The Pantanal of Brazil is so vast that you could spend weeks exploring it if you had the time and money! After a look at the southern part, accessed from Campo Grande, now it’s time to look at the northern part, accessed from Cuiaba.
Most people will get to Cuiaba on a domestic flight. Azul, Gol, Tam & Avianca Brasil all fly here and the most common flights originate in Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Campo Grande though there are routes all over Brazil, including to Alta Floresta (for Cristalino) on Azul.
When we were there, IHG just happened to have the Cuiaba Holiday Inn on Pointbreaks so I jumped on the free room for a mere 5000 points. It’s a nice enough hotel and the staff were lovely, but the location is the complete opposite direction of the road to Pocone starting from the airport. I did come prepared with printed Google maps back in Sept 2012 but what I didn’t realize was that the city was full of detours and road works in anticipation of the Soccer World Cup and my map was pretty much useless and we got lost several times just trying to get out of the city! Wasted time that would have been better spent in the Panatanal! In desperation, I finally offered a taxi driver 20 BRL ($5-ish) to drive ahead of us and show us the beginning of the road to Pocone.
Airport circled in red.
Cuiaba is a great place for DIY exploring of the Pantanal as rental cars are reasonable and once you get on the right road it’s easy driving via Pocone to the Trans-Pantaniera – where you start to see the amazing birdlife! We rented a small car from Hertz and it managed ok as the dirt road in the Trans-Pantaneira is well maintained and we had no dramas returning the car. I wasn’t thrilled at having to drive a manual (stick shift) but it’s flat country and pretty straight-forward roads once you get out of the city.
If you arrive on a late night flight, I recommend heading left down Route 364 towards the Pocone turn-off and pulling into one of the small motels to pass the night. Some of them may be geared towards “short term” stays but these people won’t bother you and these kind of motels have discreet car parks that are fenced in and guarded. I would then get up as early as possible to hit the Trans-Pantaneira by dawn, spend the morning birding and then go to your choice of lodging. More about this to come!