PHOTOGRAPHY TOURS TO PANTANAL
PANTANAL
The Pantanal is one of the world’s greatest wildlife destinations, offering photographers an extraordinary opportunity to capture animals in their natural habitat. As the largest tropical wetland on Earth, it provides open landscapes, reflective waterways, and remarkable visibility—ideal conditions for wildlife photography. From sunrise boat safaris to golden-hour drives, every moment presents a chance to frame unforgettable shots.
This tour is specially designed for photographers, with expert naturalist guides who understand animal behavior and positioning for the best angles and light. The Pantanal is famous for reliable sightings of jaguars, giant otters, capybaras, caimans, hyacinth macaws, and an incredible variety of birdlife. Whether you are a seasoned professional or an enthusiastic beginner, you’ll have time and space to compose powerful, portfolio-worthy images.
Beyond photography, the experience immerses you in one of South America’s most biodiverse ecosystems. Comfortable lodges, small group sizes, and carefully planned excursions ensure both safety and flexibility. A wildlife photography tour to the Pantanal is not just a trip—it’s an unforgettable journey into the heart of wild Brazil.
TOUR HIGHLIGHTS
- Gives ample opportunities to photograph ocelots & capuchin monkeys in the wild
- A whole array of other endemic fauna and flora
- Expert natural-history and photography guidance by photography mentor Sachin Rai
TOUR ITINERARY
Please Note: Our tour starts in Campo Grande on Day 01.
Ideally you are expected to fly to Sao Paola the previous night and stay there for one night and then take the next morning flight to Campo Grande.
This way all of us can be on the same flight. We will have only one vehicle for all transfers throughout the trip.
Trip Part 01
We will be picked up from the airport and driven for 4 hours to reach the property. We will stay here for two nights. The property is situated next to a river and we will go on drives to look for the highlight of the tour, the giant Ant Eater. An extremely unique animal, we will spend most of our time looking for this animal. This animal has very small eyes and hence easier to approach them if we walk slowly and if possible silently.
It is not easy to see this animal, hence we have decided to stay in this place for at least two nights. We go back to the property and have our dinner and call it a night.
We will leave again in the morning in an open truck after breakfast for the drive to look for the Ant eaters and other animals like the Armadillo and Capuchin monkeys.
The evening session will be the same but we will have lot of different opportunities to take pictures of birds, reptiles and other mammals. We could get lucky with the Burrowing owl, Guira cuckoo, Yellow-headed amazon, Bare-faced curassow, Pampas deer and Agouti.
In the night, we will go on a drive to look for Ocelots, the elusive small cat in the same open truck that we had used for the Ant eaters.
On this day, we check out from our hotel and drive to Jardim, a small town close to Bonito, a popular town in that region. We will check in, in a nice cozy hotel for just one night.
We will drive for 45 mins to reach Buraco das Araras. The place where we will see the spectacular Red and green Macaws. There are around 24 of these macaws and we will see them up-close and see them flying in this big 500 meter sink hole. It is a massive cavity which houses these birds and the large metal platforms on both ends of the sinkhole provides some great views and allow us to make spectacular images of the macaws in flight. After a two hour session here, we will head back to our hotel and call it a night.
We will drive for one more session at the sinkhole. Since there are two platforms at either ends of the sinkhole, we have the opportunity to make lots of bird in flight pictures here. We will aim to make some nice dark background images here. Btw, this place also offers opportunities to photograph other birds like the blue-crowned motmot and the buff-necked ibis.
After the session, we will go back to the property, check out of the hotel and drive to the airport to take a flight to Cuiaba. Night in Cuiabá.
Trip Part 02
We leave at 7am for Transpantaneira in the morning and reach our property by lunch time. We check in and have lunch and bird around the property. We will be staying here for all five nights. You will see lots of Caimans and Capybara’s around the property.
In the evening we will see if we can try our luck with the Ocelot. We will walk a short distance in the night and sit on a kind of a platform and wait for the rare and nocturnal cat, the Ocelot. They have an ocelot paying regular visits to a small feeding area. We will try our luck there and if the animal appears, we will make pictures with just the 70-200mm here.
We will do morning and evening boat rides on the river. While the morning session will be around 4
hours, the evening one will be around 3.5 hours. But we can stay back on the river for more time
depending on the activity
Since the days can be hot and humid, we will rest it out this morning. Just to take a break. You can bird around the property or chill in the pool. We will do only the evening boat ride this day.
It is possible to do an extra boat ride if participants want to go for it.
We will try to go for the Ocelot session once again this evening.
