Brazil 2011: July 23 - August 9

Part I: Airport Hell - You may want to skip this part! We were picked up by prime time shuttle at 8:30 a.m. Our flight was supposed to depart at 1:25 p.m.

When the LAN Airlines ticket counter at LAX opened at 10:00a.m. we found out that our flight was

delayed 14 hours. That meant we wouldn't be leaving Los Angeles until 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning.

Thus we would miss our connection out of Brasilia at 9:30 a.m. Monday morning. (We were originally

supposed to arrive in Brasilia Sunday afternoon). LAN sent us to the Marriot Hotel with meal tickets for

lunch and dinner. We called Roy Toft's wife who said she would try to get in touch with him - He was on

a plane headed to Atlanta. He called us when he got to the Atlanta Airport while waiting on his flight to

Brasilia and said to contact Charles Munn. Jeanne called Charles' home phone - his message machine

was full - and then tried his cell phone. She left a message and he called back about an hour later. He

called LAN and found out that our connecting flight between Sao Paulo and Brasilia would definitely

arrive too late to catch the group on time to fly from Brasilia to Barreiras. He mentioned options such as

chartering a private plane or hiring a private van to catch the group. He said he would get back to us.

When Charles called again he offered a way to try to catch the group. Our flight out of LAX through Lima

Peru was supposed to arrive in Santiago Chile at 1:00 a.m. Sunday. We were then to catch a flight from

Santiago to Sao Paulo that was supposed to land in Sao Paulo at 3:00 a.m. Monday. He said he could get

us a 6:30 a.m. flight at the domestic airport in Sao Paulo to Brasilia and arrive in Brasilia at 8:00a.m. If

everything worked as planned we would have time to get our bags and catch the group and the 9:30

a.m. flight from Brasilia to Barreiras Monday morning. The flight from Sao Paulo to Brasilia was $600.00

each and it would take a 40 minute $100.00 taxi ride to get from the International airport to the

domestic airport in Sao Paulo. We thought a few minutes about what we wanted to do - everything

would have to work smoothly to catch the group - and we decided to go for it! (If it didn't work we

could be stuck in Brasilia for 5 days). Charles Munn had to send someone to the domestic airport to

purchase the tickets in person for us. He really worked hard for us to try to connect us with our travel

group.

Our 3:00 a.m. flight left on time - that was the last flight to leave on time the entire trip! The plane from

Santiago to Sao Paulo was delayed an hour - when we landed there we got our luggage, rushed through

customs, and got the last taxi at the International airport to transfer us to the domestic airport. We

actually got there before the airport opened and waited in the doorway for the doors to open (It was a

bit scary for us to be standing on a dark street in Sao Paulo with thousands of dollars of camera gear

waiting for an airport to open).

We checked in at 6:00 a.m. and went to the gate - and guess what - the flight was delayed 30 minutes.

How can the first flight of the day be delayed? How can you say "STRESSED"? When we landed in

Brasilia we got our baggage and a met a guy who Charles Munn sent to help us get to the ticket counter

for the flight from Brasilia to Barreiras. We had to wait in line, time was running very short, and my

luggage was slightly overweight. The woman at the counter would not give us a break and said we had

to go to the airline office to pay the luggage fee. Guess what? - No one was at the office counter. I ran

back to the ticket counter to tell the woman there was no one to pay. One of the guys behind the

counter told her to forget the fee - we were going to miss our flight while trying to pay this $9.00 fee. I

was almost in tears. He jumped over the counter and ran with me back to the office, argued with the gal

that finally came to the counter - who tried to run Jeanne's credit card and could not get the machine to

accept it. He tore up the bill, ran us to security, waited while we went through security, and ran us to the

gate so we could board the bus that took us to the plane. We were the last people on the bus but we

made it. I'd love to know the name and address of the guy who helped us. We would have definitely

missed our flight without him.

At this point we had been awake since 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning (It is now Monday) and still had a

one hour flight and five hour van ride to get to our destination. However, no more stress - all travel

decisions were now someone else's responsibility! Before we went to bed Monday night we

photographed Hyacinth Macaws from a blind, had dinner with our group, and I don't think I have ever

been as tired in my life that I was Monday night.

Part II: Hyacinth Valley Lodge, Macaws, Maned Wolves, and Tool Using

Brown Capuchin Monkeys: July 24 - July 30 This was my favorite part of the trip. Hyacinth Valley Lodge sits right on the edge of Parnaiba

Headwaters National Park in the Brazilian state of Piaui. The lodge is located in a type of tropical dry

forest called CERRADO in a very remote area. We never locked the door to our cottage the entire time

we were there. We had the freedom to walk around, go to a blind to photograph Hyacinth Macaws, or

sit on the porch to photograph birds and marmosets coming to feeders.

Our room at the Hyacinth Valley Lodge

Red-Cowled Cardinal photographed from the feeders at Hyacinth Valley Lodge

Tufted Eared Marmoset photographed near the feeders at Hyacinth Valley Lodge

This is the blind that we were able to

photograph the Hyacinth macaws from. It was

similar to a basement with cut out windows. We

had to be very quiet, moving as little as possible

to allow the birds to congregate and start

feeding. Once they were preoccupied with

feeding we could begin to photograph. It

sounded like a machine gun bunker once the

shutters of all the cameras in the blind started

clicking.

