Pantanal: Los Tres Gigantes
The Pantanal is the largest wetland on earth and sort of a Mecca for Environmental PCVs here. With less than three months left I thought I better make the pilgrimage now to prevent any regrets.
Flew to Bahia Negra with Nick, Brooke, Hilary, and Alicia and then took a boat to the Tres Gigantes research station. Tres Gigantes, or three giants, is named after the Giant Otter, Giant Anteater, and Giant Armadillo that are found in the area.
Middle of nowhere, surrounded by endless waterways, what else can you do, but find a canoe and explore.
Animals are everywhere here. Hundreds of caiman sunbath along the shores and make huge splashes when you get too close. There are also caiman like lizards swimming in the water.
And the birds. If you like birds come here.
After kilometers of paddling we found a settlement and were warmly greeted with that well known Paraguayan hospitably.
After learning that we were looking for wildlife, they wanted to show us their pet Caiman. But it was out, so we settled for a picture. The sun was already setting so we said our goodbyes, but they wouldn’t let us go until we had an armful of food to bring back.
Paraguayans are truly some of the kindest people I have ever met.
We paddled back to camp, had some Piranha soup with fresh veggies, then enjoyed a night sky with no light pollution.
We spent several days here hopeful to catch a glimpse of the three giants, but they were hiding very well.
Maybe next time