a chance to take a shower under one of the numerous waterfalls. Walk to the cave of “Casa de Pedra” (with its subterranean river), view from “Morro de São Jerônimo” (860 m), and to the highest waterfall in the area, “Véu de Noiva”, plunging down 96 m into a majestic canyon.

3rd to 5th day (2 nights): Fazenda Carandá

After breakfast drive from Chapada dos Guimarães to Poconé in the air-conditioned vehicle (about 170 km). Here you will eat lunch with a typically Brazilian family. Transfer by airplane to the Fazenda Carandá (ca. 15 minutes’ flight; comes at an extra charge). This accommodation offers no luxury, but the beautiful environment and the hospitality of your hosts more than make up for the fazenda’s plainness. There are 7 cozily furnished rooms. All rooms are simple, but clean and practical. They all have a bathroom with shower, a fan and a wardrobe, as well as space for your luggage.


Let your kind hosts spoil you and the local cuisine enchant you. Savour the typical regional cooking of the Pantaneiros. Here you can experience life at a fazenda first-hand, go on extensive horseback rides or trekking tours to watch the flora and fauna; on the lake nearby smaller boat and fishing tours are offered. Or would you like to see cattle being branded and rounded up? This is possible as well. All tours are suited to fit you individual wishes. Our travel guides are at your disposal 24 hours a day and know the flora and fauna of the Pantanal like the backs of their hands.

5th to 7th day (2 nights): Pousada Piuval

After breakfast you say goodbye to the Fazenda Carandá. Transfer by airplane to Poconé (15 minutes). Again you are a guest in the house of Dona Dalva and Senhor Antonio, having lunch with a typically Brazilian family. Here you get the opportunity to freshen up a bit. Right after that you start out on your sightseeing flight over the Pantanal. A unique experience: seeing the Pantanal from a bird's eye view. Afterwards drive to the pousada Piuval (about 20 minutes). Here, two overnight stays with full board are scheduled. In the afternoon we offer more tours in the vicinity of the lodge, either on horseback or by boat. After dinner nighttime safari to watch nocturnal animals.



In the next morning you rise early to witness the sun rising and the awakening of the Pantanal fauna. After breakfast more trips on horseback or by boat on the nearby lake Piuval are on the schedule; same programme in the afternoon. In the evening another nighttime safari to track and watch nocturnal animals. Overnight stay at the pousada Piuval.


7th to 9th day (2 nights): Jaguar-Eco Lodge

After breakfast we will take you to the Jaguar-Eco lodge (about 104 km) on the Transpantaneira, where we will make several stops to watch and photograph the animals living near the Transpantaneira. Upon arrival assignment of rooms and lunch. With a bit of luck we will get to see a population of hyacinth macaws, which have been living near this lodge for many years. In the late afternoon drive to Porto Jofre, the end of the Transpantaneira (approximately 40 km’s drive).


From here you start out on a boat tour tracking jaguars. In the time from June to October, the chances of seeing free-living jaguars are best. Even in the vicinity of the lodge, jaguars have been spotted frequently (please pay attention to your guide’s instructions at all times). Overnight stay at the cougar lodge. In the evening, there will be another nighttime safari to track nocturnal animals.

In the morning another sunrise tour before breakfast. Later opportunities for cycling or horseback riding. After lunch, you start another attempt to track down hyacinth macaws and jaguars. There will be other trips too, including a nighttime safari.

© This two photos on copyright protected by Günter Ziesler


9th to 11th day (2 nights): Fazenda Santa Tereza

After breakfast you say goodbye to the Jaguar-Eco lodge and drive along the Transpantaneira to the fazenda Santa Tereza. This fazenda is preferably visited by ornithologists and biologists, since here in the past few years people have tried to recreate the old habitats of, mainly, macaws and other bird species. In the immediate vicinity of the fazenda you can find swarms of hyacinth macaws (Andorohynchus hyacinthinus).


Other animal species such as the Toco toucan (Ramphastos toco), the American rhea (Rhea americana), the jabiru (Jabiru mycteria), coatis, raccoons and giant anteaters (Nasua nasua, Procyon lotor, Myrmecophaga tridactyla), capibaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), giant otters (Lontra longicaudis) and large gatherings of caimans are often to be found here. On a horseback ride in the morning, you can spot black skimmers (Rynchops niger) catching fish in ponds. They are constantly scouring the pools for food. This fazenda is a must-see for nature lovers and photographers and offers a wide range of activities!

Next up is an excursion in the afternoon, to forest islands with diverse trees that are exclusive to this area. Ride to a lodge close by and extensive excursion on a trail of about 2 km, through a gallery forest to a look-out tower. After dinner nighttime drive into the environment of the lodge to watch nocturnal animals, such as caimans, rarely tapirs (Tapirus terrestris), but certainly rufous nightjars (Caprimulgus rufus), common pauraques (Nyctidromus albicollis) and the occasional common potoo (Nyctibius grandis).


11th to 13th day (2 nights): Curicaca lodge

After breakfast we take you to the Curicaca lodge with many stops by the side of the Transpantaneira. This fazenda is preferred by ornithologists and biologists since macaws and other bird species can often be spotted here. In the immediate proximity of the fazenda whole swarms of Hyacinth macaws (Andorohynchus hyacinthinus) have been sighted.

Other animal species such as Toco toucans (Ramphastos toco), rheas (Rhea Americana), Jabiru storks (Jabiru mycteria), giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), capibaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), giant otters (Lontra longicaudis) and a great number of caimans can frequently be watched here.