Brasil: Summer 2011: Dan Dan The Animal Man

Today we went out into the Pantanal region about 3 hours away from Cuiaba. The Pantanal is a flood plain that is completely covered by water during the rainy season. However, during the dry season, it is a beautiful place filled with all kinds of animals! We basically drove 2 1/2 hours into the middle of nowhere, took a left on a dirt road and drove another 40 min until the end of the road and then we had arrived.

I started out my day by fishing for Piranha! It was a whole lot of fun! I did not use a fishing pole, instead I used fishing line still on the roll with a hook and sinker on the end. By the end of the day I had caught 6 Piranha. I will be putting the pictures on the bottom of this post as well as on Facebook and Picasa.

After lunch I decided to head out on my own and do some exploring around the property. So I headed out on my own to search for some alligators and wild birds. I walked and walked, but hadn't found any alligators. I finally spotted a beautiful bird and went to take a picture of it. I was about to take a picture when there were two big splashes 2 feet to my left. I looked just in time to see two alligators jumping into the water! They startled me, which scared the bird, so in the end I didn't get the picture of the bird or the alligators. Oh well! It was amazing to actually be out in the wild though and to think I was 2 feet from alligators! I loved it and wish that I could go back.

By the end of the day I had seen several alligators, hundreds of birds, and lots of bugs! All in all it was a great day! Be sure to check out the pictures below and the full collection of them on Facebook and Picasa!