A Gondolier and a Gigolo

Tuesday 6 March

I spent a most uncomfortable night – it was very hot, despite having the fan going constantly and my back ached so I couldn’t get comfortable. By the time we got up, I was just hoping I would be able to manage to contort myself into a canoe for the morning paddle on the river – I would keep on taking the pills. Colin still could not resist the oatmeal, poached egg and jam for breakfast.

We made our way down to the river where our usual friendly caiman was eyeing us from the water – we have been told they don’t attack humans as we are too large – the caiman here only grown to three or four metres in length, with small heads and jaws. Lico held the boat steady while Colin and I climbed aboard – me in the front again. We set off in the opposite direction to our previous river excursions to explore some nearby lakes, and saw many of the same birds we had seen on our previous outings. The sun was hot again, and our pace was slow – a few swishes with the paddles and let the current glide the canoe further down the river. It seemed surreal when we thought about people at home, going to work, cooking meals and all those other chores which make up life back in England, while we were in the middle of a river, in the Pantanal, watching the wildlife.

When we reached the entrance to the lakes, it was choked by waterlilies and other similar aquatic plants, so we had to turn round and retraced our route. The waterlilies were tightly closed in the heat of the day (and it was not yet 09.00), as the white flowers only open in the cool of the evening. Mosquitoes land on the pale surfaces of the petals during the night and get trapped in the morning light as the flowers close. There were other plants that looked like pale lilac water hyacinths – if there is such a plant – long stems of small flowers amid straight reed-like leaves. We continued downstream past the farm – me paddling when necessary, and Colin laying back, resting against his life jacket – snoozing in the morning sun, underneath his hat, only emerging to issue the odd order here and there! – a real man of leisure. We snuck under the bridge again – I woke him up in time for him to curl down in the bottom of the canoe – although as we passed through, I noticed that the water level was lower than a couple of days ago, by about half a metre. I carried on paddling downstream, watching kingfishers flashing across the river in front of me, squawking to each other as they went. I saw more caracara – the majestic eagle-like birds we had seen in Patagonia – now sitting regally in the tree tops, surveying the life on the river, like kings of the forestt. There were hawks, and parakeets, as well as small black and white birds darting from one protrusion to the next along the river course – no one seems interested in the small birds out here, as there are so many others to see which are large and ostentatious. It was interesting just to listen to all the different bird calls coming from the trees and riverbank. There were also the usual hundreds of dragonflies darting in all directions – causing large ripples on the flat mirror-like surface of the river as they touched down and zoomed off again, almost instantaneously. Most were brightly coloured – reds and greens and blues, sometimes with stripy tails – although some were smaller and almost transparent – just a tiny round yellow face with two pin-prick eyes and a sky blue dot at the end of the tail. Their wings were see-through gossamer, and only used to change direction – they seemed to be floating on the air produced by the current of the water. Dragonflies in this part of the world are like butterflies were at Iguazu – constantly seeming to fly around you, and sometimes even landing on your arm or head.

We turned a sharp right angle on the river, and had almost arrived at the boundary once again between the Rio Negro fazenda and its neighbour. Ansell arrived at that moment with the boat to take us home. Lico tied the canoes to the trees, before we sped back to the farm - the fresh breeze in our faces was cooling and most welcome. It was still just mid-morning, so after a quick slurp of juice, I had a short while to catch up on the blog before lunch – another delicious Brazilian meal of beef, salads, vegetables, beans and rice. Valeria asked if we wanted anything special cooked for our last dinner tonight and Colin chose mashed potatoes and lemon mousse! We were off out in the jeep this afternoon, but not till 16.30, as we would stay out in the dark, spotlighting – so a bit more time to blog after lunch – Colin snoozed most of the time away, although vehemently denied it later.

In the jeep we set off towards the far side of the farm where we had not yet explored – I was a bit worried about jolting my back again, but took the pills before I left, to suppress any oncoming ‘agony’. We journeyed through fields of long grass, where the cattle would roam later in the year, through some more densely wooded areas where woodpeckers tapped and hawks – especially the road hawk – were resting in the top branches before their nightly search for rodents and lizards. Just before 18.00, daylight was beginning to fade and the sky was turning that vivid shade of orange again, when we encountered three crab-eating foxes on our path, two together and a little further on. They are called “crab-eating”, but in fact eat small rodents and lizards as well as the tiny crabs that live in the sands by the lakes. They were not at all fazed by the loud chugging of the jeep and just watched us approach, until we were almost on top of them, when they loped into the undergrowth. We also saw a coati, like those we had seen at Iguazu, snuffling about by the side of the track. It just stopped and watched us, before going deeper into the trees. Whilst passing another lake that was covered with lots of greenery, we saw a marsh deer – a female as it had no antlers – munching beside the water – it is not so usual to see these at this time of year. All the animals were coming out for their nightly feed and as we bounced round the corner of the path, we came across a tapir, nosing around at the side of the road. He moved into the longer grass, but we could still him – a huge lumbering, rough-coated brown beast – similar to the capybara to look at, but much, much bigger - with a long pointed nose. It was about the size of a Shetland pony, but fatter, and it could move very quickly when necessary – like when Colin approached to try and take a photo and it crashed through the shrubs and bushes sounding like a whole herd of cows.

With darkness falling fast Lico spotted a couple of howler monkeys sitting high up in a tree. The male is black and the female a pale caramelly colour. When curled up they look like huge balls of wool, but they are large lithe creatures with long looping tails as they move from branch to branch with the greatest of ease. We had heard howler monkeys making their very raucous call, this morning. We watched these two until it was almost dark. As we moved on, nightjars sat in our path until the last moment as the jeep approached, when they would streak into the air like harrier jets before wheeling away to find a new resting place. These birds are rarely seen at home, but here they are very common. We continued along the sandy tracks around the lakes and flooded areas, catching sight of more capybara – in family herds, making their way to the water - foxes and several ducks out for a swim – perhaps to cool down as it was still very hot. As we drew up to the parking spot on the farm, we saw the short horned owl that lives in the trees around the farm. It was sitting on a bare branch, with staring yellow eyes gleaming at us in the dark. It is the largest sort of owl in Brazil, and when it flew off, you could hear a rushing wind noise as it flapped its wings.

We only had time to wash our hands before dinner was ready tonight, and the large family table had been laid up especially for us with candles and flowers and posh table linen. True to our request, we had mashed potato, served with chicken and beef and the fish that Lico had caught yesterday – a pacu – which had been plainly grilled. Colin tried some – it was a meaty white fish, with only large bones – and he said it was quite tasty. There was also lemon mousse for dessert, with some sweet guava – looking like plum segments in the gloom. After the meal Ariane and myself sat on the verandah, and listed all the birds and mammals we had seen since we had arrived in the Pantanal on Saturday

As we were getting up very early again tomorrow morning we decided to make tracks for bed around 22.00. Ariane had been giving the staff lessons in English each day after dinner whilst she has been here and tonight’s would be the last for a couple of weeks or more. It was also Ansell’s birthday, so there were to be celebrations too in English!! – and his wife had made him a birthday cake. We will be sorry to leave the family atmosphere of this farm – we have really enjoyed our activities here and the staff have been very friendly – with the help of Ariane we have all managed to understand each other. The wildlife has been fascinating – so many birds that we haven’t seen before (or me anyway), in their natural habitat – this is a place we could have spent a lot more time at.