Jaguars of the Pantanal Photography Tour

Your Adventure Awaits

Join us on this life changing trip. Join us in the beautiful Brazil where we will be visiting the jaguars of Pantanal. This location has the highest concentration of Jaguars of anywhere in the world.

This is one of my favorite safaris.

Your Host and photo instructor Kevin Dooley

After he completed his service he returned to New Mexico and opened his own Photography Studio in Albuquerque which is still running 37 years later. His passion for Wildlife Photography and Africa, led him to his Safari adventures and he eventually opened Idube Photo Safaris. Kevin is a certified FGASA (Field Guide Association of South Africa), Wildlife Guide and takes guests from all over the world on amazing photographic Safaris in Africa, Alaska and the Antarctic. He also teaches wildlife and wedding photography workshops.

Your Pantanal Safari

Its fields and mountain ranges, bays, rivers and lakes cover an extremely flat area of 210,000 km2, fed by tributaries of the Paraguay River, which runs through the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, as well as Bolivia and Paraguay. The unique combination of location, gently sloping topography and seasonal rise and fall of the waters, characterised by intense rainfall in summer, gave rise to a lush, mega-diverse biome.

The imposing and magnificent scenery is the habitat of the largest concentration of wildlife in the Americas. It shelters over 400 species of birds, 400 species of fish and 80 species of mammals, many threatened with extinction. In 2000, the Pantanal wetland was designated a World Natural Heritage and World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.

On arrival you will be met by our local representative and proceed with land transfer of approximately 3 hours to the South Wild Lodge also known as Fazenda Santa Teresa. The journey along the transpantanal highway offers your first contact with the regional wildlife. There will be plenty of oppertunities to stop along the road and take your first shots of birds, caiman, and some landscapes, so make sure to have the basic camera gear set up and ready to go on arrival.

The South Wild Pantanal is a standard lowland pantanal property with simple rooms but confortable rooms. The property is strategically located by the Pixaim River a great pleace to see giant river otters.

Dinner will be served on arrival to the lodge and the evening is at leisure.

Spend two complete days enjoying the photographic opportunities of this area of the Pantanal.

Enjoy a regional breakfast at the lodge. After breakfast we will take the morning to enjoy the wildlife activities in the area of the Pantanal. The morning is great opportunity to enjoy photography along the Pixaim river and get a chance to see some of the great river otters that also enjoy this stretch of the river.

Also we will get a chance to visit the Jabiru nest observation tower allows you to experience a family of Jabirus at their nest. This 12 meter platform is accessed by a user-friendly spiral staircase. The top of the tower is at the level of the nest, which is only 16 meters away.

The property offers a number of viewing towers strategically located at fruiting and flowering trees. The lodge also offer horse rides, and hike along scientifically-designed forest trails, great for viewing primates and monkeys of the Pantanal.

In the evening you will have the option of a night safari to spot some of the noctornal wildlife. The lodge also has a proper photographer hide to photograph ocelots which are active in the evening.

After breakfast, depart the South Wild Pantanal Lodge by road towards Porto Jofre along the Transpantaneira road. The transfer will take between 2-3 hours along 85 KM of the dirt road with dozens of bridges. This is a great stretch of the road also providing good sighting opportunities.

On arrival to Porto Jofre, the end of the transpantaneira road, board our jaguar-viewing skiffs on the Rio São Lourenço and head toward the meeting of the waters state park, the region also known as Jaguarland.

As you transfer to the boat make sure to have your gear ready with telephoto lenses, as this just might be when you catch the first shots of jaguars. Both your guide and boat drivers are specialist in finding jaguars. Keep your eyes focused on the banks of the rivers as you meander through the meeting of the rivers state park where there is a concentration of over 60 wild jaguars that roam this area. We will spend some time on the river with your guide in search of Jaguars before reaching the Flotel Boat.

Spend full days focused on seeing some of the best wildlife in South America and particularly searching for the elusive Jaguar. The excursions take place in comfortable skiffs that meander along the meeting of the waters state park, where Tres Irmãos, Cuiabá and Piquirí rivers all converge.

At this time of year it is highly likely to get one or two jaguar sightings a day! Maybe more. These wild and untamed animals can be active and hunting in the morning and evenings, so keep an eye out for them along the river banks.

Return by sunset for cocktails on the Boat. Dinner is served buffet style in the restaurant. Following dinner, the resident naturalist will provide a very insightful and brief lecture on Caimans, Jaguars and Ocelots, some of the key species that can be seen in the Pantanal.

Photography Jaguars

We will be having Photography discussion time during the mid day hours just before or after lunch. We will be going over such topics as workflow, image processing, composition, and many other topics depending on the groups desires. Photography discussions will be on days when we can work it in to our schedule. If we decide to stay out all day we can discuss photographic techniques well we are on the boat. We can also discuss photography during our meals.

