After five years of operation in and around the 270,000 acre Meeting-of-the-Waters State park, the SouthWild Jaguar Camp, has just moved to its permanent location on the banks of the Piquiri River in 2011. This is an area rich in wildlife, at the heart of a region famous for its jaguar. As well as the big cats, guests can expect to see caimans, capybaras, tapirs, ant-eaters, giant otters and numerous waterbirds.
The location has been chosen for its position at the heart of three river systems - the Piquiri, Cuiaba and Tres Irmaos Rivers - and its access by fast boat to more than 100km of waterways. Although the land in this area is privately owned, the landowners support jaguar conservation and tourism. With jaguar tourism providing an important part of the local income, this helps to prevent the hunting of the jaguar population and means that the jaguars have become habituated to people. This makes the region around the lodge the best place in the world for uninterrupted viewing of habituated jaguars on the river banks.
Radio-equipped boats are dispatched from the camp each day to search for jaguars, with sighting reported to the boats and camp. This allows you to reach any jaguar sightings rapidly before the jaguars move on. The jaguar spotting trips are organised from small 6-seater motorised boats with English-Portuguese speaking naturalist guides. Meals are normally served at the camp, allowing you to relax in comfortable surrounding while the scout boats continue to search for jaguars.
Accommodation is in spacious walk-in tents, equipped with electric light and fan, wooden floors, separate shower room and veranda. The tents also have an electric socket for recharging cameras or laptops. The camp is open all year, with jaguars and giant otters most likely to be seen during the dry season from May until December. [Please note that the pictures shown here are at the old site just to give an idea, and the new ones will be added to this information as soon as they become available. The new camp will undoubtedly look slightly different!]
