The best place on earth to actually see a jaguar, plus a river that swings ten metres a year.
4 expeditions across amazon & rainforest, deserts, salt & tablelands, coasts & islands, 1 of which is inquire-only. Windows on offer: Jun–Oct · Year-round · Apr–Sep · Aug–Dec.
The northern Pantanal is the headline. It is not the place with the most jaguars. It is the place where you can see them, because they hunt caiman along open river banks in daylight once the floodwaters drop from June. The Transpantaneira, 145 km of raised dirt road with over a hundred wooden bridges, is a wildlife corridor in its own right rather than a transfer.
Around Manaus the Encontro das Águas shows the black, acidic Rio Negro and the pale, sediment-heavy Solimões running side by side without mixing. Basing on the Negro means dramatically fewer mosquitoes than a whitewater river. Inland in Bahia, Chapada Diamantina is a quartzite tableland with a 340 m waterfall you look down into and a cave lake that lights an implausible blue within a specific seasonal window. Fernando de Noronha, 350 km offshore, holds visibility of 30–50 m and a hard cap on visitor numbers.
Country-level constraints that decide whether a date is possible.
Brazil
Amazon & Rainforest
Northern Pantanal (Porto Jofre / Transpantaneira, Mato Grosso)
Jaguars hunt along flooded channels while caimans line the banks. Sunset turns the wetlands gold; night drives find eyeshine everywhere.
$7,800–$11,800
Details →Brazil
Amazon & Rainforest
Manaus & Negro–Solimões
Meeting of the waters draws a line across the river. Lodge nights bring pink dolphins and the deep bass of frogs after rain.
$6,500–$9,800
Details →Brazil
Deserts, Salt & Tablelands
Chapada Diamantina, Bahia
Table mountains drop into waterfall amphitheaters. Caves hold underground lakes; trails smell of dry grass and wet stone.
$5,200–$7,900
Details →Brazil
Coasts & Islands
Fernando de Noronha
Volcanic islands hold some of the Atlantic's clearest water. Spinner dolphins work the bay; cliffs catch trade wind and seabirds.
On inquiry
Access notes →Inquire only in Brazil
Something else
Most private journeys cross a border — the Atacama to Uyuni crossing, Copán into Guatemala, Iguazú from both sides. Tell us the shape you want and we will say whether the logistics hold together.
Private & custom