Birding Brazil 2024 (1 Viewer)

[bonxie birder]

Naturetrek’s new brochure has just come out and so it’s got me I’m looking forward to summer 2024 and in particular a trip to Brazil. Looking at three destinations; Iguazu falls, Pantanal and the Amazon. I wanting to do this independently with my wife, so it won’t be roughing it, but will be looking for guide help along the way. I believe Iguazu will take care of itself. As for the Pantanal, many questions.

1. Can it be done independently?
2. Best airport?
3. Do we need to hire a car? (don’t have a problem with that)
4. Should we stay in more than one location?
5. Do most lodges do boat trips?
5. Should we get a guide?
6. Will we see a jaguar? (My wife demands it)

Then for the Amazon, same sort of questions, but where would be best to stay? I‘m sure I’ll need a guide preferably with transport?

We’ve been to Ecuador and Costa Rica so have some, but limited, experience of neotropic birding. My targets are primarily families, Rheas, screamers, sunbittern, hoatzin, seriemas, antthrushes, gnateaters, crescentchests?, donacobius, mitrospingids.

Frankly any advice will be welcome.
Many thanks in advance.

 

[temmie]

Never been in the Pantanal , but:
1. yes. Quite easily, at least if you arrange #3
2. Cuiaba. Reserve a couple of days for Chapada dos Guimaraes North of Cuiaba for a different set of birds / landscape.
3. preferably yes, see #1
4. yes, as this way you will have access to more habitats and have a chance to see more wildlife. Just two places that I have read about: Pousada Piuval and Aymara lodge. Some lodges bait wildlife (there have been many Ocelot pictures in my FB feed lately, it seems to be almost guaranteed, at least for the last could of weeks / months). A quick search for Ocelot produced Fazenda Santa Tereas aka Southwild Pantanal lodge (a few K West of Pixaim / the Transpantaneira) as one of those (or the only? no idea) lodges: SouthWIld Pantanal Lodge
5. Many lodges offer excursions, but I have no idea about the level of guiding and how many compromises you have to make with regards to birding vs. e.g. mammal watching, if you are in a vehicle / boat with other passengers. I would ask the lodges what they can offer in terms of bespoke guiding excursions.
6. Yes, guaranteed, if taking a boat from Porto Jofre.

 

[bonxie birder]

Thank you Temmie. I’m really worried about getting accommodation. Looking ahead the best places seem to be booked up for all next year. I guess the tour companies book them all up in bulk

 

[fbeeldens]

Thank you Temmie. I’m really worried about getting accommodation. Looking ahead the best places seem to be booked up for all next year. I guess the tour companies book them all up in bulk

Hi there,

just back from the Pantanal. Piuval and Aymara are nice (and Aymara has some nice trails). Pantanal is very popular (and not just with birding tour companies) places were already filling up for 2025 apparently ... :-/

Let me know if you' d like some more details on Aymara Lodge or bird observations in Pantanal in general. other place we stayed at was Pouso Alegre (basic, but good for mammals).

KR,

filip

 

[simmojunior]

See my recent trip report: Independent Brazil August 2022: Chapada, Pantanal, Pompeu, Canastra & Campos do Jordao

There are no Antthrushes in the Pantanal. Crescentchest at Chapada dos Guimaraes, easily done with the Pantanal. Your other targets are easy though we missed Sunbittern (didn't try too hard).

My recommendation would be to add another night at Piuval and another night at SouthWild or another lodge like Aymara. Pouso Alegre had best roadside birding.
The answers to your question:

1. Yes. See my report. The only issue is the nicest hotel in Porto Jofre is guided trips only. Santa Rosa Lodge could be a good compromise.
2. Cuiaba.
3. Yes
4. Yes. We did SouthWild, Porto Jofre and Piuval.
5. Yes. Piuval also does safaris.
5. This is not necessary. The boat drivers know where key mammals are and waterbirds are common. I think not having a guide cost us only Black-bellied Antwren. A guide may be useful at Chapada dos Guimaraes.
6. Yes. Very easily found at Porto Jofre August - October.

 

[bonxie birder]

Hi there,

just back from the Pantanal. Piuval and Aymara are nice (and Aymara has some nice trails). Pantanal is very popular (and not just with birding tour companies) places were already filling up for 2025 apparently ... :-/

Let me know if you' d like some more details on Aymara Lodge or bird observations in Pantanal in general. other place we stayed at was Pouso Alegre (basic, but good for mammals).

KR,

filip

Really helpful thank you

 

[bonxie birder]

Having looked into more throughly we have been unable to get accommodation for the Amazon and the pantanal with travel from the Uk for under £6000 each. Add on iqassu and we are up to £7000 each. Phenomenal prices.

 

[SandraBirdlover]

Having looked into more throughly we have been unable to get accommodation for the Amazon and the pantanal with travel from the Uk for under £6000 each. Add on iqassu and we are up to £7000 each. Phenomenal prices.

Hello Bonxie Birder!
I'm new to this forum but I couldn't help want to reach out to you. I'm a NYC-based Brazilian-American-British birder just back from Brazil. It's honestly my dream to spread the word of how great Brazil is as a birding destination. While I've never been to the Pantanal, and my time spent in the Amazon was before I became a birder, I can only say great things about birding in the south east of Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, São Paulo. Feel free to follow me on IG sbeltraony, X/Twitter SandraBirdlover.

