The heat is as hot as I think I have ever experienced, 40 degrees and the humidity is sauna-esque. I have been in some heats that are similar but we were always somehere to escape, an air conditioned hotel or bar, but here is there is none. We arrive at our campsite that has a basic stucture that holds our hammocks, our beds for the next two nights. There is no no air and the pests and insects are everywhere.

The Pantanal wetlands is an oasis of green covering 230,000 sq km, very flat and in some areas it looks a little like an African savannah, filled with mammals, birds and retiles . On our way in the back of an open top truck we have already seen a host of wildlife, liteally tens of Cayman (the crocs) in the passing rivers and swamps, wild pigs, deer, an armidillo, kingfishers, storks, quito and capybara, the world´s largest rodents, that look like giant badgers cum otters. It has taken the best part of the day to get here, via a more civilised hotel set on stilts that acts as the feeder hotel to the ranch we are staying on, which is an hour and a half away. The ranch we are on has its very own swamp and several Cayman line the side of it, literally a few feet from where we walk and sleep.

The first evening involved taking a nature walk, even the local guide Max was amazed that the heat was still so warm as the sun was setting, he exclaimed that this time of the year it isn´t supposed to be like this in the early evening. The heat is constant and the mosquitos, hundreds of them attack us from everywhere. I have never seen anything like it. It kind of distracted from what I am sure was a I nice walk but most of us spent the time swatting the bloody things from us . I rarely get bitten, they usually go for Julie, but I must have had 30 bites all over. Unbelievable! We got back and had a basic feed, played cards and sat around a camp fire (only to keep the mossies away) but still the heat squeezed the air from our lungs.

The first half of that night was like nothing I have ever experienced, it was ridiculously hot, there must have been 4 very loud snorers in our group (we were all in the same room), including one woman who was actually inadvertantly communicating to the animals outside who were responding to her calls. The mosquitos were still swarming despite the nets, I guess the space we were in was too big to keep them out, and the hammocks were decidedly difficult to get comfortable in. Then at around 1am there was lightning off in the distance and I decided to make my way outside, where a breeze had started and sat on a chair on some decking watching an incredible light show. I willed it to come our way but it seemingly wasn´t moving from where it was . After a half hour I went back in and forced myself to try and sleep but my whole body was swaeting buckets and I was sure that the room must stink but I couldn´t tell as I had been in it for too long. Then an hour later the storm arrived. The temeprature didn´t drop to begin with, firstly we got the most incredible wind whipping through our hammocks, with lightning sheeting across the sky, it was so refreshing but also like a scene from a bad horror movie. I half expected a shadow of a man to appear wielding a giant meat cleaver. We had to baton down the hatches literally, outside the building where the wooden pull downs were. Then the rain started and thankfully the temprature dropped and despite the noise it brought sleep much faster, by the morning it was actually very cool, and you needed a jumper. Unfortunately there was a leak in the roof over Julie´s hammock and she had to move to a spare one - no luck.

We awoke to an overcast day with the temprature not even at 20 . It felt wonderful compared to the previous day. We had breakfast and went on a horse ride around the area for a few hours. The ranch has 20 or so horses. The pace was pedestrian and we saw a few animals but not as much as I thought we would. The most interesting thing was walking through the flooded areas and near the swamps and hearing the growls (yes, growls) from the Cayman to warn us where they were and to stay away. By the end it was all getting a bit too boring for me so I took off on my large steed, wonderfully named Canary, to gallop up and down the line of our group and encourage a couple of other experienced riders in our group to have a race back. 

After lunch and some chill out time we went out an afternoon safari, culiminating in some Piranha fishing. Something I was really looking forward to until they told us we would be actually waist deep in the water with lines. The safari was great, the weather was temperate and it made viewing from the back of the truck pleasant . We were very luck to see two otters in a river, there are only 4,000 left and are apparently number one currently on the endangered list in the area. More cayman were spotted, as well as wild pigs and a host of hawks and vultures. It is amazing to think that the area in a few months time will be mostly a metre underwater.

We arrived at our river for Piranha fishing, Julie and another girl stayed in the truck as we waded out. I went first and was given a fright when initially four Cayman in the reeds jumped out of nowhere and sped off into the river just feet from me, and then feeling the little Piranaha fishes nipping at my calves, although it felt more like they were tickling and they soon stopped. The guides had convinced us it was safe, after all they hadn´t lost a tourist yet, may be a leg of a tourist but not a whole one! We got ourselves set and away we went. I managed to catch the first one with my first attempt and it was about 8 inches long, a biggish one, a great feeling and our guide snaffled it off the end of my line and launched it through the air and onto the bank, which he did with every one we caught for us to pick up later . We all caught at least one and one guy managed 4, I caught three but one was really small but we kept them to feed the Cayman with later.

Feeding the Cayman is an experience in itself, we had caught around 18 or so Piranha and we kept 9 to cook that night. There is a mantra "catch it, clean it, cook it, consume it". Our guide took a flip flop from a member of the group attached a line and threw it in the water, so it smacked the water a few feet from them. He split open the smaller Piranhas and left them on the river bank. The Cayman followed the flip flop all the way to the bank. They are so fast when they want to be, they just chug along and then all of a sudden they burst through the water garb the dead fish and away they go. It was so cool to watch from just a few feet away.

Later that night the boys in the group stayed behind to learn how to wash, scale and gut the fish in preparation for cooking. It was pretty easy after you got the hang of it. Unfortunately the fish themselves don´t have much meat on them, although what little they do have it very sumptious, a bit like monk fish.