Getting into the Pantanal

Alex, Richard and Gail on the trailer about to be towed by the tractor across the flooded roads in the dark

The flooded road - note the underwater bridge over the river to be negotiated (this pic taken on the way back in daylight!)

The washed away bridge where we had to use a small boat as a ferry

The Pantanal is one of the largest wetlands on the planet (or is it the largest - it´s v big!)

The journey in usually takes about an hour by truck on dirt roads and we were to be staying in a simple campe, with no power and a space with hammocks for us all to sleep in. The problem was that the Pantanal is currently suffering the worst floods for over 40 years and that´s causing all sorts of problems for people who live and work there.

For us it meant that instead of s imple truck ride in taking an hour, we would be travelling by truck, then boat, then truck, then 4wd, then truck, then tractor and boat - taking around 3-4 hours, on flooded roads and swollen rivers - in the pitch dark!!!

The good news was that our simple camp wsa totally underwater and we were upgraded to much better accommodation on what is small patch of dry in the pantanal.

I could write for a long time about the journey. Perhaps the highlight was the dodgy truck with a dodgy driver. We´d just crossed a deep, fast flowing river by boat (as the bridge was completey washed away) and got on the truck. It stalled. So the driver decided to bump start it my taking it down the bank into the river (it was the only slope);. It didn´t work first time, so he did it again then swung the truck round in the water and pointed it up the bank, where it stalled again. Somehow he managed to roll it backwards into the river. I should explain that we were all sitting with our packs on a trailer attached to te back of the truck. This was completely in the flooded river. And remember it was pitch black!!

When the ´raod ´got too bad for 4wd trucks we got on a trailer with a tractor in front. At one piont the driver had to negotiate onto an underwater bridge over the swollen river.

I could go on and on about the journey in but I´ll stop there. It was a great adventrue but not one I´d wish to repeat!

On the plus side was saw a lot of wildlife - including caiman (crocs)

We finally arrived at our island around 11:30pm for a welcome meal and were very happy to get into our bunks!