Photograph puma and jaguar - two of South America's most iconic mammals - and a fantastic range of other wildlife amongst some of the wildest landscapes in Latin America.
It wasn’t that long ago that seeing a jaguar or a puma in the wild was something only field biologists and park rangers glimpsed on lucky occasions. We're therefore delighted that we can now offer a dedicated tour that not only offers excellent sightings, but also high-quality photography opportunities with both these special cats in one extraordinary trip. Our quest for these two big cats will take us through two very different environments with a phenomenal range of other wildlife and all within some of the most inspiring landscapes in the whole of South America.
The rolling Patagonian hills surrounding Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park are essentially the only places in the world where you can walk in the footsteps of pumas and go on to enjoy reliable, prolonged, intimate and outstanding photographic encounters with this elegant and agile cat. With our photographic leader and expert local puma trackers, we have daily excursions to a private estancia bordering the celebrated Torres del Paine National Park, where we have much greater flexibility to track and photograph the pumas we find. If we're lucky, we may get to observe some interesting behaviour or even capture photographs of a puma against a fresh snowfall.
Few mammals are quite as beautifully marked as the jaguar, and Brazil’s Pantanal supports the largest and the greatest density of jaguars anywhere. After our time in Patagonia, we enter this vast wetland, enjoying the abundance of capybara, caiman, waterbirds and primates as we make our way to the jaguar hotspots around the Cuiaba River. We are based on a floating houseboat, strategically moored in the most jaguar-rich stretch of these great wetlands. With three and a half days for jaguar photography, we hope to capture a great selection of jaguar images along with restless family groups of giant otters and much more.
This jaguar and puma photography tour is a must for big cat enthusiasts!
Typical Itinerary
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Day 1:
Depart UK
Depart the UK on an overnight flight to Santiago.
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Day 2:
Arrive in Punta Arenas
On arrival in Santiago, we are met and transferred to our hotel in downtown Santiago. We have the rest of the day at leisure to rest or explore some of the city.
Accommodation: The Singular, Santiago, 1-night
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Day 3:
Transfer to Torres del Paine National Park
Today we set off early for a transfer back to the airport and our flight to Punta Arenas, the southern gateway to Patagonia. On arrival, we begin the drive north to our accommodation in the village of Cerro Castillo near Torres del Paine National Park. We break the journey with comfort stops and photography opportunities.
Accommodation: Hotel Estancia El Ovejero, 4-nights
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Days 4-6
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Puma tracking & wildlife photography near Torres del Paine
Over the next three days, we focus our excursions within a private estancia bordering the national park, where we have special access and flexibility to track pumas across the landscape. There is an exceptionally high density of guanaco here, which in turn attracts many pumas that are most active early and late in the day. This too is when we aim to find and photograph them surveying the hillsides, leaping onto boulders or perhaps even stalking. With luck, we hope to capture images of these cats against their spectacular mountain home, which at this time of year, could be looking very wintry. We concentrate our searches in the mornings and late afternoons, returning to our cosy traditional Patagonian guesthouse for a warm lunch by the fire in between.
In addition to puma photography, the habitat of the estancia also offers opportunities to see and photograph Andean and chilla grey foxes, Patagonian hog-nosed skunk and majestic Andean condors and black-chested buzzard eagles overhead.
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Day 7:
Return to Punta Arenas
Today we make our back to Punta Arenas, stopping for any sightings en route that might include soaring condors, rhea, foxes and of course sensational landscape vistas.
Accommodation: Hotel Diego de Almagro, 1-night
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Day 8:
Fly to Sao Paulo via Santiago
Today we transfer to the airport and take a flight to Santiago, where we connect with an onward flight to São Paulo. On arrival in São Paulo, we transfer to our hotel for the night.
Accommodation: Hotel Comfort Inn Guarulhos, 1-night
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Day 9:
Fly to Cuiaba & wildlife photography in the Northern Pantanal
Today we take a morning flight to Cuiabá, the gateway to the Northern Pantanal. We then begin our journey into the vast wetlands of the Pantanal, taking a photography-filled drive south down the raised Transpantaneira road to our lodge. In addition to hundreds of waterbirds, caiman and capybara, we may find a rare marsh deer grazing in the wet grasslands next to the road or a watchful crane hawk perched on a roadside tree.
We arrive at our lodge in the late afternoon with some time to settle in before an afternoon boat trip along the Pixiam River. This is an excellent opportunity to enjoy close-up photography with a great diversity of birds, caiman and capybara. Iguanas, the rare agami heron and beautiful sunbittern are regularly seen along this waterway. Later, we reconvene for an evening visit to the lodge’s ocelot hide. This unique hide overlooks a forest clearing where we have an excellent opportunity to watch and photograph this sleek and beautifully spotted cat.
Accommodation: SouthWild Pantanal Lodge, 1-night
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Days 10-13
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Wildlife & jaguar photography
This morning we are greeted by a plethora of colourful Pantanal birds around the lodge feeders, such as toco toucans, yellow-billed cardinals and blue-fronted parrots. We then make our way south to Porto Jofre for lunch and an opportunity to photograph the world’s largest member of the parrots, the colourful hyacinth macaw. We then take to boats for our first search for jaguars along the network of waterways north of Porto Jofre. We finish the day at our base for the next four nights, the SouthWild Jaguar Flotel.
Over the next three days, we follow a programme of morning and afternoon boat safaris, typically spending around eight hours on the river each day and returning to the lodge in the middle of the day for lunch and some downtime. As we cruise along the rivers, we scan the sandy banks and dappled riverside gallery forest in search of the Pantanal’s top predator. Drawn by the high density of caiman and capybara in the area, jaguars are frequently seen stalking and sometimes swimming the rivers in search of prey or resting in the shade of an overhanging tree. We hope to be treated to several quality sightings during our time here, giving us a chance to capture some rewarding photographs.
While exploring the vast network of rivers and channels, we also come across a wide variety of other typical mammals, birds and reptiles of the Pantanal, most also offering excellent photography potential. Charismatic and highly vocal giant otters will no doubt be another highlight, and howler and tufted capuchin monkeys will be a feature of the canopy above the river. The abundant birds include black skimmers, jabiru storks, boat-billed and rufescent tiger herons, blue-crowned parakeets and a whole host of different raptors and passerines.
Accommodation: SouthWild Jaguar Flotel, 4-nights
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Day 14:
Wildlife photography in the Pantanal
Today we return to Porto Jofre keeping an eye out for a final jaguar sighting as we travel. We then retrace our journey back up the wildlife-filled Transpantaneira to SouthWild Pantanal Lodge for lunch and continue on to Cuiabá for our onward flight to São Paulo.
Accommodation: Hotel Comfort Inn Guarulhos, 1-night
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Day 15:
São Paulo & depart for the UK
Today we have a relaxed last day to unwind at our hotel in São Paulo before we take our onward flight in the afternoon back to the UK.
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Day 16:
Arrive UK
