Tiger Heron

Tiger Heron while a caiman lay behind in the swamps of Pousada Puival in Pantanal in Brazil

Pousada Puival is about 110 kms from Cuiaba and lies in the Pocone municipality in Mato Grosso. Pousada in Portuguese means inn or a lodge and this one is on a 7000 -hectare cattle ranch.

We checked in closed to lunch time, by around noon. Our first outing in the largest wetlands and wooded Savannah in the world teeming with bird and animal life. The marshlands were dry. We saw a lot of birds. On this parched marshland, there were screamers, herons, jacanas, black-collared kites, jabirus and great egrets.

The afternoon was warm. The skies were grey. I saw a few caiman carcasses. The wetlands and forests in Brazil have been burning since 2020. A large number of birds and mammals died in the fire. When I asked my operator who runs photography trips in the region, she said, every year there has been forest fires and that was usual. Except for a few burnt patches, on our way to Porto Jofre, everything looked green. But we did notice forest fires on one afternoon when we were out on the Cuiaba river. I hope it was not deliberate.