Jaguar Research Center
Mar 27th, 2009, 05:58 AM
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Jaguar Research Center
Hi
Doing some research on a long trip to the Pantanal for 2010. Does anyone have any knowledge of the Jaguar Research Center - http://www.jaguarresearchcenter.com/...ch_center.html
Seems pretty nice, but I haven't seen much mention of it on the forums, so wasn't sure if there is some information that I should be aware of.
Great information on this forum though - really appreciate everyone's contributions.
Gautam!
Doing some research on a long trip to the Pantanal for 2010. Does anyone have any knowledge of the Jaguar Research Center - http://www.jaguarresearchcenter.com/...ch_center.html
Seems pretty nice, but I haven't seen much mention of it on the forums, so wasn't sure if there is some information that I should be aware of.
Great information on this forum though - really appreciate everyone's contributions.
Gautam!
Mar 27th, 2009, 02:03 PM
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Hi there, I'm going with a group of 6 to Jaguar Research Center at the end of June. We heard about it from a tour guide from Open Door who is a friend of one of us who will be going. The tour company highly recommends it for lots of wildlife on a budget. Multiple guidebooks and personal accounts say that the further you drive down the Transpantaneira Road, the more wildlife you see, and Jaguar Research Center is the furthest lodge down the road.
That said, we've been trying to decide whether to go through the lodge directly or hire a guide from Open Door (who are apparently a great tour company). Open door would cost us $150 more per person, even though they are giving us a discount. Why would we pay this? Well, the lodge can't process credit cards at all. The only way to pay is to wire money into a bank account or pay IN CASH when you get there. The bank acocunt thing seems sketchy to us and carrying that much cash (it's over $3,000 for our whole group) as a bunch of tourists at an airport seems like asking for trouble. As far as I know, that's the only caveat. So you might consider going through a tour company like Open Door like we are if you are worried about your money and having everything completely guaranteed. Also, via email at least, the guide's written English is not very good at all, whereas the tour company people seem quite fluent.
Anyhow, I will let you know how the trip goes since either way we are definitely going to Jaguar after all of our research on the best lodges in the area.
That said, we've been trying to decide whether to go through the lodge directly or hire a guide from Open Door (who are apparently a great tour company). Open door would cost us $150 more per person, even though they are giving us a discount. Why would we pay this? Well, the lodge can't process credit cards at all. The only way to pay is to wire money into a bank account or pay IN CASH when you get there. The bank acocunt thing seems sketchy to us and carrying that much cash (it's over $3,000 for our whole group) as a bunch of tourists at an airport seems like asking for trouble. As far as I know, that's the only caveat. So you might consider going through a tour company like Open Door like we are if you are worried about your money and having everything completely guaranteed. Also, via email at least, the guide's written English is not very good at all, whereas the tour company people seem quite fluent.
Anyhow, I will let you know how the trip goes since either way we are definitely going to Jaguar after all of our research on the best lodges in the area.
Mar 27th, 2009, 03:40 PM
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I don't know about that particular place, but I do know the area is good for all types of wildlife, including jaguar. Seeing them along a river is one of the best ways. I stayed along the Paraguay River in N. Pantanal in Aug 2007 and saw 7 jaguars in 4 days--6 one afternoon and 1 another day. Weather conditions play a role in how many you see. When it is cool, they sun themselves along the river banks. They even swim across. We saw 2 of the 7 swimming.
I've been in contact with Open Door and know others who have used them. They are Dutch owned.
October is mating time and they are extremely active then. Starting in July through October it becomes easier to see them along the river because it is cool. But you never can accurately predict cat behavior.
Here is my report.
http://www.fodors.com/community/mexi...ny-jaguars.cfm
Good luck and I'd love to know how your trip goes.
I've been in contact with Open Door and know others who have used them. They are Dutch owned.
October is mating time and they are extremely active then. Starting in July through October it becomes easier to see them along the river because it is cool. But you never can accurately predict cat behavior.
Here is my report.
http://www.fodors.com/community/mexi...ny-jaguars.cfm
Good luck and I'd love to know how your trip goes.
I'm bummed that I'm waiting until FY10 to make this trip!
