Day 1.
After 7:00 am breakfast, drive 1:10 on asphalt to the town of Poconé, the start of the Transpantaneira, the finest and only year-round road that penetrates the heart of the 50 million acres (20 million hectares) of the Pantanal, the world’s largest freshwater wetland. This gravel-and-dirt road offers a greater quantity and variety of wildlife than any other road in the Pantanal. All parts of the Pantanal are exciting, but there is nothing that can compare with the wildlife pay-off of the Transpantaneira. Drive 1:30-2:30 on the Transpantaneira, observing wildlife, and reach the Pantanal Wildlife Centre at kilometer mark 65 of the road. The secluded Centre is actually 2.5 km off the road, on its very own long, private driveway.

Day 2.
PWC is the number one birding lodge in all the Pantanal. It is also the best site in all the world for predictable viewing of wild Giant Otters (at only 1-5 m). Additionally, in 2006 we perfected a system to guarantee Brazilian Tapirs nightly at only 400 m from the lodge. In December 2006, we saw eight of these animals in less than 30 minutes. We also are the only lodge in the Pantanal offering mobile canopy towers near fruiting trees and electric catamarans for long-lens photography on the intimate, wildlife-rich river that flows next to the lodge.

Day 3.
Leave PWC after breakfast and drive 2 h (nonstop) or 3-4 h (observing wildlife) to the end of the 140-km-long Transpantaneira. The road dead-ends at the 250-m-wide Cuiabá River, where we board boats and navigate 1.0-1.5 hours upstream to our base at the floating, air conditioned Jaguar Research Centre, in the core of the new, Jaguar-rich 270,000-acre Meeting of the Waters State Park. The name of this park refers to the three navigable rivers that join inside this unique park.

Day 4.
Use small boats to explore narrow and wide rivers in the amazingly wild core of this huge park, the world’s best location to see wild Jaguars (from July to October 2006, seven out of seven of our two-day Jaguar Monitoring Expeditions in this park saw one or more Jaguars during the day). In all, these groups saw 18 Jaguars in 23 days of daytime searches. One group spent five days in this Jaguar Zone and saw nine of these huge predators, all during the day, a number at very close range for extended periods.

Day 5.
More river and forest explorations in the state park near the JRC. The JRC is a floating lodge, as no buildings can be erected in the pristine core of the park. We own a key piece of riverbank terrain in the center of the park, and that is where we anchor our Centre.

Day 6.
Boat and drive back to PWC, which means another chance to spot wildlife along the edges of the Transpantaneira Road. Night spotlighting for mammals and night birds at PWC, as well as another chance to enjoy the Brazilian Tapirs only 400 m from the lodge.

Day 7.
Drive 1.5 h along the Transpantaneira back to the town of Poconé, and then 1:15 on asphalt to the Cuiabá airport for a short, midday flight to other destination.