Brazil Pantanal – In search of South America’s Big Five

A Scheduled Trip to Brazil

Highlights

Brazil - By the Light of a New Moon
(And the Raindrops from the First Rains 😁)

Scheduled group tour from
October 15, 2025 - October 31, 2025

Starting from
USD 11,700
per person sharing

Duration
15 days / 14 nights

Transport
Fly-in Safari

Accommodation
Hotel or Lodge

Exploring
Emas National Park

About this Safari

One of the simple pleasures of planning this trip has been simply rolling these wonderful new sounds around on my tongue – jaguar, tapir, capybara, rhea, jabiru, jaguarundi, tamandua… for those of us who are intimately familiar with African wildlife, this is like treading into a whole new world that is awash with new sounds, new smells & new sights – a world where our safari senses are being reborn and reshaped in brand new ways.

The Pantanal biome is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is the largest wetland on our planet, covering an area of around 140.00 km2 in western Brazil. It is home to dozens of species of mammals, including the iconic jaguar that shares its riverine habitat with noisy giant otters. Howler monkeys and coatis live alongside birds of all colours and shapes. In places where water accumulates, caimans sunbathe side by side, feeding on piranhas and pacus. The Pantanal hosts an abundance of life and its biodiversity is staggering.

Our other park on this trip is yet another UNESCO World Heritage site. Emas National Park is home to waterfalls, mountains, maned wolves, rhea, tapirs, pampas cats and toucans, even the occasional jaguar. But our target here is something else altogether (well, in addition to the maned wolves!) – this trip has been timed to coincide with the glowing termite mounds of Emas, lit up like Christmas trees from the bioluminescent green light emitted by the larvae of the phyrophorus nyctophanus beetle. Terrestrial bioluminescence is an astonishing phenomenon, as rare as it is special – usually visible only when the first rains come and by the light of a new moon. Our trip meets these prerequisites, and now we must place ourselves in the hands of the Termite Gods of Emas!

On this safari, we’ve divvied up our time between north and south Pantanal, focusing on the jaguar hotspot of Porto Jofre to start, and then easing into the more intimate environment of the family-run fazendas of the south. With a whole week spent between Fazenda Baia das Pedras and Barranco Alto, our small group of travelers will have the ranches and its wildlife completely to themselves, and our hope is to come away with a deeper understanding of the Pantanal’s unique wildlife – its giant armadillos and giant anteaters, its tapirs and jaguarundis, capybaras and giant otters, its macaws and toucans, and everything else in between!

Chalo South America is the new banner under which we’ll be running our safaris to South America. Still the same team, and the trip will still be administered and run by the same Chalo folks you know so well. But it’s a great feeling to be expanding our horizons, and our hope is to replicate in South America what we do in Africa – i.e. bring you expeditions with that very special Chalo twist. Flickering fireflies were a good start, don’t you agree?😁

Oi, bem vindos ao Brasil!

Photo credits: Vikram Singh

Request for the Full Itinerary

or call our African safari specialists at
+1 703 220 6393 or +91 9717 275237

Day By Day Itinerary

October 15: Hotel Deville Prime Cuiaba, Cuiabá

Arrival at Cuiaba Airport, where you´ll be welcomed by your driver. Transfer to Hotel Deville Cuiaba. Overnight.