A Four Day Break...

Not being one of nature's most ardent fans, I wasn't sure how keen I was about setting out for a trip to the Pantanal, but our four day stay at the Caiman Lodge turned out to be one of the nicest short-break holidays we have had.

Our TAM flight left Curitiba around 6.00 p.m. for Sao Paulo for a connecting flight to Campo Grande where we spent the night at the Metropolitan hotel. At R$76 for the night, it was cheaper than some breakfasts we've had!

It is a 3½ hour drive to the Caiman Lodge by mini-bus which the hotel will arrange for an extra charge. The Lodge has a number of "satellite" poussadas located at various distances from the main part. We stayed in Piúva, which was only 1 km away enabling us to have lunch and dinner in the main part and breakfast in the poussada. In our poussada, there were 6 bedrooms plus a communal sitting room with TV and video (you can borrow tapes from the Lodge), a dining area where breakfast is served and a swimming pool and churrasco.

On arrival, you are assigned to a group and there is a colour-coded timetable to follow. The excursions are well organized, always with one or even two guides, so there is plenty of opportunity to have your questions answered. Despite following a timetable, there is ample time to relax by the pool, take some rods and try your hand at piranha fishing (we caught 11 fish!) or have a couple of drinks before dinner. You are quite free to opt out of any of the excursions should you so wish.

You will see toucans, blue macaws, kingfishers and tuiuiu (giant red-necked storks), feed alligators, spend an afternoon horseback riding among the cattle pastures and swamp areas which you can't access on foot. From the boat, you can almost touch the alligators (jacrares) as you glide through the pond fauna and you will experience beautiful sunsets as you return to the Lodge.

We found the Caiman to be a very comfortable hotel with excellent facilities, but if you were to venture deeper into the Pantanal to some of the more rustic hotels, you would be rewarded with an even greater variety and spectacle of wildlife.

Refugio Ecologico Caiman tel: (011) 883 6622 or fax: (011) 883 6037 e-mail: caiman@ibm.net or www.caiman.com.br (Costs based on 2 adults and 1 child.) Hotel International Campo Grande / 1 night…R$76.00. Caiman Lodge / 3 nights - including all meals & excursions ……………………R$ 1,276 Transfers to & from Caiman Lodge to Campo Grande / per person….. R$280 Metropolitan Hotel, Rua Eresto Geisel 5100, Campo Grande: tel - (021) 67-724-4688.

Article written by: Lindsey Hamilton

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