Apr 24th, 2009, 08:55 PM
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I am the PhD wildlife biologist and National Geographic author who started and own Jaguar Research Center. It is far from cheap--in fact, the logistics are so complex and the site so remote that it is among the most expensive lodges in all the Pantanal. Of course, it also is alone at the top in terms of Jaguar sightings (197 in 110 guest days from 1 June to 31 Oct 08). Most of the questions are answered on the eponymous web site (www.jaguarresearchcenter.com), and if you submit a contact form, either our sales director or I will answer any technical question you. All the best, Charles Munn, Ph.D.
Apr 26th, 2009, 08:27 PM
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pricing is----expensive. It is about 600-700 dollars per night per person in double occupancy. This includes three enormous, varied, buffet-style meals, your enormous tent suite, an amazingly good, English-speaking Brazilian naturalist guide (one with tons of experience at JRC), two long boat outings per day to photograph and observe all the wildlife and nature, and at least 3 intercommunicated boats out most of the day looking for Jaguars and reporting back instantly.
The fauna we watch is not just Jaguars---the Giant Otters, Capybaras, and Paraguayan Caimans there all offer better photo ops, which is to say beautiful framing and backgrounds, than anywhere else I have been--and i have seen most of the Pantanal as well as lots of the Amazon and parts of Central America.
It is the scout boats most of the time that ensure that we find Jaguars for you--that it is not just a random search as I used to do with guests in 2006 (that works, but you get only a third as many Jaguars using that random search method, chew up a lot of gasoline, and eat up most of the day sitting in teh boat while doing that).
If you are patient and willing to spend days and days, with many days not producing any Jaguars at all, there are some folks who search randomly, but it is not an elegant solution to the problem of finding the rare Jaguars.
With 197 sightings in 110 guest days, our record speaks for itself, and most of the sightings are within 10-15 min by boat of our camp.
Also, one of the most fun things about our camp (besides the spectacularly wild setting in the middle of the 270,000-acre state park) is the fact that you can literally get up at 700 am or 730 am , have a relaxing breakfast, go on a boat outing and then in middle of the day, hang out in the house boat viewing deck/dining area and watch the pantanal while you drink coffee or cold drinks while waiting for a Jaguar report. At THAT point, you need to be ready like a fireman--with all cameras packed up and suncream and sunglasses and sunhat, sunshirt, etc---you have only 1-2 minutes to get into your small observation boat and zoom away to reach the immobile Jaguar. Once you get to an immobile Jaguar, you are likely to have a pretty good view, if not excellent view, of it, as the big cats that we know individually tend to hang out in one spot---lying or sitting--for 30-150 minutes at a stretch--and most of the sightings are within 10-15 min (and many within 5 min boat ride) of the camp.
My wife and business partner, Mariana, and I built the camp on that spot in our private, 7,500-acre reserve within the park--we own the title to that land----after studying our large data set of Jaguar sightings from 2005, 2006, and 2007. After literally 300 or more Jaguar sightings over the dry seasons of those three years, we found that the current camp location is in the middle of the richest area for Jaguar sightings and also is equidistant from other clusters of sightings that are 10 min, 15 min, 25 min, and 30 min away from us and that change during the seasonal ebb and flow of the waters.
Gasoline costs 5 dollars per gallon (!!!) at the pump 250 km away in Cuiabá, so by the time we ship it by truck and boat all the way out into the middle of the Pantanal, the price is almost double that! All our food also has to come in on those long, long supply lines. Finally, in addition to our excellent naturalist guides, we have a superb cook--a lady who has worked on sport fishing hotel boats for years and does an excellent job cooking what often amounts to gourmet food (especially desserts) right in the middle of the wildest wilderness of the Pantanal.
So between the long supply lines, the very expensive gasoline (which we need a lot of to find so many Jaguars), and having our own 11-square-mile private reserve inside this huge Jaguar park, we have horrendous logistical overhead. This is why our price has to be so high in order for us to survive at all.
All in all, the experience at JRC is quite similar to some of the high-end tented safaris in Africa, only in this case, we have the world's third largest cat right at our tent doors, not to mention all the other amazing wildlife of the Pantanal.
I am happy to answer any more questions or comments.
All the best, Charles Munn
The fauna we watch is not just Jaguars---the Giant Otters, Capybaras, and Paraguayan Caimans there all offer better photo ops, which is to say beautiful framing and backgrounds, than anywhere else I have been--and i have seen most of the Pantanal as well as lots of the Amazon and parts of Central America.
