Jaguar and Ocelot Photography Tour 2024

Day 1: Driving into the Pantanal

Tapir wallowing at the side of the road. Glimpse of a Crab eating fox. Marsh dear. Yellow anaconda. Lots of Yacare caiman. Blue hyacinth macaws, and an incredible diversity of other colourful birds.

Day 2: First day of Jaguar Spotting by boat in the Pantanal wetlands. Seven Jaguars today!

First jaguar after 30 minutes. A big male unidentified.

Second jaguar encounter in the infamous Black Channel; ‘Marcella’ born in 2021 and pregnant with her first litter.

3rd jaguar Patricia. The matriarch! Long encounter. Hunting on the bank. Grandmother of Marcella. 2hr long encounter!

4th Jaguar Ousado. Rescued from fire. Kept for a short time to heal and collared with a tracker that was supposed to fall off but didn’t.

5th jaguar Chigara, daughter of Chi.

6th jaguar, beautiful not sure of the name.

7th Bernard. A six years old male.

Day 3: Second day of Jaguar Spotting by boat in the Pantanal wetlands. Six Jaguars today!

1st Jaguar ‘Chingana’ sleeping on the bank.

Spent the morning exploring upriver. Lots of cool birds: White collared hawks everywhere. Nice Crane Hawk flying. Jacanas, humming birds, toucans drinking at the bank.

Second nice female upriver. unidentified. Yawned a lot.

3rd Bororo brother of Patricia hunting in the Hashiri Channel. and scenting his river. Passed another male named ipepo who he has formed a loose alliance with. Saw an epic failed predation.

Back to the black channel to find Patricia 5th hunting. Watched another failed predation attempt.

Amazing Tapir encounter in the Rio piquirie in the magic light just before sunset.

6th jaguar briefly visible, heading into the bush. Unidentified but smaller than the other we saw yesterday in this area so another new one.

Yellow anaconda deep in a hole but still cool to see.

Feral water buffalo cooling off.

Day 4: final day of Jaguar Spotting by boat in the Pantanal wetlands. Eight Jaguars today!

1st Marcella. Hunting in dense brush not far from the Black Channel where we saw her on the first day.

2nd Chingana. One year old. Hunting unsuccessfully for 3hrs along the Rio Cuiaba.

3rd Patricia. Drooling. Walking out of the bush to slake her thirst in the river after eating a capybara.

Fantastic encounter with a family of five giant otters outside their den.

4th. Bororo passed out on the bank, probably after a big meal judging by his fat belly.

5th and 6th Overa resting in the undergrowth with her adolescent cub.

Back downriver to find Bororo up and about, wandering along the shore. Great light!

Hawk feeding on a plecostomus.

Jabiru stork wings spread, drying off after a swim.

American Pygmy Kingfisher the size of a strawberry 🙂

7 and 8 Bernard and pyte mating on the beach at sunset. Amazing finish.

Day 5: Photo shoot around the lodge. Big cats on the drive north. Ocelots at night!

Hooded capuchins, agouties, and so many toucans around the lodge.

On the road north to the next lodge, a family of white-lipped peccaries, a few marsh deer, and a Jaguarundi crossing the road – first time I’ve seen one. Sadly no images.
Stopped to look for the jaguarundi and saw a brief glimpse of an ocelot deep in the bush in broad daylight!

Gorgeous blue hyacinth Macaws and chestnut eared aracaris.

Afternoon boat ride on the Pixaim River photographing birds and caimans.

Fantastic evening ocelot encounter at the ocelot hide. A gorgeous cat!

Late night spotlighting walk with frogs and bats.

Day 6: Feeding water birds, a walk in the jungle, and an amazing ocelot encounter

Early morning birding walk. Lots of pretty little species plus giant rheas and more marsh dear.

Back on the river after breakfast. Lots of kingfishers, wading birds, capybaras and caiman.

Afternoon walk in the jungle with more birds and a very noisy troop of black howler monkeys.

Second and final night in the hide photographing an ocelot that showed up long before dark. Great finish to a perfect trip!