Brazil 2011: July 23 - August 9
Part I: Airport Hell - You may want to skip this part! We were picked up by prime time shuttle at 8:30 a.m. Our flight was supposed to depart at 1:25 p.m.
When the LAN Airlines ticket counter at LAX opened at 10:00a.m. we found out that our flight was
delayed 14 hours. That meant we wouldn't be leaving Los Angeles until 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning.
Thus we would miss our connection out of Brasilia at 9:30 a.m. Monday morning. (We were originally
supposed to arrive in Brasilia Sunday afternoon). LAN sent us to the Marriot Hotel with meal tickets for
lunch and dinner. We called Roy Toft's wife who said she would try to get in touch with him - He was on
a plane headed to Atlanta. He called us when he got to the Atlanta Airport while waiting on his flight to
Brasilia and said to contact Charles Munn. Jeanne called Charles' home phone - his message machine
was full - and then tried his cell phone. She left a message and he called back about an hour later. He
called LAN and found out that our connecting flight between Sao Paulo and Brasilia would definitely
arrive too late to catch the group on time to fly from Brasilia to Barreiras. He mentioned options such as
chartering a private plane or hiring a private van to catch the group. He said he would get back to us.
When Charles called again he offered a way to try to catch the group. Our flight out of LAX through Lima
Peru was supposed to arrive in Santiago Chile at 1:00 a.m. Sunday. We were then to catch a flight from
Santiago to Sao Paulo that was supposed to land in Sao Paulo at 3:00 a.m. Monday. He said he could get
us a 6:30 a.m. flight at the domestic airport in Sao Paulo to Brasilia and arrive in Brasilia at 8:00a.m. If
everything worked as planned we would have time to get our bags and catch the group and the 9:30
a.m. flight from Brasilia to Barreiras Monday morning. The flight from Sao Paulo to Brasilia was $600.00
each and it would take a 40 minute $100.00 taxi ride to get from the International airport to the
domestic airport in Sao Paulo. We thought a few minutes about what we wanted to do - everything
would have to work smoothly to catch the group - and we decided to go for it! (If it didn't work we
could be stuck in Brasilia for 5 days). Charles Munn had to send someone to the domestic airport to
purchase the tickets in person for us. He really worked hard for us to try to connect us with our travel
group.
Our 3:00 a.m. flight left on time - that was the last flight to leave on time the entire trip! The plane from
Santiago to Sao Paulo was delayed an hour - when we landed there we got our luggage, rushed through
customs, and got the last taxi at the International airport to transfer us to the domestic airport. We
actually got there before the airport opened and waited in the doorway for the doors to open (It was a
bit scary for us to be standing on a dark street in Sao Paulo with thousands of dollars of camera gear
waiting for an airport to open).
We checked in at 6:00 a.m. and went to the gate - and guess what - the flight was delayed 30 minutes.
How can the first flight of the day be delayed? How can you say "STRESSED"? When we landed in
Brasilia we got our baggage and a met a guy who Charles Munn sent to help us get to the ticket counter
for the flight from Brasilia to Barreiras. We had to wait in line, time was running very short, and my
luggage was slightly overweight. The woman at the counter would not give us a break and said we had
to go to the airline office to pay the luggage fee. Guess what? - No one was at the office counter. I ran
back to the ticket counter to tell the woman there was no one to pay. One of the guys behind the
counter told her to forget the fee - we were going to miss our flight while trying to pay this $9.00 fee. I
was almost in tears. He jumped over the counter and ran with me back to the office, argued with the gal
that finally came to the counter - who tried to run Jeanne's credit card and could not get the machine to
accept it. He tore up the bill, ran us to security, waited while we went through security, and ran us to the
gate so we could board the bus that took us to the plane. We were the last people on the bus but we
made it. I'd love to know the name and address of the guy who helped us. We would have definitely
missed our flight without him.
At this point we had been awake since 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning (It is now Monday) and still had a
one hour flight and five hour van ride to get to our destination. However, no more stress - all travel
decisions were now someone else's responsibility! Before we went to bed Monday night we
photographed Hyacinth Macaws from a blind, had dinner with our group, and I don't think I have ever
been as tired in my life that I was Monday night.
Part II: Hyacinth Valley Lodge, Macaws, Maned Wolves, and Tool Using
Brown Capuchin Monkeys: July 24 - July 30 This was my favorite part of the trip. Hyacinth Valley Lodge sits right on the edge of Parnaiba
Headwaters National Park in the Brazilian state of Piaui. The lodge is located in a type of tropical dry
forest called CERRADO in a very remote area. We never locked the door to our cottage the entire time
we were there. We had the freedom to walk around, go to a blind to photograph Hyacinth Macaws, or
sit on the porch to photograph birds and marmosets coming to feeders.
Our room at the Hyacinth Valley Lodge
Red-Cowled Cardinal photographed from the feeders at Hyacinth Valley Lodge
Tufted Eared Marmoset photographed near the feeders at Hyacinth Valley Lodge
This is the blind that we were able to
photograph the Hyacinth macaws from. It was
similar to a basement with cut out windows. We
had to be very quiet, moving as little as possible
to allow the birds to congregate and start
feeding. Once they were preoccupied with
feeding we could begin to photograph. It
sounded like a machine gun bunker once the
shutters of all the cameras in the blind started
clicking.
