Aug 7--Piuval to Hotel Pantanal Norte

Friday, August 7, 2015

Piuval to Hotel Pantanal Norte

I was up early to check out the lodge and grounds before breakfast. Kathy and a couple of others were wandering around too. I took pix of the pool area, the grounds, and one very pretty tree near the pool. I popped back to the room for a moment and when I returned to the compound, everyone was gone. Assuming that they had started out without me, I checked everywhere and even went back out front where the bus was parked. This is where I saw two Crab-eating Foxes at the edge of the parking area. I took a photo of them with my cell but it was only 5:30 and the pic came out blurry and too dark as you can see below, so I have included an Internet pic here. The Internet pic makes the fox look large, when actually it was quite small. Anyway, I finally found everyone . . . in the breakfast room! I had understood that we would go birding before breakfast not after.

So, this morning we went birding after breakfast. Marcelo used my cell to digiscope a Chestnut-cheeked Aracari, one of his best digiscopes, I think. See below, and some of the animals we saw this day.

We came across a field with big lumps in it that Marcelo told us were made by Giant Earthworms. The giant earthworm above is from the Internet. I was disappointed that we did not get to see one, but apparently they are more active when it is wetter. We also saw more fields of cebu cattle, more Black-tailed (Silvery) Marmosets, a Black Howler Monkey mother and babe asleep in a tree, and a Tamandua. This is a small ecru anteater species with a black vest. Danalee spotted it and we all piled off the bus to get a better look at it. When the tamandua saw us, it jumped onto its hind legs and threw its arms into the air in an OMG! gesture. Then it climbed a small tree to about 7 feet and hid behind leaves, head down.

Now the Transpantaneira requires a few more words and pix. I think I mentioned that it is about 95 miles long, dead ending in the Rio Cuiabá and our Hotel Pantanal Norte, Porto Jofre, in the northern Pantanal, almost in Bolivia. The road is elevated and dirt for its entire length and washboard or rutted for much of this. During the wet season it is mostly under water but jeep-type safari vehicles navigate it anyway. In addition, one must cross 122 “hold your breath” bridges. One had collapsed completely and several were so rickety that vehicles had created dry-season drive-arounds. Luis started to drive across one but backed off until Marcelo could inspect it. We were ordered off the bus and walked across this bridge, which was a feat in itself as it had so many holes. Pierre videotaped the bus creeping across the bridge in case he captured a viral YouTube moment when the bus fell through. Just kidding. I don't really know his motivation for filming this moment.

Below is one pic of mine and several from the Internet showing the condition of the bridges. The capybaras are crossing the road before a good bridge. There are many YouTube videos of vehicles driving the Transpantaneira in the wet season. Check out one of them.

After our birding, we re-packed our bags, loaded them on the bus, and then climbed aboard for the long drive to Porto Jofre. Marcello handed out drinks. Soon I heard Heini yell: “Stop the bus. Owls! Owls!” My hearing is at the opposite end of the spectrum from Marcelo’s. What she was actually yelling was “Towels! Towels!” She had spilled her drink. It was running down the floor wetting all backpacks and gear in its path.

Forgot to mention that when we boarded the bus in Piuval, I took my sunglasses out of my fanny pack and they broke in two. I quickly ran to the gift shop and bought another, much more fashionable, pair. There was little choice between aviator-type and glitzy sunglasses. Had no idea what I had just put on my credit card but feared the worst when the woman who ran the gift shop boarded the bus to give me a special gift—a plastic bottle opener shaped like a large bottle cap with a pair of hyacinth macaws on it. Neither the sunglasses or the bottle opener was my style. I kept the sunglasses (and have gotten many compliments on them) but gave the bottle opener to Danilee. Turned out that the sunglasses were $38.88, not the $100+ I feared.

Back to the Transpantaneira: There were trees full of birds, caiman in the road and many in the pools of water we crossed on the bridges (another reason to hold one’s breath when out on the rickety bridges), jabirus in their nests, capybara in the road, a Swamp Deer wading up to its knees in the swamp bushes and grass, and endless herons, storks, egrets, and other waterbirds, as well as monk parakeets, parrots, neotropical cormorants, hawks, lapwings, and other birds along the sides of the road. Here also we finally got a good look at a Red-Legged Seriema that we had been searching the roadsides for. This bird is large and looks something like a Secretary Bird. Snakes and lizards are its favorite foods.

Red-legged Seriema

The road was very rough and rutted or washboard. I thought to myself that someone with a grader could make a killing. Shortly after that thought, a guy on a grader came toward us. (The power of the mind!) Marcelo stopped the bus, went to the back, got a cold Pepsi from the coolers, and gave it to the grateful grader operator who was hot and dust-covered. I thought this a very nice gesture.

We made a pitstop at one of the pousadas, and then made another farther down the road at an abandoned research station. This spot yielded several good birds as well as two Great Horned Owls in the big trees that shaded the area. 

Eventually we arrived at Hotel Pantanal Norte at the end of the line. We were greeted by Nelson, the beaming manager, who told us the rules of the stay—

•  “Never go out by yourself in the early morning or after dark.” 
    I asked, “What are we afraid of here, people or animals?” (Duh!) 
        “Jaguars,” Nelson replied. “They are everywhere. Don’t go anywhere near the pond or on the bridge across the pond at night or early morning.” 
        Marcelo added that there are anacondas also, and related a story about one that had come up to the lawn in front of the rooms. All the caracara [which worked the lawn in front of our rooms the whole time we were there] formed a circle around it, the adults seemingly teaching  the youngsters that this was something dangerous.
•      “Dinner is served in the building across the way at 6:30 pm; breakfast at 5:00 am”
•      “There are three classrooms in the building next to the dining room. These are air-conditioned, have wifi and pool tables, and can be used whenever you wish and they are vacant.”
•      “The air-conditioning in your room is set at 18C (64F) and operated with a remote. Most people find it comfortable at 24C (75F).”
•      “For the past two days, we have had a Brazilian (prehensile-tailed) Porcupine in the tree we are standing under.”
•      “Welcome to Hotel Panatal Norte. After dinner I will have a gift for you.”

Of course all of us circled the tree trying to spot the porcupine. Eventually Nelson called over a tall, young employee who showed us where the pile of quills was sleeping. We never saw it on the ground, but I had seen one in Peru. They are adorable animals, don’t you think, with their squishy nose and small eyes? It is a nocturnal animal and feeds on fruits, bark, and leaves. It has a strong odor and can be tracked to its hollow tree den by nose.