BRAZIL 2025 PART 2

    We are up early, 4:30, and eating breakfast at 5:30. This will be our routine for the days we are on the boat. By the way, our boat travels at night so we are at a different place this morning from where it was moored last night. We load up on the speed boat at six a.m. and motor down the Rio Cuiaba river.

   A myriad of birds, caiman, and trees blooming in vibrant reds, pinks, and purples nearly overwhelm me. Fred is amazing on his ability to spot and identify every bird we see, also the trees and flowers. We have not been on the boat very long when it suddenly speeds up and we roar down the river. Since the other people in our group experienced the sudden acceleration yesterday morning, they know what is up and Paul and I have a pretty good idea too.

     We come upon a boat sitting still in the middle of the river and when we pull up beside it, there on the shore is a beautiful jaguar. Our first jaguar! I am pretty sure my mouth drops open and my heart definitely speeds up. The big male, who Fred identifies as Tomas, is busy eating a bird. A paltry snack for this big cat but Fred says even though the jaguar’s main prey are caimans they never pass up an opportunity for a meal. We sit and watch Tomas devour his big kill. He spends more time plucking feathers and spitting them out than finding a piece of meat to eat. When Tomas finishes his snack, he stands up and strolls into the brush and trees, disappearing from our sight. Tomas never even looked towards the boats that arrived to watch him dine, which tells you how acclimated they are to humans.

   We have learned from this experience that the guides share a jaguar sighting with other guides, which is good. There are so many side channels that the odds would go way down in seeing a jaguar if no one shared their good luck at spotting the beautiful cat.

     We head on down or maybe up the river, and I swear we have not left Thomas fifteen minutes ago and our boat is roaring down the river again. Here is the bad part of everyone knowing about a jaguar siting. When we arrive, there are probably twenty boats watching a female jaguar as she is hunting a caiman. We never see the caiman she is after but the big cat will splash into the water, then go up on the shore, walk along the shore a little way before going back into the water. More boats have arrived and are jostling for a better spot which becomes very irritating. The jaguar seems to have given up on her quest for the caiman, as she walks into some dense bushes that engulf her. Our boat and the others proceed in the direction she headed and sure enough the big cat comes back into the open. The jaguar shows no inclination of continuing her hunt. Fred asks us if we have had enough. We all agree we are ready to leave the chaos behind. There were probably thirty boats by the time we left.   

As we cruise down the river, Fred, and our boat driver, simultaneously call out “Jaguar.” Are you kidding me. I must be dreaming, how in the world have we seen three jaguars within an hour or so? Fred immediately knows this male jaguar because he is wearing a radio collar and he has quite a story behind him. Ousado was rescued after a devastating wildfire in this area in 2022. Ousado had been burned badly particularly his feet. I think Fred told us he was under human care for a year and then returned to the wild. He is the only jaguar with a radio collar.  Ousado is ten years old which is old for a jaguar particularly one that went through the trauma that he did. Fred notices that he is missing a back toe which is still raw. When Ousado stands up we see how bony he is and that he is walking slowly. Fred shakes his head and wonders out loud how much longer the old cat will survive. I would have to agree with our guides assessment.  We are joined by two other boats which after the last jaguar encounter is a marked improvement.  As we are leaving Ousado, other boats are speeding our way so we timed our departure just right.

    Our boat driver takes off and soon we have joined several boats that are clustered near a tree growing next to the shoreline. This is crazy. There is a jaguar sleeping in the tree though she is so hidden that all you can see is her head and front paws. All the staring human eyes and boat noise does not even wake her up. Fred identifies her as Marcela. The jaguars in the identification project are named and identified by the markings on their heads or unique spots on their sides. We stay for a bit to see if the snoozing lady will wake up and do something to entertain us but all we get for the time we are there is seeing her open her eyes once.

    Are you ready?  We are speeding away again and soon join a few other tourists in watching a mother and her big cub swimming in the river. How amazing to see cats leisurely swimming. Jaguars often choose to swim in the river to travel to another place rather than go overland. The pair swim near the edge of the river for quite some distance and their entourage of speed boats filled with humans follow slowly on the other side of the river. When the pair emerge from the water, we get a good look at them and see that the male cub is nearly as big as his mama. The cub named Makala has what looks like teeth puncture wounds on his hips. Who knows what put them there but maybe a male jaguar?  Patricia, his mother, slowly ambles into the cover of trees and brush with Makala not far behind although he is more curious about we humans and stops to look at us occasionally.

It is time to head back to the boat for lunch and as we arrive there is a family of capybara standing on the beach not far from where our riverboat is moored. Our boat driver takes us near the rodent family so we can snap some photos of the huge, odd-looking creatures. We have seen many of these giant rodents already, but the lighting and the little ones make for a good photo op.

Once on the boat we enjoy a wonderful lunch served buffet style. We have a couple hours after lunch to rest up. If anyone would have told us that we would see six individual jaguars within a few hours on the river I think all of us would have laughed out loud! I still have trouble believing our good fortune.   

    We leave for our afternoon exploration at three o’clock. It is hot, in the 90’s, but it is cloudy which certainly helps. Fred wants to go back and check on Marcela to see if she is still sleeping in the tree. Marcela has left the tree and is now napping on an embankment a few yards from the tree she had been in. Again, Marcela does not move or even open her eyes. I wish I could sleep that well. We do not stay long as there is way too many boats filled with patient people hoping the lazy jaguar will wake up and entertain them.

Our boat driver takes us down a small channel and we have not gone far when we join a few boats watching a female jaguar walking on the sandy beach. The lovely lady lays down but after a few minutes she decides that she is thirsty and walks down to the river to drink. Watching any cat lap water is fascinating to me as I do not see how they ever manage to get enough water to satisfy them. There are more boats arriving all the time, so we say farewell to the seventh jaguar we have seen today. Paul and I just shake our heads at this unbelievable day in Brazil. I guess the misery of getting here was worth it. Thanks for sticking with getting us here Paul!

   Fred decides we need to check on Marcela one last time and we find her in the same area, and she is still zonked out. Because there are a lot less boats we are able to see all of this slumbering cat. Marcela will probably start prowling once the sun sets and all these bothersome tourists are gone. We enjoy another gorgeous sunset before going back to the riverboat.

    Once we are on the boat, we all head to our rooms to clean up before supper. Our cabin is much like the room we had at the airport. A bed with room for luggage underneath it, a small wardrobe to hang clothes, and a bathroom. It is small but we will not be spending much time in here anyway.

   We head upstairs to the dining area and Fred is already playing the guitar and singing. Yes, our guide is multi-talented. He often sings popular American songs in English of course, but occasionally sings a Brazilian song in Portuguese. Fred then presents his “Fred talks” where he has photos he has taken on a computer about the animals he is educating us about for that night. I think tonight it was on capybaras. Fred also has a camera with those long lenses and his photos are stunning.  A wonderful meal is just the icing on the cake of this incredible, unbelievable day!