Tourist information about the Pantanal National Park

Tourist Attractions:

 
Transpantaneira Highway
Between the months of May and September, the Transpantaneira highway, is a good place to observe wild animals. The (dirt)road is 149 km long and has got 126 wooden bridges. The best time for observation is in the morning or at the end of the day.

Safari
The Pantanal is a one of the greatest places in South America to go on a Safari.
You can go on foot, horseback or by Jeep trough the great wetlands. The contrasts in the Pantanal is so divers that you will be very impressed.
Pantanal is well known as the best place in Brazil to see the spectacular wildlife. The wide open spaces are great to sit and spot alligators, monkeys, anacondas and many birds.
There are many tourist organisations that provide safari trough Pantanal

Bird Watching
The are over 650 different kinds of birds in the Pantanal region. There are many places where you can observe the birds.

Paraguay River
You can take a boat trip over the Paraguay river, this will provide many wonderful sides. Because of the flooding during the rain season, the high waters reveal enormous lakes, rivers, bays and lagoons. The Paraguayan River is the most impressive during the months October to April.

International Fishing Festival
In the second half of September there is a international fishing festival in the city of Cáceres, on the edge of the River Paraguay. This is a high-profile event that attracts around 200,000 people.
For over a week the locals welcome thousand of tourist that come to Brazil only to participate in this tournament.

Tourist accommodations and accessibility

You can come to Pantanal by air, car or water.

Travelling by air: For air travel, the Acurizal Farm landing strip is used. This is a one hour flight plus 30 minutes by boat. The closest city is Poconé, 102 km from Cuiabá.

Travelling by car: Take MT 060, departing from Cuiabá to Poconé, it is 102 km of paved road. Continue along the Transpantaneira Highway for another 147 km to Jofre Port, on the Cuiabá River bank.

Travelling by water: departing from Jofre Port to the Park, the only access is by boat, and it takes approximately 4 hours.

There is no lodging in the park, so it is necessary to return the same day, you can rent houses outside of the park. There are a couple of fazenda ranches where you can stay for a while. It is advised to reserve a room a couple of months in advance.

The best time to visit the park.

The best time to visit the park is from May to September. This is when the water is starting to go down, making it better for the fauna observation. In this period the average temperature is 21 ºC
During the raining season it is almost impossible to go trough the park, the raining season is from October to February. In this period there are  enormous quantities of mosquito's in the park,  the temperature is over 40 ºC  and the Transpantaniera Highway becomes impassable

The Pantanal has an average yearly rainfall of 1,000-1,400 mm, but is fed by the upper Paraguay River. Its average temperature is 25 °C, but temperatures can fluctuate from 0 to 40 °C.