Linger longer: Safari, Brazilian style

With the revival of direct flights to São Paulo from both Cape Town and Joburg, safari enthusiasts seeking an exotic take on a familiar thrill need look no further than Brazil. Although the South American-bound wildlife lover’s imagination naturally drifts towards the Amazon, its superabundance of forest and scarcity of polished tourism infrastructure mean the chances of actually seeing any creatures remain as remote as that iconic jungle itself.

Meanwhile, a half-day’s journey (or less, if opting for a private plane) delivers you from São Paulo to Brazil’s spectacular but little-known Pantanal. Ten times the size of the Okavango Delta, this 160 000 km2 geological “soup bowl” of grassland and forest is the world’s largest tropical wetland.

Home to South America’s “big five” — jaguar, giant anteater, giant river otter, maned wolf, and Brazilian tapir — it also boasts over 700 bird species, including the hyacinth macaw (the world’s largest parrot). The 53 000ha Caiman Ecological Refuge in Brazil’s southern Mato Grosso do Sul state is widely recognised as the best place to experience this plenitude.

Access to Casa Caiman — the private reserve’s hacienda-styled lodge — involves crossing a 300m wooden bridge suspended over a glassy lake. Pulling up to an ochre-hued, tile-roofed building, my sense of an attendant mental traverse (into another reality, another consciousness) is clinched as I inhale the requisite welcome towel’s spicy-sweet aroma of pitanga. Perhaps it’s just the novelty factor but, for the rest of my stay, the indigenous wild cherry’s intoxicating scent lingers in my imagination.

Wrapped around arched courtyards where fountains refract sunlight dappling through native palms and flame and mango trees (in whose shade you’ll inevitably spy Caiman’s resident capybara herd), the lodge’s 18 rooms are situated in several structures that in a previous life served as the homestead of owner Roberto Klabin’s family cattle ranch. After inheriting the estancia in 1985, Klabin decided to create the Pantanal’s first private nature reserve. Honouring the property’s origins — and continued existence — as a working ranch, a 2021 renovation conjures the personalised intimacy and comfort of a beloved family fazenda (plantation), albeit one blessed with an abundance of elegance.

Vibrant “folk art” sculptures and carvings by Brazilian artists such as Antônio de Dedé and Itamar Julião, rustic wooden furniture, and cosy oversized couches are offset by arresting black-and-white wildlife shots and lush modern images by photographers Araquém Alcântara and João Farkas. In other words, those accustomed to the creature comforts of Africa’s safari industry will feel right at home. That said, while all rooms have private terraces from which birders may spy any of a dozen species of egret and heron against the lake’s pellucid backdrop or hyacinth macaws cracking palm nuts poolside, you will need to get out of your hammock to experience Caiman’s biggest thrills.

Fortunately, such efforts are amply rewarded. Heading out from the lodge as the worst of the heat of the day burns off and the light melts towards honeyed, the soft green of the grasslands and the riot of birds — in the first 10 minutes I see jabiru stork, capped heron, and roseate spoonbill, among others — make for a cognitive dissonance: this could so easily be a game drive in Africa, but with pampas and marsh deer in place of baobabs and springbok, tapir and capybara where you’d expect elephant and hippos.

Suddenly a call comes through the radio, and we’re off. Five minutes later we pull up to a massive male jaguar. Lounging on a grassy hillock, this animal, Mesoamerican god that he is, could care less about us. Watching this highly elusive and solitary creature from such proximity that I don’t even have to bother with binoculars, I am reminded that our planet, despite everything, remains a place of mysterious grace. But this sighting is neither an anomaly nor simple good fortune.

Established to protect a beloved landscape and prove to fellow Pantaneiros that cattle ranching and wildlife tourism do not have to be adversaries, Caiman partnered in 2011 with Onçafari, Brazil’s foremost pioneer in jaguar conservation. Inspired by South Africa’s safari industry, the partnership has brought guest jaguar sightings from 16% in 2013 to 100% since 2022.

Dinner on my last night is a churrasco-style barbeque at the stables (horseback riding and canoeing are other delightful ways to experience the bush here).

In an ambience warmed by flickering lanterns and the accordion-based melodies of a sertanejo band, I’m told the Pantaneiros will only barbeque on the wood of the indigenous red angico tree. When I sample the picanha (a fat-capped rump cut), the meltingly smoky taste explosion — at once familiar and yet beyond any braai I’ve ever had — justifies that exigency. Providing yet another same-same-but-different comparison with its lowveld forerunners, I can’t help but think that, if Caiman is any indication, Brazilian-style safaris may just evolve our notion of what the journey can be. caiman.com.br/en/home/

• From the May edition of Wanted, 2024.