Bonito thru Campo Grande or Cuiaba
 

Hi Wil be visiting Brazil for about 12-13 days and will be doing about 3-4 days in the Pantanal region and had a q.

1. Is it better to fly to Cuiaba and then to an expedition or better to fly to Campo Grande and then go to Bonito and try to do stuff around there.

2. A lot of Bonito tours seems not to have Pantanal expeditions.

Thanks

Have only max 4 days and then off to Iguazu so wanted to check. (5.5 in Rio, 3-4 in Pantanal region, 2 in Iguazu)

Shriram

Depends on what you want from a "Pantanal experience." You can fly to Campo Grande and then transfer to a local lodge for game viewing. For example, see:

http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...e-pantanal.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...n-and-ilha.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...-to-brazil.cfm

As I recall it is a very full day of travel by road between Bonito and Pantanal South. I did not go to Bonito, in part, for that reason.

I think Bonito works best with Pantanal South and the gateway city there is Campo Grande.

With 3-4 days, I would not fly to Cuiaba and on to Pantanal activities in the north <b>IF</b> you also wanted to go to Bonito.

Yup was trying to choose between Cuiaba and Bonito/Pantanal South ie only do one of the too and wanted to see if Bonito was nicer/or can do both Pantanal things and the Bonito specific things in Bonito.

If you want to see wildlife, the northern Pantanal is MUCH better, as the two best options get you deep into the Pantanal, where most the wildlife is. The Transpantaneira is good for a wide variety of wildlife and I am doing jaguar research on the Paraguay River, where I could take you to see these jaguars, but you would need a minimum of 4 days, and preferably 5 days. I am in partnership with Brazil's national parks dept....ICMBio, and they are using my research to help convince congress to increase the size of the reserve. You can contact me directly at [email protected], or via the contact page on www.focustours.com. Seeing the northern Pantanal combines very well with Chapada dos Guimaraes National Park, but not well with Bonito, which in my opinion is over rated.

Douglas Trent