It is the scout boats most of the time that ensure that we find Jaguars for you--that it is not just a random search as I used to do with guests in 2006 (that works, but you get only a third as many Jaguars using that random search method, chew up a lot of gasoline, and eat up most of the day sitting in teh boat while doing that).
If you are patient and willing to spend days and days, with many days not producing any Jaguars at all, there are some folks who search randomly, but it is not an elegant solution to the problem of finding the rare Jaguars.
With 197 sightings in 110 guest days, our record speaks for itself, and most of the sightings are within 10-15 min by boat of our camp.
Also, one of the most fun things about our camp (besides the spectacularly wild setting in the middle of the 270,000-acre state park) is the fact that you can literally get up at 700 am or 730 am , have a relaxing breakfast, go on a boat outing and then in middle of the day, hang out in the house boat viewing deck/dining area and watch the pantanal while you drink coffee or cold drinks while waiting for a Jaguar report. At THAT point, you need to be ready like a fireman--with all cameras packed up and suncream and sunglasses and sunhat, sunshirt, etc---you have only 1-2 minutes to get into your small observation boat and zoom away to reach the immobile Jaguar. Once you get to an immobile Jaguar, you are likely to have a pretty good view, if not excellent view, of it, as the big cats that we know individually tend to hang out in one spot---lying or sitting--for 30-150 minutes at a stretch--and most of the sightings are within 10-15 min (and many within 5 min boat ride) of the camp.
My wife and business partner, Mariana, and I built the camp on that spot in our private, 7,500-acre reserve within the park--we own the title to that land----after studying our large data set of Jaguar sightings from 2005, 2006, and 2007. After literally 300 or more Jaguar sightings over the dry seasons of those three years, we found that the current camp location is in the middle of the richest area for Jaguar sightings and also is equidistant from other clusters of sightings that are 10 min, 15 min, 25 min, and 30 min away from us and that change during the seasonal ebb and flow of the waters.
Gasoline costs 5 dollars per gallon (!!!) at the pump 250 km away in Cuiabá, so by the time we ship it by truck and boat all the way out into the middle of the Pantanal, the price is almost double that! All our food also has to come in on those long, long supply lines. Finally, in addition to our excellent naturalist guides, we have a superb cook--a lady who has worked on sport fishing hotel boats for years and does an excellent job cooking what often amounts to gourmet food (especially desserts) right in the middle of the wildest wilderness of the Pantanal.
So between the long supply lines, the very expensive gasoline (which we need a lot of to find so many Jaguars), and having our own 11-square-mile private reserve inside this huge Jaguar park, we have horrendous logistical overhead. This is why our price has to be so high in order for us to survive at all.
All in all, the experience at JRC is quite similar to some of the high-end tented safaris in Africa, only in this case, we have the world's third largest cat right at our tent doors, not to mention all the other amazing wildlife of the Pantanal.
I am happy to answer any more questions or comments.
All the best, Charles Munn
Apr 26th, 2009, 08:34 PM
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SpideyGirl--i think you must be going to our friend Eduardo's place--which is excellent but quite basic compared to JRC. Are you sure it is JRC? He has a basic lodge (quite basic) along the road--right next to the road on the Transpantaneira at km 112, about 30 km from the end. JRC, however, is a tented camp on the banks of the navigable Three Brothers River inside the 270,000-acre Meeting-of-the-Waters State Park. To get from Eduardo's mom-and-pop lodge (great macaws there!) to the Jaguar-rich river channels around our camp requires driving 30 km further south on the Transpanteira Road, to the end, on the banks of the huge Cuiaba River. Then you take our boat or other boats upstream for 25-45 min (depends on the speed of your boat) until you reach our camp on a left-bank tributary of the Cuiabá River.
Also, i just checked my reservation calendar, and I have no bookings at all in June from our friends at Open Door, which i an excellent agency.
All the best,
Charles Munn
Also, i just checked my reservation calendar, and I have no bookings at all in June from our friends at Open Door, which i an excellent agency.
All the best,
Charles Munn
Apr 27th, 2009, 05:13 PM
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I've been to the Jaguar Lodge! Very nice. When I was there three other sets of people/couples all saw a jaguar. My 2 friends and I did not in our 2 night/ 3 day stay. But we tried very had and had Eduardo's wonderful cousin, Fabricio, as our guide.