The 3.3 foot long Hyacinth Macaw is the largest parrot in

the world. They primarily feed on nuts of native palms.

They are a spectacular animal and are endangered due to

collection for the illegal wildlife market as well as habitat

loss. They inhabit the cerrado (dry tropical forest) which is

currently the most endangered habitat type in Brazil. This region is threatened due to a recent

expansion of agriculture. Huge monoculture plantations of soybeans can be seen while flying over the

cerrado. It was somewhat similar to habitat loss I saw in east Asia due to forest conversion for oil palm

plantations. However, it was not as extensive in the area we flew over as what I saw from the air while

flying over the Malaysian Peninsula and Borneo last year.

The next day we went to the blind to

photograph macaws in the morning

and then after lunch boarded the flat

bed land cruiser to drive into

Parnaiba Headwaters National Park.

We were to stay in a lodge inside the

park called Hyacinth Cliffs Lodge

which is inside the park. The purpose

of moving to his location is that it is

even more remote than the first

lodge and maned wolves regularly

pass through the area at dawn and

dusk. The drive was beautiful. It

required a four wheel drive vehicle since the road was sandy. We saw lots of wildlife in route to the

lodge: burrowing owls, blue-and-yellow macaws, seriemas, and other birds I could not identify. The

above photograph shows the road to Hyacinth cliff lodge.

These are a couple of burrowing owls that we saw in route to Hyacinth Cliffs Lodge.

Roy Toft (our photo safari leader) gathered us together when we got to the lodge and gave us some

hints for flash photography since maned wolves tend to be most active at dawn to dusk and there was a

high probability that we would not get a chance to see them until after dark. We got very lucky. They

came in before it got dark and hung around the lodge until it got dark. We were very lucky to see them.

They are very reclusive and so rare that they are classified as threatened with extinction. They only

inhabit a narrow band of the savanna-like cerrado which is found on the southern fringe of the Amazon

basin to the northern end of the Pantanal. This is habitat type that is being deforested at a rapid rate in

South America for agriculture (soybeans).

Note the long legs and ears in the above images of maned wolves

A room at Hyacinth Cliffs Loge ("Wolf Lodge") in the cerrado at sunrise

Another highlight of this trip was a

chance to see tool using brown

capuchins. They love to eat the very

hard seeds of a palm that grows in

their habitat. To crack the husk of the

seed they position the nut on a large

flat slab of sandstone (sedimentary

rock the cliffs in the area are

composed of) as an anvil and then

use a harder metamorphic rock as a

hammer to crack the nuts open.

Part III: The Pantanal- Fazenda Santa Tereza (Pantanal Wildlife Center) We returned to Brasilia via another long van ride and short flight from Barreiras to Brasilia. We then

hopped on a plane to spend the night in Cuiaba. The next morning a small comfortable bus took us from

Cuiaba to the Tranpanteira (Transpantanal Highway) to Fazenda Santa Tereza. What a great place. The

lodge is located on the Pixaim River about half way down the Transpantanal highway. We did a morning

and evening boat ride each day. The boat rides gave us fantastic opportunities to photograph birds and

caimans as well as spectacular scenery. There were also trails around the lodge, feeders to attract birds,

and an observation tower to observe a Jabiru (very large stork) feeding its chicks. Here are a few images

from this part of the trip.

Part IV: The Pantanal - Porto Jofre, Rivers, and Jaguars After two nights at Santa Tereza we got up early to drive down the Transpantanal Highway to Porto

Jofre. We were in the open back of a flatbed truck and though the drive was dusty the views were

incredible. The main economic activity in the Pantanal is cattle ranching and we had the opportunity to

observe a portion of a cattle drive while in route. Our goal was to get to a houseboat on the Cuiaba

River which would serve as our home base for cruising the rivers in the area looking for Jaguars on the

river banks. The Jaguar is the third largest of the world's cats (after the tiger and lion) and is the largest

cat in the new world. It is an elusive predator that has been heavily hunted in the past to protect cattle

herds. The land around the rivers in this area is now protected as a national park (Pantanal

Matogrossense National Park) and the people that live in the area now recognize the value of the jaguar

as a source of income from ecotourism. Thus the jaguar population in this area has recovered and you

are more likely to have a chance to see a jaguar in this region than any other location in the world. Even

if you did not see a jaguar in this area there are numerous family groups of river otters, caimans,

capybaras, beautiful birds, and spectacular scenery.

It is hard work finding a jaguar. You get on small fishing boats and cruise the rivers with guides that have

a search image for the cats and are able to spot them if they are on the riverbanks. When we arrived at

the houseboat we dumped our luggage in our rooms and immediately boarded boats to look for jaguars.

We were on boats for this portion of the trip from 7:00 a.m. (some days 6:30 a.m.) until 6:00 p.m. On

days when we did not spot a Jaguar we went back to the houseboat for lunch. On the day we had our

best luck and stayed with the jaguar from midmorning to dusk, lunch was brought to us. I have never

been on a trip where I walked so little for so long. However, our efforts paid off and we had several

opportunities to observe jaguars. What a fantastic experience! Here are a couple of images I would like

to share with you.

It was a great trip - an adventure - not a vacation. I had some experiences of a lifetime. Thank you for

letting me share some images and highlights of the trip with you. I don't do internet or postcards very

well while I am on a trip so I hope this makes up for it.

Sherry