The price tag of 7000 pounds sounds way off. Perhaps it might be true of the Pantanal, but where I was birding, it was cheap, cheap, cheap in relation to the dollar. I highly recommend gettting in touch with the Irmãos Mello birding guides based in Rio de Janeiro (city) and Guapimirim, an hour's drive/bus ride from Rio de Janeiro. These guides would be happy to suggest cheaper options and have an incredible network of birding guides at least in the south east.

I also had a great experience as part of a small birding tour of São Paulo coastal region with Brazilian Birding Experts. Granted this was an Embratur-sponsored "fam" (familiarization) birding trip post Avistar 2024 (South America's largest bird fair inspired by Old Blighty's own Birdfair) but after interviewing the founder of Brazilian Birding Experts Ciro Gomez, I got the distinct impression this bird guiding company has a very wide and reliable network of English-speaking bird guides across Brazil. Mention me Sandra Beltrao, and see if they'll give you a discount.

That aside, I also ended up being guided in Rio de Janeiro by the Irmãos Mello on two separate occasions (they are twins, extremely knowledgeable bi-lingual bird guides who wrote a fantastic bird guide on the birds of South East Brazil - worth buying just for the English-Portuguese bird name index in the back alone even if you don't speak Portuguese.) Gabriel Mello covers the cidade maravilhosa Rio de Janeiro. He guided me and a non-birder from Roumania to the suburbs of Rio - Barra about a 30 minute Uber ride. This was a great birding experience that included my lifer alma de gato (squirrel cuckoo, lifer Vermillion flycatcher (príncipe in Portuguese), Toco toucans, an osprey (rare for Rio de Janeiro), etc etc but more importantly, there were so so many caimans (Brazil's answer to Florida's gators)! I had no idea - think the Jungle Book with all those eyes popping out of the water in the early foggy light. I'll gladly share my ebird list for that day.

And even birding/walking around Rio de Janeiro without a guide, you are surrounded by so so so many birds, even from your apartment/Airbnb window. I'm a huge fan of the Lagoa - just don't go out waving an expensive camera too conspicuously. There's a kiosk restaurant area on the Lagoa where I would recommend hanging out for the views, safety in numbers and good food. There's more to say here so feel free to reach out to me via message for more. Best, Sandra

 

[pbjosh]

Having looked into more throughly we have been unable to get accommodation for the Amazon and the pantanal with travel from the Uk for under £6000 each. Add on iqassu and we are up to £7000 each. Phenomenal prices.

I tend to spend about 70-100 US$/day for car food and lodging in Brazil and have spent a lot of time there and seen a lot of the various states/departments. Obviously lodges can be more expensive, but not being able to arrange a trip to Brazil for two with a combined budget of $15000US + boggles the mind.

 

[SandraBirdlover]

I tend to spend about 70-100 US$/day for car food and lodging in Brazil and have spent a lot of time there and seen a lot of the various states/departments. Obviously lodges can be more expensive, but not being able to arrange a trip to Brazil for two with a combined budget of $15000US + boggles the mind.

Glad to hear it. Also, Brazilians are all about the art of the deal. I’ve rarely seen local bird guiding companies share their rates online. They always ask you contact them via WhatsApp which is essential for haggling! Typically, if four people want to be guided on a set date, you might split the rate four ways. Also, Airbnb has some great deals that vary from one week to the next.

As a general note, it is so important to hire a bird guide in Brazil. If I’d not hired one recently for a very fair price, how would I have IDed the call as a ferruginous pygmy owl and scored a lovely lifer (two of them right over our heads at 8 in the morning)?

 

[pbjosh]

Glad to hear it. Also, Brazilians are all about the art of the deal. I’ve rarely seen local bird guiding companies share their rates online. They always ask you contact them via WhatsApp which is essential for haggling! Typically, if four people want to be guided on a set date, you might split the rate four ways. Also, Airbnb has some great deals that vary from one week to the next.

As a general note, it is so important to hire a bird guide in Brazil. If I’d not hired one recently for a very fair price, how would I have IDed the call as a ferruginous pygmy owl and scored a lovely lifer (two of them right over our heads at 8 in the morning)?

To each their own I usually just call / WhatsApp or even just turn up to book accommodation, rarely hire guides (having lived in S America for 10 years am generally pretty ok on the calls/songs), and travel without terribly fixed plans by myself or with a friend or two.

But I generally agree with your jist - people are sometimes put off by the language barrier or by how exotic it seems but Brazil is logistically easy (ie easy car hire with Localiza, easy driving if long distances, good food and places to stay, overall few problems) and generally inexpensive and has some of the friendliest warmest people on earth. And amazing birds! What’s not to love?

 

[bonxie birder]

Thank you for all the replies. We are heading out on Tuesday. So excited after waiting so long. Remember this is a trip with my non birding wife so isn’t going to be wall to wall birding. We are doing everything independently including KLM flights from Edinburgh. It will be around £6000 each.

4 nights Rio - and a day with a local bird guide
2 nights Iquacu - and a day with a local bird guide
1 night São Paulo
4 nights Aymara in the pantanal - and a day on a jaguar trip down in Porto jofre (seriously expensive)
2 nights Chapada - and a day with a local bird guide
3 nights Cristalino
1 night São Paulo

I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

 

[temmie]

Thank you for all the replies. We are heading out on Tuesday. So excited after waiting so long. Remember this is a trip with my non birding wife so isn’t going to be wall to wall birding.

I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

Tell your wife to fasten seatbells and grease the focuser of her binoculars, as birdwatching / watching wildlife in Brazil is seriously contagious!