Charles, these might be questions to discuss via email, but then others might also have similar questions, so you might prefer to respond here.
1. What if you are a solo? Do you have single supplements? Are there any lesser accommodations that would be less expensive for one person?
2. From Cuiaba, how does one (and I mean just one person) get to JRC? Do you have transport vehicles that run every x number of days? Would I join a group of other visitors that booked for the same time and share transport?
3. You mention Open Door. Do you taking bookings only through agents such as Open Door or can your lodge be booked directly? Or would booking directly then make it hard to incorporate other things in the itinerary and that's why you'd recommend an agent?
Obrigada
Charles, these might be questions to discuss via email, but then others might also have similar questions, so you might prefer to respond here.
1. What if you are a solo? Do you have single supplements? Are there any lesser accommodations that would be less expensive for one person?
2. From Cuiaba, how does one (and I mean just one person) get to JRC? Do you have transport vehicles that run every x number of days? Would I join a group of other visitors that booked for the same time and share transport?
3. You mention Open Door. Do you taking bookings only through agents such as Open Door or can your lodge be booked directly? Or would booking directly then make it hard to incorporate other things in the itinerary and that's why you'd recommend an agent?
Obrigada
May 8th, 2009, 05:26 PM
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Dear Atravelynn and Marija,
To try to answer your questions:
1) if you are solo, the best idea is to contact our sales director, Juan, in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, or French, and he will give you the dates we have set aside for a fixed departure--which is more economical than private or custom date. If he gets another lady interested, he could team you up with her, but most likely he will not find another single lady traveling (it is not very common). What he would then do is tell you about the single supplement, but he has the freedom to drop that near the end of the booking period (such as 1 month or 45 days before departure) if there is no other request for two people or for a person who will pay single supplement. So you might well have to pay the single supplement---just to warn you.
2) Atravelynn's second question is answered above--we have fixed departures that go with even 2-3 people on them--and so you go in a closed van part of the way (usually to our first lodge, Pantanal Wildlife Center, at km 66 of the Transpantaneira road and 3 km off to the side on a long, private driveway!) and then usually drive the next day to JRC using first our open, roofed, comfy-seat (not wooden seats and not wooden seats with thin foam cushion) safari vehicle with custom bean bag camera support platforms next to each side seat, and then one of our special Jaguar search boats.
3) We love taking bookings from excellent agencies such as
Open Door, which is one of the most professional Brazilian agencies we know. But we also DO take direct bookings. We get a lot of direct bookings. We know a TON about the best wildlife sites in many or most parts of the huge country of Brazil, so we often craft customized itineraries for nature nuts in the best parts of natural (and cultural) Brazil. We know São Paulo and Rio well, also, as we do Iguaçu Falls, Bonito, many parts of the Amazon, and on and on.
4) we have had only 1 couple of of about 350 JRC guests so far who have not seen a Jaguar on a three night stay. So we bat 99.5% so far. We offered them two free nights any time they want to come back (they live in Sao Paulo, so that is easy for them). We have 92% chance per day of seeing at least one Jaguar, though the average number of Jaguars is 1.8 per day. Those simply are our numbers. We have about 2.5-4 times more Jaguar sightings per day than anyone else who uses the same rivers, as there ARE other operators who appear on those rivers. None of them, however, are situated in the middle of excellent Jaguar habitat, and none of them offer the chance to sit having drinks or coffee in wild Pantanal while waiting for a fresh Jaguar report from 5-10 min away by boat. Most of the Jaguar sightings we have are within 8-13 min by boat from the lodge. 40% of our 197 sightings in 2008 season were within 3-8 min by boat from the lodge.
5) Eduardo's place is a great place to go, but bear in mind that we have several times more Jaguar viewings per day and much better QUALITY Jaguar viewing than he does. Our viewing is by day, while many or most of his views are at night. His lodge is located 30 km from the end of the 145-km-long Transpantaneira, and is rich in excellent wildlife such as Hyacinth Macaws, quite a few Jaguars (not like our place, but still a good number), and other mammals and birds. Most travelers who know both sites find his lodge to be quite a bit more basic, even rustic, and much less of a wild feel than ours. We are happy to refer you to him if you would like to compare. He does a great job, but they are very strong in macaws, and we are much stronger in Jaguars, Giant Otters, and river scenery. There are no navigable rivers within 30 km of his lodge, and the closest one is OURS.
