Worth leaving the airport? Cash or card? Best month to go? The first traveler to log this country answers them here, with a name and a date.
How long is the Transpantaneira and how many bridges does it have?
147 kilometers, from Poconé to Porto Jofre in Mato Grosso, crossing about 120 wooden bridges. It is dirt, raised on an embankment, and it dead-ends at Porto Jofre.
Can you drive the Transpantaneira in a normal car?
Yes, in the dry season. We did it in a standard rental. Drive slowly, take the wooden bridges one at a time, and plan fuel carefully, because there are no gas stations along the road itself.
Do you need a guide to visit the Pantanal?
Not for the driving, the lodges or the road itself, all of which you can arrange yourself. You do need a boat and a local guide to see jaguars at Porto Jofre, and that part is not worth improvising.
Why can you see jaguars at Porto Jofre when they are invisible everywhere else?
Mainly because the population recovered after poaching nearly eliminated it, and because the cats have become habituated to boats over decades. The Jaguar ID Project counted 29 habituated jaguars in 2013 and 130 in 2023. Season, river proximity and weather also affect sighting odds, but habituation is the core of it. Jaguars can be reliably seen in less than five percent of their remaining range.
When is the best time to see jaguars in the Pantanal?
The dry season, roughly June through October. Water levels drop, access improves and sighting rates are at their highest.
How crowded does it get?
Researchers recorded roughly four boats a day on the river in low season and around thirty in high season. A 2025 study argued that jaguar tourism here needs new rules to stay sustainable. In high season expect to share a sighting and to queue.
How many bird species live in the Pantanal?
Embrapa's revised checklist for the Pantanal floodplain records 470 species.
What is a jabiru?
A very large wetland stork, the tallest flying bird in the Americas, standing up to about five feet with a wingspan reaching nine. They are common along the Transpantaneira.
How do you get to the Pantanal from São Paulo?
Fly to Cuiabá and drive south, or do what we did and drive the whole way, which is about eighteen hours to Rondonópolis on the first day before continuing to Poconé and the Transpantaneira.
