Pantanal and Caracas - Day 8 24/7 - Flotel

Wednesday.

We were up for breakfast at  5.30 before setting off at 6.00 for our morning boat ride. There was a slight delay because of green kingfisher giving stunning views beside the boat. We boarded our boat, sorted out our geer and set off, We had a bit of a ride around, then we were off. We came round a corner and a gang of boats were all parked up facing the bank. There were two jaguars fighting and growling in the bushes. They gave reasonable views but no photos before they dissappeared into the bushes. While there, Alan saw an animal cross the river, and then three otters were spotted, fishing along the riverbank 

We pottered on, when a second call had us driving to where a jaguar was swimming along the water's  edge, it then climbed up the bank and away. 

There was a call for jaguar on a bank. A fourth sighting was of one deepest in the bushes, just loafing, but it got up and went. 

We drove around in some of the inlets and smaller tributaries, with birds such as Sungrebe, Southern Screamer, Vermillion Flycatcher, Rough-winged Swallows and a Wattled Jacana

We were heading downstream when we stopped for some capybara, loafing on the edge of the river, one of them made us jump when it splashed into the river and surfaced right by the boat. 

We then had a high speed chase back upriver for amazing views of a jaguar hunting along a=the bank. At one point it splashed down the bank into the reeds but didn’t come out with anything. It spent a lot of time meandering along the bank, seemingly oblivious of the boats keeping station with it. 

Back for lunch.

After lunch and a move to our 'proper cabins', much less spacious but perfectly OK we met up at 2.30  for our afternoon ride. We dipped on two sightings but then joined a throng to watched one come down to the water before walking along the bank, among the trees. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon cruising round different waterways and short canals. We scanned around for birds and came across thibgs like Bronzy Jacamar, Great Blue and Rufescent Herons, Orange-backed Troupial, Black-backed Water Tyrant and Blue-and-white and Rough winged Swallows and Kingfishers. We aslo had good views of a Capuchin Monkey moving around the tree branches. We were back around 6.00 and then dinner at 7.