6) as far as Marija's questions, it is easy to fly either from Manaus or Rio to Cuiaba and then drive to PWC and JRC ---there are several flights per day from either, normally connecting to a second flight in Brasília. It takes about 5-6 h (two flights and the layover) to get from Manaus to Cuiaba. It takes about 3.5-4 h to get from Rio to Cuiaba.
7) an Amazon cruise is quite a different look and feel from the JRC. The Amazon has very tall, majestic forest, and a GIGANTIC RIVER. The Cuiaba River is large, but it is no Amazon! And the trees of the Pantanal are spotty and lower. The Pantanal is a mosaic of savannahs and low forest. I recommend BOTH,but note that it often is best to finish wiht Pantanal (particularly JRC), as most Amazon sites have much, much less wildlife than the Pantanal, and seeing a Jaguar is so spectacular that you should leave it for last! We have a lot of experience wiht the different Amazon cruise options, and can talk about that and offer you a variety of options. The best value in Amazon river travel, in my opinion, is to see some of the amazing Pink River Dolphin sites on the lower Rio Negro (an amazing, amazing experience that is a must for any main Amazon trip) AND then do some boat rides for scenery in places like the Anavilhanas Archipelago or the Mamirauá Reserve near the city of Tefe. I don't find Amazon cruises worth it in terms of wildlife---but prefer to stay in a more comfortable, roomier rainforest lodge such as EcoPark near Manaus and then do day trips in speed boats up the Rio Negro, on the main Amazon, or on lakes of these two huge rivers. If you very serious about Amazon trips as part of your Brazil itinerary, and are willing to invest some more time, then the Cristalino Jungle Lodge and the Uakari Lodge are by far the best two nature and fauna lodges in the Brazilian Amazon. Probably Manu Wildlife Center, in Peru, is the single best rainforest destination in all the Amazon, but that is a different trip and a different story--as you get to it from Cusco, Peru, and can't really get to it from the Pantanal or from anywhere else in Brazil.
So, in summary, the Amazon is such an immense area that it is hard to give a simple answer. But if you wish, we would be happy to help you compare the pros and cons of each Amazon option that would work well in an itinerary that finishes up in the Pantanal.
All the best,
Charles
To try to answer your questions:
1) if you are solo, the best idea is to contact our sales director, Juan, in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, or French, and he will give you the dates we have set aside for a fixed departure--which is more economical than private or custom date. If he gets another lady interested, he could team you up with her, but most likely he will not find another single lady traveling (it is not very common). What he would then do is tell you about the single supplement, but he has the freedom to drop that near the end of the booking period (such as 1 month or 45 days before departure) if there is no other request for two people or for a person who will pay single supplement. So you might well have to pay the single supplement---just to warn you.
2) Atravelynn's second question is answered above--we have fixed departures that go with even 2-3 people on them--and so you go in a closed van part of the way (usually to our first lodge, Pantanal Wildlife Center, at km 66 of the Transpantaneira road and 3 km off to the side on a long, private driveway!) and then usually drive the next day to JRC using first our open, roofed, comfy-seat (not wooden seats and not wooden seats with thin foam cushion) safari vehicle with custom bean bag camera support platforms next to each side seat, and then one of our special Jaguar search boats.
3) We love taking bookings from excellent agencies such as
Open Door, which is one of the most professional Brazilian agencies we know. But we also DO take direct bookings. We get a lot of direct bookings. We know a TON about the best wildlife sites in many or most parts of the huge country of Brazil, so we often craft customized itineraries for nature nuts in the best parts of natural (and cultural) Brazil. We know São Paulo and Rio well, also, as we do Iguaçu Falls, Bonito, many parts of the Amazon, and on and on.
4) we have had only 1 couple of of about 350 JRC guests so far who have not seen a Jaguar on a three night stay. So we bat 99.5% so far. We offered them two free nights any time they want to come back (they live in Sao Paulo, so that is easy for them). We have 92% chance per day of seeing at least one Jaguar, though the average number of Jaguars is 1.8 per day. Those simply are our numbers. We have about 2.5-4 times more Jaguar sightings per day than anyone else who uses the same rivers, as there ARE other operators who appear on those rivers. None of them, however, are situated in the middle of excellent Jaguar habitat, and none of them offer the chance to sit having drinks or coffee in wild Pantanal while waiting for a fresh Jaguar report from 5-10 min away by boat. Most of the Jaguar sightings we have are within 8-13 min by boat from the lodge. 40% of our 197 sightings in 2008 season were within 3-8 min by boat from the lodge.