The 3.3 foot long Hyacinth Macaw is the largest parrot in
the world. They primarily feed on nuts of native palms.
They are a spectacular animal and are endangered due to
collection for the illegal wildlife market as well as habitat
loss. They inhabit the cerrado (dry tropical forest) which is
currently the most endangered habitat type in Brazil. This region is threatened due to a recent
expansion of agriculture. Huge monoculture plantations of soybeans can be seen while flying over the
cerrado. It was somewhat similar to habitat loss I saw in east Asia due to forest conversion for oil palm
plantations. However, it was not as extensive in the area we flew over as what I saw from the air while
flying over the Malaysian Peninsula and Borneo last year.
The next day we went to the blind to
photograph macaws in the morning
and then after lunch boarded the flat
bed land cruiser to drive into
Parnaiba Headwaters National Park.
We were to stay in a lodge inside the
park called Hyacinth Cliffs Lodge
which is inside the park. The purpose
of moving to his location is that it is
even more remote than the first
lodge and maned wolves regularly
pass through the area at dawn and
dusk. The drive was beautiful. It
required a four wheel drive vehicle since the road was sandy. We saw lots of wildlife in route to the
lodge: burrowing owls, blue-and-yellow macaws, seriemas, and other birds I could not identify. The
above photograph shows the road to Hyacinth cliff lodge.
These are a couple of burrowing owls that we saw in route to Hyacinth Cliffs Lodge.
Roy Toft (our photo safari leader) gathered us together when we got to the lodge and gave us some
hints for flash photography since maned wolves tend to be most active at dawn to dusk and there was a
high probability that we would not get a chance to see them until after dark. We got very lucky. They
came in before it got dark and hung around the lodge until it got dark. We were very lucky to see them.
They are very reclusive and so rare that they are classified as threatened with extinction. They only
inhabit a narrow band of the savanna-like cerrado which is found on the southern fringe of the Amazon
basin to the northern end of the Pantanal. This is habitat type that is being deforested at a rapid rate in
South America for agriculture (soybeans).
Note the long legs and ears in the above images of maned wolves
A room at Hyacinth Cliffs Loge ("Wolf Lodge") in the cerrado at sunrise
Another highlight of this trip was a
chance to see tool using brown
capuchins. They love to eat the very
hard seeds of a palm that grows in
their habitat. To crack the husk of the
seed they position the nut on a large
flat slab of sandstone (sedimentary
rock the cliffs in the area are
composed of) as an anvil and then
use a harder metamorphic rock as a
hammer to crack the nuts open.
Part III: The Pantanal- Fazenda Santa Tereza (Pantanal Wildlife Center) We returned to Brasilia via another long van ride and short flight from Barreiras to Brasilia. We then
hopped on a plane to spend the night in Cuiaba. The next morning a small comfortable bus took us from
Cuiaba to the Tranpanteira (Transpantanal Highway) to Fazenda Santa Tereza. What a great place. The
lodge is located on the Pixaim River about half way down the Transpantanal highway. We did a morning
and evening boat ride each day. The boat rides gave us fantastic opportunities to photograph birds and
caimans as well as spectacular scenery. There were also trails around the lodge, feeders to attract birds,
and an observation tower to observe a Jabiru (very large stork) feeding its chicks. Here are a few images
from this part of the trip.
Part IV: The Pantanal - Porto Jofre, Rivers, and Jaguars After two nights at Santa Tereza we got up early to drive down the Transpantanal Highway to Porto
Jofre. We were in the open back of a flatbed truck and though the drive was dusty the views were
incredible. The main economic activity in the Pantanal is cattle ranching and we had the opportunity to
observe a portion of a cattle drive while in route. Our goal was to get to a houseboat on the Cuiaba
River which would serve as our home base for cruising the rivers in the area looking for Jaguars on the
river banks. The Jaguar is the third largest of the world's cats (after the tiger and lion) and is the largest
cat in the new world. It is an elusive predator that has been heavily hunted in the past to protect cattle
herds. The land around the rivers in this area is now protected as a national park (Pantanal
Matogrossense National Park) and the people that live in the area now recognize the value of the jaguar
as a source of income from ecotourism. Thus the jaguar population in this area has recovered and you
are more likely to have a chance to see a jaguar in this region than any other location in the world. Even
if you did not see a jaguar in this area there are numerous family groups of river otters, caimans,
capybaras, beautiful birds, and spectacular scenery.
It is hard work finding a jaguar. You get on small fishing boats and cruise the rivers with guides that have
a search image for the cats and are able to spot them if they are on the riverbanks. When we arrived at
the houseboat we dumped our luggage in our rooms and immediately boarded boats to look for jaguars.
We were on boats for this portion of the trip from 7:00 a.m. (some days 6:30 a.m.) until 6:00 p.m. On
days when we did not spot a Jaguar we went back to the houseboat for lunch. On the day we had our
best luck and stayed with the jaguar from midmorning to dusk, lunch was brought to us. I have never
been on a trip where I walked so little for so long. However, our efforts paid off and we had several
opportunities to observe jaguars. What a fantastic experience! Here are a couple of images I would like
to share with you.
Top Related