Report - Brazil: Marvelous Mato Grosso

We can report that the Marvelous Mato Grosso tour was a smashing success this year. A super congenial group made it very enjoyable to appreciate the amazing biodiversity of this most amazing state in the heart of Brazil. There were many memorable highlights each day, so a couple photos from each of the regions we visited merely scratch the surface of what we got to see.

Perhaps one snag in the logistics early on was the six-month-old rockslide that still had the highway closed to our first nights’ lodge in the Chapada dos Guimarães. The detour added about two and a half hours to our drive each way, but it took us through some great habitat where on our last morning we witnessed an amazing congregation of three species of macaws feeding in a field next to the road, including about 250 Red-shouldered Macaws.

Trundling down the driveway to our lodge one afternoon was this Six-banded Armadillo, stopping in its tracks only when it sensed that our van might be something unusual in its planned route.

Our next adventure took us to the Amazon rainforest at Cristalino Lodge in the far north of the state, where in less than five days we tallied 268 species of birds, most of which we didn’t see anywhere else. Missed on most trips here but seen extraordinarily well this time was this stunning Blue-cheeked Jacamar.

Antbirds are always tough, and we’d miss most of them if it weren’t for the amazing bird baths that the local boatmen and guides maintain not far from the lodge. The Bare-eyed Antbird is one of the most local specialties, and Cristalino must be the best single location for it.

After our time at Cristalino, we breathed a sigh of relief to be in the Pantanal where all the birds are easy to spot and don’t hide in dense vine tangles or tops of tall trees. No one had any trouble spotting the Hyacinth Macaws in the trees right by our rooms.

A huge part of our experience in the Pantanal is the search for Jaguars on the Cuiabá River. We spotted six gorgeous animals this year, including Ti (who we also saw on our 2023 tour), caught here mid-yawn, just having woken up before a morning of caiman hunting.

We finished the tour in the merely sub-tropical realm of Iguazú, where nearly every bird was new, butterflies abounded, and the falls astounded. Particularly memorable were the fantastic views of four endangered Black-fronted Piping-Guans one cool morning.