5) Eduardo's place is a great place to go, but bear in mind that we have several times more Jaguar viewings per day and much better QUALITY Jaguar viewing than he does. Our viewing is by day, while many or most of his views are at night. His lodge is located 30 km from the end of the 145-km-long Transpantaneira, and is rich in excellent wildlife such as Hyacinth Macaws, quite a few Jaguars (not like our place, but still a good number), and other mammals and birds. Most travelers who know both sites find his lodge to be quite a bit more basic, even rustic, and much less of a wild feel than ours. We are happy to refer you to him if you would like to compare. He does a great job, but they are very strong in macaws, and we are much stronger in Jaguars, Giant Otters, and river scenery. There are no navigable rivers within 30 km of his lodge, and the closest one is OURS.
6) as far as Marija's questions, it is easy to fly either from Manaus or Rio to Cuiaba and then drive to PWC and JRC ---there are several flights per day from either, normally connecting to a second flight in Brasília. It takes about 5-6 h (two flights and the layover) to get from Manaus to Cuiaba. It takes about 3.5-4 h to get from Rio to Cuiaba.
7) an Amazon cruise is quite a different look and feel from the JRC. The Amazon has very tall, majestic forest, and a GIGANTIC RIVER. The Cuiaba River is large, but it is no Amazon! And the trees of the Pantanal are spotty and lower. The Pantanal is a mosaic of savannahs and low forest. I recommend BOTH,but note that it often is best to finish wiht Pantanal (particularly JRC), as most Amazon sites have much, much less wildlife than the Pantanal, and seeing a Jaguar is so spectacular that you should leave it for last! We have a lot of experience wiht the different Amazon cruise options, and can talk about that and offer you a variety of options. The best value in Amazon river travel, in my opinion, is to see some of the amazing Pink River Dolphin sites on the lower Rio Negro (an amazing, amazing experience that is a must for any main Amazon trip) AND then do some boat rides for scenery in places like the Anavilhanas Archipelago or the Mamirauá Reserve near the city of Tefe. I don't find Amazon cruises worth it in terms of wildlife---but prefer to stay in a more comfortable, roomier rainforest lodge such as EcoPark near Manaus and then do day trips in speed boats up the Rio Negro, on the main Amazon, or on lakes of these two huge rivers. If you very serious about Amazon trips as part of your Brazil itinerary, and are willing to invest some more time, then the Cristalino Jungle Lodge and the Uakari Lodge are by far the best two nature and fauna lodges in the Brazilian Amazon. Probably Manu Wildlife Center, in Peru, is the single best rainforest destination in all the Amazon, but that is a different trip and a different story--as you get to it from Cusco, Peru, and can't really get to it from the Pantanal or from anywhere else in Brazil.
So, in summary, the Amazon is such an immense area that it is hard to give a simple answer. But if you wish, we would be happy to help you compare the pros and cons of each Amazon option that would work well in an itinerary that finishes up in the Pantanal.
All the best,
Charles
Aug 25th, 2009, 01:12 PM
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i am on twitter now as charlesmunn, posting tweets about jaguar sightings at JRC. For the last month, we have had 3-8 h of Jaguar watching ---continuous watching--on 90% of the days. Hundreds of hours of Jaguar watching. Mostly within a 5 min boat ride of the camp. Often 2 min boat ride. !
Cheers, Charles Munn
Cheers, Charles Munn
Jan 6th, 2010, 05:01 PM
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Hi Charles
I've just started the planning for our trip in August. I've put a request in on your website and look forward to interacting with you or your staff regarding our trip. Hopefully we can make it work.
I've just started the planning for our trip in August. I've put a request in on your website and look forward to interacting with you or your staff regarding our trip. Hopefully we can make it work.
Jan 6th, 2010, 05:10 PM
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Jul 4th, 2010, 09:07 AM
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Jaguar Research Center is open for business as usual for 2010. Eleven out of 11 groups of guests so far since opening the 2010 season on 2 June have seen Jaguars in the daytime---100% success. This is the usual success rate, however, at JRC. Due to concerns over habituated Jaguars possibly being a danger in an unfenced, tented camp, this year the JRC is on a large, air-conditioned ship anchored at the Jaguar sweet spot on the Cuiabá River upstream from the end of the Transpantaneira Road.
