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Jaguar Safari in the Brazilian Pantanal

Last updated: November 10, 2025

Written by: Caroline Maber

Brazil | Adventure | Family holiday | Wildlife

I was super excited to travel to the Brazilian Pantanal in May 2024. Despite having explored many parts of Brazil, it’s such a huge country and the Pantanal and seeing jaguar in the wild had been on my bucket list for over 20 years. It certainly did not disappoint!

Caiman Lodge is in the Southern Pantanal, you fly into Campo Grande airport and take a 3 ½ hour drive. The road is paved and in good condition for the majority, however, the last 50 minutes is a bumpy ride along a dirt track. Keep your eyes open for wildlife along the road… there’s plenty to be seen.

The lodge itself if beautiful, spacious rooms and a gorgeous setting overlooking a lake. Whilst you are not out exploring the huge reserve and searching for wildlife you can relax by the pool.

My four days at Caiman Lodge were adventure-filled, on the first evening’s game drive a jaguar had caught itself a meal and sat carefully guarding it just minutes drive from the lodge. A few minutes later we stumbled upon a giant anteater and also a number of scuttling armadillos.

My second morning started with a horse ride, Caiman Lodge has its own stables and very well-groomed horses. We took a leisurely ride through the property, which is suitable for anyone, from beginners to advanced riders. It’s a beautiful and peaceful way to enjoy the scenery and see more wildlife.

During my stay, I spent an afternoon with the incredible Hyacinth Macaw Project. We accompanied them to check on nests and were followed by numerous hyacinth macaw couples, some with their young, the colour of them is just magnificent and their squawks can be heard from far afield. It was fascinating hearing about how the project educates the local communities and learning about the macaw’s behaviour and breeding habits. A must for any keen birdwatchers or for those like me who just appreciate witnessing wildlife in its natural habitat.

The real highlight of my time at Caiman Lodge was a full day with the Oncafari Jaguar team. We explored the vast property with our biologist guide and driver for around seven hours split into a morning and afternoon excursion. The Oncafari team have worked incredibly hard educating locals. The area is known for it’s cattle farming and farmers historically have killed jaguars to protect their herds. They estimate there are around 60 – 80 jaguars that live in or enter the Caiman Reserve and in the last two years at Caiman Lodge 100% of guests have seen at least one jaguar.

Just seven of the jaguars are tagged at present, but this allows the team to learn more about them, study their behaviour and use their GPS to check where they currently are. On my day with Oncafari we excitedly headed out and I was incredibly privileged to see five jaguars of which only two were tagged. Our first sighting was of two adult males believed to be brothers, which is rare to see as jaguars are usually solitary creatures. Our afternoon presentation was welcomingly interrupted by Tata a young female jaguar stopping for a drink right outside the building we were in. For sunset that day we were also accompanied by a jaguar and on our drive home we were startled by yet another catching a caiman for an evening snack at the lake.

Caiman is a magical experience, the setting, the guides and the wildlife, seeing so many jaguars just topped it off, but it’s a destination I can highly recommend to all nature lovers!

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