Brazil 2016

In 2016, the Summer Olympics were in Brazil. As was an outbreak of Zika. And I opted to travel to The Pantanal in western Brazil) in hopes of seeing some jaguars. I was captivated by the leopards in southern Africa in 2014. Jaguars seem to be bigger versions of leopards, so count me in.

Since I was in the neighborhood, I arranged a side-trip to Iguaçu / Iguazú Falls at the border between Brazil and Argentina. The water falls mostly in Argentina, but the most spectacular views are from Brazil.

Brazil 2016 [HTML export from Keynote]

Brazil 2016 [Movie export from Keynote]

I toured the Pantanal with Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris.

I toured Iguaçu mostly on my own, with the assistance of the good people at the Hotel das Cataratas. [It's a luxury hotel ... and your only option to stay at the falls on the Brazilian side. There are more cost-effective lodgings in the nearby city of Foz do Iguaçu. But Hotel das Cataratas is at the falls. You could also stay on the Argentinian side at the falls; I might try this next time.]

SMUGMUG ALBUMS

2016 07 Brazil - Gold ***

2016 07 Brazil - Silver **

2016 07 Brazil - Bronze *

Iguaçu and the Pantanal: Brazil 2016

One thing you learn when you try to feed an addiction to photo tourism is that small-group photo tours fill a year or more in advance of the departure date. I missed out on a couple of tours in 2014 due to this, and would prefer not to do so in the future.

So even though I have yet to see the sweeping vistas and salmon-fishing bears of Alaska, I've booked into a photo tour of Brazil's Pantanal. And to make that tour a little more interesting, I'm planning a side trip to Iguaçu Falls.

The scheme, as I envision it, is to travel first to Iguaçu, soak in the scenery and be mist-ified by the falls for a few days before proceeding to Ciuaba and the journey along the Transpantaneira highway into the hinterlands of the Pantanal.

If all goes to plan, I'll spend a few days at the Hotel das Cataratas at Iguaçu before joining the Joseph Van Os' Jaguars & Wildlife of Brazil's Pantanal.