Jul 19th, 2010, 11:31 AM
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If you love mammals, birds and earth's wild places, this is a SUPERB trip!!!! Each day a great flavor of a special place! I thought perhaps, with luck, I'd catch a short glimpse of a jaguar and perhaps a few new birds. Imagine my surprise by this post-trip listing:
Among our animal sightings: Jaguar (3, with 1 of those for over 90 minutes!), Ocelot, Capuchin, Howler, Black Tail Marmoset, Capybara galore (including a few new moms with little ones), Giant Anteater (3), coati, crab eating fox (3), crab eating raccoon, tapir (4!!), Giant Otter groups (on at least 6 different occasions!!), a golden tegu, Iguana (several), Fishing bats, 2 different frogs (a 1" little green guy with big black eyes, and the other a 3.5" cream colored gent), one unidentified tiny snake in the mouth of a heron, brocket deer, marsh deer, and as a special treat, on our drive to the airport for our return trip home, a tamandua feasting on a termite nest 10 feet up in a tree right next to the road!!!
Jaguar, ocelot, marmosets, coati, raccoon, tegu, fishing bats, deer and tamandua all new animals for me; the giant otters the first really good encounters at close range. Just jaw-dropping awesome!
And the birds--good grief!! Neotropic cormorants, Anhingas, large & yellow billed terns, skimmer, great/snowy/cattle egrets, boat-billed/tiger/striated/little blue/capped/plumeous/whistling/cocoi herons, bare-faced/green/ buff-necked ibis, limpkin, jabarou (lots of little guys in the nests), wood storks, wood rail, wattled jacana, screamers, sunbittern, sungrebe, black bellied whistling ducks, brazilian teal, pied lapwing, rhea, undulated tinamou, curassow, blue-throated piping & chestnut bellied guans, black/turkey/yellow-headed vultures, road-side/crane/gr black/savanna and black collared hawks, snail kites, laughing falcon, crested/yellow-headed caracara, scaled/ruddy quail dove, Hyacinth macaws!!, monk/black headed/yellow-chevron/blue fronted/orange winged/peach fronted parakeets, squirrel/guia cuckoo, great horned/burrowing/pygmy owls, common potoo, vent-tailed nighthawks, rough-winged swallow, buff bellied hermit, gilded/boated raquetail hummers, blue crowned/collared trogon, Ringed/green/amazon/pygmy/green and rufous kingfishers, rufous tailed jacamar, black-fronted nunbird, Chestnut eared Anacari, toco toucan, Gold & Green/Little/lineated/crimson crested woodpeckers, white wedged peculate, long billed/buff-throated/narrow billed/straight billed woodcreepers, red-billed scythebill (my favorite!!), spinetails, greater thorntail, barred antshrike (my 2nd favorite), purplish jay, vermilion/rusty fronted/rusty margin flycatcher, great kiskadee, lesser kiskadee, black backed water/rufous fronted/cattle/southern bearded tyrants, choc-browed mockingbird, tropical parula, blue/sciaca tananger, yellow rumped/solitary cacique, troupial, yellow-billed/red capped/crested cardinals (very pretty!!)….wow!! About 60 of these were new birds for me, so quite exciting in addition to the beauty!!
Our Guide, Juliano, was excellent, very tolerant of us (our group took a LOT of pictures and kept a growing list of new things we'd like to see….which to my utter amazement he always seemed to produce!), and quite a great sense of humor. Definitely a big plus for our trip. The whole trip ran as smooth as silk.
Our traveling companions were a great deal of fun to be with…we all liked the same things (birds, animals, photos, traveling) and so our little group of 4 was perfectly matched.
The JRC boat was quite comfortable and a lot of fun-visited by howlers one morning and by a lone otter one afternoon. Stars are just amazing from the decks at night. Food quite good. Staff always there when you need them, with a ready smile, and then seemingly disappear when all is well…just the perfect amount of attention. Same is true for the PWC lodge. Air conditioning throughout a welcome relief on warm nights.
Our boat drivers each day had the eyes of a Harpy Eagle. I think they can also hear grass move with the wind. Just amazing what they were able to find for us.
