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Birdwatching
PWC at Santa Tereza Ranch is visited by a greater number of serious birders than any other lodge in the entire Pantanal. On the internet, birding trip reports for the Pantanal usually include PWC (under the name of our ranch, Fazenda Santa Tereza). Birders love our scientifically-designed trail system through the Pantanal’s most easily-accessible gallery or riverine forest, a bird-rich habitat that represents only 2% of the Pantanal. Furthermore, we offer a complete lodge bird list (340 species--LINK) compiled by a leading Pantanal bird guide and a Ph.D. ornithologist (one of the lodge owners). Our location allows easy day trips to the Campo de Jofre area 60 km south on the Transpantaneira, a must for listers/tickers. These enormous wading birds fly next to our boat and land on the banks of the river to pose in ideal, golden afternoon light, framed by lush tropical vegetation. The river also boasts Agami Herons, very tame Black-collared Hawks, Sunbitterns, Sungrebes, Bare-faced Curassows, and a profusion of other water and forest birds. |
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Otter watching
The Giant Otter is one of the most exciting and endangered animals of the Americas, with a global population of about 5,000. The world’s only completely tame group of these 2-metre-long, 70-pound “river wolves” lives in the 60-m-wide, 12-km-long Pixaim River, which lies a mere 30 m from the lodge. Our boat drivers report that individual otters in this 11-member group have lived there for more than a decade. Now, the entire group is very tame, allowing observation and photography from only 2-10 m. Our afternoon boat outings normally include close-range observation of these powerful, playful top predators, which we have observed chasing Jaguars and eating Anacondas. Everywhere else in the world, Giant Otters are impossible to view at such incredibly close range. |
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Walking Trails
Five kilometres of well-designed trails criss cross riverine forest and drier cerrado, allowing for excellent opportunities to search for rare Pantanal birds as well for troops of Brown Capuchin Monkeys, Black and Gold Howler Monkeys, and Silvery Marmosets (energetic, squirrel-sized monkeys). We also now offer the single best location in the world to see the normally very elusive, 250-kilo (600-pound) Brazilian Tapir, the largest land animal in South America. We began to guarantee tapirs in late 2006 after we perfected a system for locating and observing them at 10-20 m from viewing platforms within a five minute walk of the lodge. In December 2006, this system allowed us to view eight tapirs in less than 30 minutes. |
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Night Drives
Night spotlighting outings (in raised, open cars or small trucks) are offered (on an optional, but included, basis) on any and all nights in the Pantanal. Note that these spotlighting outings might not be totally private, as our open observation trucks normally are available for any and all guests staying at our exclusive, 20-bed PWC lodge. The trucks always are spacious enough to ensure excellent wildlife viewing for all. |
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Observation Towers
The only way to view and photograph from close range all three monkeys and the long list of fruit-eating or nectar-drinking birds is to place convenient, metal observation towers within a few metres of the active fruiting or flowering trees. We are the first and only lodge in all the Pantanal to offer towers that move with the fruit and the flowers. We also normally offer daytime viewing and photo opportunities of a Great Potoo at 7 m or less in excellent light at eye level with a background of vegetation instead of sky, which allows you to see and to photograph the bird’s complicated feather pattern. Finally, we place towers topped with hides within just a few metres of one or more Jabiru nests and nests of other spectacular birds. These nest observation towers allow unique observation angles that are ideal for still photos and video. Our unmatched expertise with towers comes from 28 years of building, moving, and guying 25-45-m-tall metal towers in tall Amazon rainforest for dozens of TV crews and photographers from BBC, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and many other international producers. |
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Horseback riding
Horseback riding Our 10 very calm, experienced horses are ideal for exploration of otherwise-inaccessible fields, marshes, and forests in a radius of 10 km or more from the lodge. The normal duration of rides is 2 hours, but longer rides and even overnight horse expeditions to other ranches can be arranged upon request. We offer hard hats for extra riding safety. |