The boat rides also offers some great opportunities to see and photograph Caimans, Capybaras, Tapirs, Giant otters and some incredible birds like all the five species of Kingfishers (Amazon, Green, Ringed, Green and rufous and the American), couple of species of guan, the black skimmer, Jacamar, the gorgeous Hyacinth macaw, the yellow-billed cardinal and many more.
We will go for two more boat rides on the river to try and photograph as many things as possible. We might do a full day on this day depending on how keen participants are.
We depart in the morning to drive to Cuiaba. Since it’s a long journey, we won’t be able to do a morning boat ride. We will drive all the way to Cuiaba and either stay there that night or take the flight out to Sao Paulo. The accommodation for this night is not included in the tour cost.
COST & TERMS
USD 1980 (DBL)
TRIP PART 01
3 Nights (5 – 8 Oct)
1 Walk to the Macaw sink hole
3 Safaris for Ant Eaters.
Additional USD 530 for SGL upgrade
USD 5380 (DBL)
TRIP PART 02
5 Nights (9 – 14 Oct)
2 Ocelot Walks
7 Boat Rides for Jaguars
Additional USD 800 for SGL upgrade
USD 7360 (DBL)
COMPLETE TRIP
8 Nights (5 – 14 Oct)
All Activities From Part 01 & 02
Walks, Boat Rides & Safaris
Additional USD 1330 for SGL upgrade
- All prices above are excluding taxes. Plus 5% GST and
-
5% TCS If you haven’t made any international trips in that financial year.
If not, you have to pay 20% TCS. Please note that you will get that entire amount of TCS back
- Please message us at contact@glidingfrog.com for a quote in your specific currency.
- For both tours included
- 8 nights of accommodation with all meals.
- All road transports in both the destinations in an airconditioned bus
- Safaris in an open truck on 5th and 6th
- Bird park fee and guide fee
- All boat rides as mentioned in the itinerary
- English speaking guide in both the destinations
- For both tours included
- Travel from your home to Campo Grande
- Travel from Campo Grande to Cuiaba
- Travel from Cuiaba to your home town
- Accommodation on the 8th if you intend to stay in Sao Paolo
- Accommodation on the 19th if you intend to stay back in Cuiaba.
Since Sept and October are peak season in Pantanal, all the properties are sold out for the year.
The properties we have booked need 40% advance to hold the bookings. Which means I will need 40% of the amount immediately. I have to make the payment before 20th October 2026.
The trip is not cancellable.
But since it is a tour which doesn’t need permits, we can always look for replacements incase you have to cancel the tour because of extreme emergencies.
While I cannot guarantee finding a replacement for you, but in the past it has not happened that I haven’t found a replacement for someone.
- For both tours included
- 8 nights of accommodation with all meals.
- All road transports in both the destinations in an airconditioned bus
- Safaris in an open truck on 5th and 6th
- Bird park fee and guide fee
- All boat rides as mentioned in the itinerary
- English speaking guide in both the destinations
- For both tours included
- Travel from your home to Campo Grande
- Travel from Campo Grande to Cuiaba
- Travel from Cuiaba to your home town
- Accommodation on the 8th if you intend to stay in Sao Paolo
- Accommodation on the 19th if you intend to stay back in Cuiaba.
Since Sept and October are peak season in Pantanal, all the properties are sold out for the year.
The properties we have booked need 40% advance to hold the bookings. Which means I will need 40% of the amount immediately. I have to make the payment before 20th October 2026.
HOTELS & PROPERTIES BOOKED ON THIS TOUR
- 5th Oct : Hotel Vitoria, Jardim
- 6th & 7th Oct : Pousada Aguape (Aquidauana)
- 8th Oct : Not yet booked. One of the option is Hotel Deville Prime Cuiaba.
- 9th to 13th Oct : Pantanal Norte Porto Jofre – Mato Grosso
Please note that the properties in each places are not fancy but are comfortable, clean and has air conditioned rooms with proper bathrooms. All the properties we have booked are expensive because there is no other options in those areas. It is peak season and all properties are sold out already. I have managed to book the rooms for the given dates.
I have chosen the best possible options that gives us more opportunities to photograph more animals and birds based on my previous visit to this place
GALLERY
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Absolutely yes! We will be happy to customise this tour for you based on your preferred dates. Kindly write to us and tell us your preferred time of travel and we shall get back to you with a tentative itinerary and quote. This tour can be with or without a photography guide.
BOOK TOUR
PLAN CUSTOMISED TRIP
In case these dates do not work for you and you would wish to travel on your own at your own convenience dates, then do write to us.
We will customise a tour for you on your preferred dates. This can be with or without a photography guide. We would ensure you have the best drivers, guides and will also suggest properties based on your preference.
We have close to two decades of experience in the wildlife travel sector and will be able to guide you based on our own experience.