This was a very relaxing and exciting trip that FAR EXCEEDED my expectations. For those who like wildlife, this was a fantastic emersion into a magnificent spot on this planet.
I had a wonderful time. And we escaped without chiggers, having treated our clothes with permethrin prior to departure.
july 1-10, 2010
Among our animal sightings: Jaguar (3, with 1 of those for over 90 minutes!), Ocelot, Capuchin, Howler, Black Tail Marmoset, Capybara galore (including a few new moms with little ones), Giant Anteater (3), coati, crab eating fox (3), crab eating raccoon, tapir (4!!), Giant Otter groups (on at least 6 different occasions!!), a golden tegu, Iguana (several), Fishing bats, 2 different frogs (a 1" little green guy with big black eyes, and the other a 3.5" cream colored gent), one unidentified tiny snake in the mouth of a heron, brocket deer, marsh deer, and as a special treat, on our drive to the airport for our return trip home, a tamandua feasting on a termite nest 10 feet up in a tree right next to the road!!!
Jaguar, ocelot, marmosets, coati, raccoon, tegu, fishing bats, deer and tamandua all new animals for me; the giant otters the first really good encounters at close range. Just jaw-dropping awesome!
And the birds--good grief!! Neotropic cormorants, Anhingas, large & yellow billed terns, skimmer, great/snowy/cattle egrets, boat-billed/tiger/striated/little blue/capped/plumeous/whistling/cocoi herons, bare-faced/green/ buff-necked ibis, limpkin, jabarou (lots of little guys in the nests), wood storks, wood rail, wattled jacana, screamers, sunbittern, sungrebe, black bellied whistling ducks, brazilian teal, pied lapwing, rhea, undulated tinamou, curassow, blue-throated piping & chestnut bellied guans, black/turkey/yellow-headed vultures, road-side/crane/gr black/savanna and black collared hawks, snail kites, laughing falcon, crested/yellow-headed caracara, scaled/ruddy quail dove, Hyacinth macaws!!, monk/black headed/yellow-chevron/blue fronted/orange winged/peach fronted parakeets, squirrel/guia cuckoo, great horned/burrowing/pygmy owls, common potoo, vent-tailed nighthawks, rough-winged swallow, buff bellied hermit, gilded/boated raquetail hummers, blue crowned/collared trogon, Ringed/green/amazon/pygmy/green and rufous kingfishers, rufous tailed jacamar, black-fronted nunbird, Chestnut eared Anacari, toco toucan, Gold & Green/Little/lineated/crimson crested woodpeckers, white wedged peculate, long billed/buff-throated/narrow billed/straight billed woodcreepers, red-billed scythebill (my favorite!!), spinetails, greater thorntail, barred antshrike (my 2nd favorite), purplish jay, vermilion/rusty fronted/rusty margin flycatcher, great kiskadee, lesser kiskadee, black backed water/rufous fronted/cattle/southern bearded tyrants, choc-browed mockingbird, tropical parula, blue/sciaca tananger, yellow rumped/solitary cacique, troupial, yellow-billed/red capped/crested cardinals (very pretty!!)….wow!! About 60 of these were new birds for me, so quite exciting in addition to the beauty!!
Our Guide, Juliano, was excellent, very tolerant of us (our group took a LOT of pictures and kept a growing list of new things we'd like to see….which to my utter amazement he always seemed to produce!), and quite a great sense of humor. Definitely a big plus for our trip. The whole trip ran as smooth as silk.
Our traveling companions were a great deal of fun to be with…we all liked the same things (birds, animals, photos, traveling) and so our little group of 4 was perfectly matched.
The JRC boat was quite comfortable and a lot of fun-visited by howlers one morning and by a lone otter one afternoon. Stars are just amazing from the decks at night. Food quite good. Staff always there when you need them, with a ready smile, and then seemingly disappear when all is well…just the perfect amount of attention. Same is true for the PWC lodge. Air conditioning throughout a welcome relief on warm nights.
Our boat drivers each day had the eyes of a Harpy Eagle. I think they can also hear grass move with the wind. Just amazing what they were able to find for us.
This was a very relaxing and exciting trip that FAR EXCEEDED my expectations. For those who like wildlife, this was a fantastic emersion into a magnificent spot on this planet.
I had a wonderful time. And we escaped without chiggers, having treated our clothes with permethrin prior to departure.
july 1-10, 2010
