Whether in Guimarães Rosa, Monteiro Lobato or Benedito Ruy Barbosa, the jaguar —the largest feline in the Americas and third in the world after the lion and the tiger— has been a highlight in Brazilian literature for decades. Thousands of Brazilian and foreign tourists visit the Pantanal in search of their footprints, placing the largest floodplain in the world on the map of the main photographic safaris.
From the pages of books, the jaguar jumped to social networks.
The largest flooded plain on the planet, the Pantanal stands out as the most favorable place in the world to see the jaguar, despite the fact that the region does not have the largest population of the feline —this title is from the Amazon region, but its forest makes it difficult to observe the animal .
In Mato Grosso, Porto Jofre stands out as one of the areas with the highest feline density on the planet, and with more than 300 animals already cataloged by specialists.
Anyone who catches a jaguar that has never been seen before still has the chance to name the animal after confirming the unprecedented sighting. They all have spots that are different from each other — that is, their spots are like human fingerprints and differentiate them, even if from a distance they look the same.
It is estimated that jaguar tourism, which in 2015 moved US$ 7 million per year to the Porto Jofre region, surpassed US$ 10 million that year, with a supply of beds 40% greater than before the pandemic.
The calculation is made by researcher Fernando Tortato, from the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul and the NGO Panthera. Today, there are more than 15 inns, not to mention the tourist offers in Mato Grosso do Sul. Ten years ago, there were less than five.
“This contributes to preservation”, says Tortato.
To get to Porto Jofre, in Mato Grosso, there are two options. In the first, the tourist can agree on the way out, with a tourism agency or with the inn where he will be staying, the transport to reach the place of stay.
In the other, the suggestion is to book a 4×4 car or a sport utility vehicle in advance. In this case, it is essential to fill up the tank at the gas station in Poconé, just before the start of the Transpantaneira.
The highway, whose official name is MT-060, is just over 140 kilometers long and has dozens of bridges, most of which are made of wood. Therefore, it is a road that requires that the trip be made in daylight, calmly (to photograph) and with extra care.
It is also recommended to buy biscuits and drinks beforehand in Cuiabá, since there are no shops around the Transpantaneira, only what is offered by the local inns (also be careful not to lose your cell phone charger when stopping at one of the bridges to take pictures, as you did this reporter).
All the difficulty is rewarded by the beauty of the landscape, by the tuiuiús, toucans, macaws, alligators, rheas and armadillos that roam freely in the surrounding farms.
The most favorable season for visiting is the dry season, which occurs between May and November, due to the road and the conditions to participate in outdoor tours. Even if it’s not winter, you need to dress warmly — it’s cold in the Pantanal at the beginning of the day.
During the dry season it is easier to see the animals and cross the dirt roads. Most accommodations offer three-night stay packages.
And, no, it’s not a long time to stay there: the more days the tourist stays, the more the chances of seeing jaguars increase, because more tours will be made. In addition, the Pantanal is one of the most beautiful regions in Brazil. Watching the flight of birds at dawn or dusk on the banks of one of the rivers that cross the region is worth it, even more so without anxiety.
There are dozens of accommodation options along the Transpantaneira, which starts in Poconé and extends to Porto Jofre, but, as the road is already an adventure, the closer to Porto Jofre, the easier it is to walk around. This is especially important when traveling with children.
The largest population of jaguars is in the state park Encontro das Águas. To spot the cats, the inns offer boat trips along the corixos (small river stretches) around the park. Tours can last from four hours to eight hours, and usually start when day breaks.
It is also good to check if the boats have oars and a radio, because the trips are made in isolated places — help can take a while to arrive, if necessary.
The small boats, which can accommodate from six to 15 passengers, are generally piloted by guides with radios, who keep exchanging information if there is any place where jaguars have been sighted. When the information arrives, the boats head there.
In some moments, more than ten boats are positioned a few meters away from one of the jaguars that inhabit there. Camera flashes are heard. With luck, it is possible to see a jaguar hunting or with cubs.
The tour can also present travelers with otters, capybaras and a wide variety of birds. “More and more, foreigners and Brazilians are visiting [o local]”, says photographer and guide Henrique Olsen.
The presence of possibly hundreds of tourists around a jaguar during sightings has raised questions about the impact of tourism on the species. Based on geographic data from five jaguars wearing tracking collars, Fernando Tortato estimates that the area in which they are photographed constitutes just 20% of the territory they cover.
The animals would already be used to it, he believes. But there are challenges ahead for ecotourism. A recent study pointed out that almost half of the population of jaguars in the Pantanal was directly affected by the fires that devastated the region in 2020.
In the Pantanal of Mato Grosso, another highlighted region is Cáceres, with emphasis on the reserved Taiamã ecological station. Preliminary studies indicate that the density of jaguars there may be even greater than that of Porto —access, however, can be challenging. One option is to stay in a hotel in Cáceres, and from there arrange a boat trip to the station.
But the sighting of the jaguar is not just in Mato Grosso. The region of Aquidauana and Miranda, in Mato Grosso do Sul, offers another side of the Pantanal, with land tours such as the Caiman ecological refuge, which has had a partnership with Onçafari for over a decade.
The pioneering initiative promotes conservation in the Pantanal through photographic safaris with jaguars that have gone through a long period of habituation with humans. In this way, the animals do not lose their wild characteristics, but they no longer see vehicles as a threat.
Most of the tours are carried out in medium-sized cars, with part of the jaguars being monitored by collars so that the researchers can have more information about their activities. “It’s like an open laboratory”, compares Roberto Klabin, owner of Caiman.
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