Cuiaba - Gateway to the Pantanal Wetlands

Its time to move onward and downward to Cuiaba. Cuiaba wasn't our first chose, that was Cappa Grande, but once again problems with flights and none of us having enough cash to pay for the flights. It is Friday morning and we rock into a travel agent to make the travel arrangements. Unfortunately for us the earliest we could get a flight out of Salvador to Cappa Grande was the follow Tuesday. The bus was not an option due to the 2-3 day journey and we would have still got there on the Tuesday. So we opted for Cuiaba as out entry point to the Pantanal Wetlands, and again after a cash advance on the old VISA card our tickets were purchased for flying 4am the next morning. So we checked out of our Hostel, wandered around all day and headed to the airport for a seven hour sit in. Our flight wasn't a direct one, it was via not only Sao Paulo but also Brazilia. We zig zagged across that huge country. What should have taken us an hour and a half to two hours took us three flights and about eight hours. But we got there and our Wetlands adventure was to begin, or so we thought.

There is nothing to Cuiaba, its an old town that only gets busy during the high tourist season. We were not in the high tourist season. But that worked to our advantage in ensuring we got the best deal on accommodation and on the price of our wetlands tour. People were prepared to bargain to get our business and we paid what we thought was only fare. We had arrived on Saturday afternoon and the tour was to leave early the next day. That Sunday morning we awoke early for breakfast and during breakfast we were advised that the other couple were running late due to illness. Two hours later the couple actually cancelled and our host at the Hostel gave us an option. Since it was raining there was no point really going as the dirt roads would look like a mud wrestling pit, and secondly it would give the sick couple a chance to recover. We had flexibility and agreed to the suggestion. So Monday we left with our guide Fisher, less the sick couple as they hadn't recovered.

It was a three hour drive to our Farmstay and the scenery and wildlife along the way was amazing. As we were on the verge of heading into the wet season, there had been enough rain to bring flooding to some of the low lying areas and thus bring the wildlife right up to the roads edge.