Itinerary
August 2025

Depart USA

August 5th or 6th 2025

We recommend arriving in Sao Paulo a day early and staying overnight to avoid delays from Air Travel.

Arrive at Sao Paulo

August 6 or 7th 2025

Must arrive very early to mid morning to catch flight to Cuiaba

We recommend arriving in Sao Paulo a day early and staying overnight to avoid delays from Air Travel.

South Pantanal lodge

South Pantanal

August 7 – 8th 2025

Transfer to Jaguar Camps

August 9th 2024

Flotal Hotel

Jaguar Viewing and Photography

August 9ht-Aug 14th 2024

Float Hotel

Transport to Hotel Cuiaba

August 14th Overnight 2024

Depart Cuiaba to Sao Paulo to flight Home

August 15th 2024

Arrange for late evening flight home from Sao Paulo

Flight cost not included. Domestic Flight Information : Estimated net price for round trip from San Paulo(GRU) to Cuiaba (CGB), per person in economy with taxesUSD 395.00. We will reserve this together.

AD2480F 01AUG SA GRUCGB HK1 200P 315P AD2605F 09AUG SU CGBGRU HK1 520P 840P

Safari Pricing

Exclusions : International or Domestic commercial flights, tips for guides, drivers and hotel staff, alcoholic drinks and soft drinks, and any extras at hotel ( laundry, phone calls etc.)

$ 8799

Exclusions : International or Domestic commercial flights, tips for guides, drivers and hotel staff, alcoholic drinks and soft drinks, and any extras at hotel ( laundry, phone calls etc.

$ 9799

Exclusions : International or Domestic commercial flights, tips for guides, drivers and hotel staff, alcoholic drinks and soft drinks, and any extras at hotel ( laundry, phone calls etc.

2026
Aug 7th-15th 2026

$ 8995

$ 9995

2025 Add On Aug 16th-20th $4799 Single $5299

(Day 1). Campo Grande

Arrival in Campo Grande and transfer to the hotel. (Dinner is not included). ON Novotel Campo Grande or Hotel Deville Prime Campo Grande or similar. The Novotel is within easy 450 m walking distance of the southern terminus of Avenue of the Macaws, while the Deville Prime is 1,800 m from that amazing, macaw-filled avenue. The macaws there are Blue-and-Yellow and Red-bellied.

(Day 2). Campo Grande – Bonito

Breakfast either before or after admiring the macaws on Avenue of the Macaws. Transfer for 4 h on asphalt from Campo Grande to Bonito. (Lunch is not included). After lunch you can enjoy some relaxation time, take a siesta or simply enjoy a dip in the attractive swimming pool.

In the late afternoon we will drive 17-30 min out of town to visit private pastures with rolling grasslands and forest on either side. This is the ideal mix of habitat to search for and find of our prime mammal targets: the amazing Giant Anteater . Dinner is not included. ON Pousada Olho d´Águas (Standard room) or similar

(Day 3). Bonito

B. Early in the morning we drive to the incredible Macaw Canyon (called “Buraco das Araras” in Portuguese), a macaw spectacle like no other. Lunch is not included. In the late afternoon we will drive again to the private pastures to search for the amazing Giant Anteaters. There are days when we find more than 10 of those bizarre and beautiful creatures. Dinner is not included. ON Pousada Olho d´Águas (Standard room) or similar

(Day 4). Bonito

B. We drive to an amazing “Fish Snorkel” for viewing wild fish in crystal-clear water. The Fish Snorkel headquarters (the formal name of the “fish snorkel” or “fish float” is “Recanto Ecológico Rio da Prata”) fits any and all body shapes and sizes with short-legged, long-sleeved, neoprene wetsuits and neoprene booties to match. The time floating in the crystal-clear, 22-degree C (73 degree F) waters is approximately 100 minutes. After this experience you will enjoy a hearty, included hote buffet lunch. By 1500h, we drive 10 minutes back to Macaw Canyon and spend the rest of the afternoon at that spectacle of sight and sound. We call it “Macaw Canyon”, as it looks like a canyon with a lot of macaws flying around, but as we said, the Brazilian name is “Buraco das Araras”, meaning “Hole of the Macaws”. This canyon is really a large, dramatic-looking collapsed cave or “sinkhole”.

Dinner is not included. ON Pousada Olho d´Águas (Standard room) or similar

(Day 5). Bonito – Campo Grande

B. Giant Anteater search. Lunch is not included. PM Transfer to Campo Grande, potentially in time for one lack visit to the Avenue of the Macaws. For those who are like me,and think Coatis are super fun, there also are great opportunities for viewing and photographing Coatis in some locations in Campo Grande. Dinner is not included. ON Novotel or Hotel Deville Campo Grande or similar

(Day 6).Campo Grande

Possible brief visit walking or busing to Avenue of the Macaws. Breakfast. Transfer to Campo Grande airport.