The Transpantaneira, the raised dirt road running south from Poconé, is a wildlife drive in its own right rather than merely the way in. Its bridges and roadside ponds hold capybara, caiman by the hundred, jabiru storks and hyacinth macaws, and much of the classic Pantanal bird list can be seen from the verge.

Porto Jofre, at the road's end on the Cuiabá river, is the jaguar capital. Boats work the river channels slowly, looking for cats resting on the banks in the heat of the day — and this is the rare wildlife destination where sightings are close to expected rather than hoped for, with operators reporting high success rates across a three-day stay in the dry season.

The side rivers and oxbows, particularly the Rio Claro and the Três Irmãos, are where giant river otters are most often found, hunting in noisy family groups. They are also the better water for smaller specialities: sunbitterns, agami herons and boat-billed herons in the shade of the banks.

The ranch grasslands away from the rivers are the place for giant anteater and, at dusk, for tapir and crab-eating fox. Many of the working fazendas along the Transpantaneira take guests, and their open pasture is easier ground for these species than the riverside.

July through October is the window: water at its lowest, wildlife at its most concentrated, jaguar sightings at their peak. Jaguars are the exception to the usual dawn-and-dusk rule — boats find them along the banks through the middle of the day — but everything else follows the standard pattern of early and late.

Practicalities

The northern Pantanal is reached by flying to Cuiabá and driving the Transpantaneira, roughly 100 km to Poconé and then another 145 km of dirt road to Porto Jofre. The southern Pantanal, entered from Campo Grande, is quieter and cheaper but has no equivalent to the Porto Jofre jaguar boats. In the wet season, roughly December to March, much of the road network floods and many lodges close.