Mutant Killer Mosquitoes

After leaving the beauty of the waterfalls my truck headed northwards towards the eco capital of the world (apparently), the little town of Bonito. Here I snorkelled in the crystal clear waters of a local river and saw an amazing variety of fish. These rivers are very well protected - you can only stand up in certain places so you don´t disturb the river bed. They also do not allow sun tan lotion or insect reppellent in the water. Makes perfect sense - this is why they have the clearest river water in the world, until you realise to get to the correct entry point into the river a 30 min walk through the jungle is required. You also have to wear a wet suit. Walking through the jungle in a wet suit, temperature over 35, wasn´t too bad. The fact that the wet suit stopped above the knees and no repellent is allowed is very bad. This region is famed for its mosquitoes but at the moment they are witnessing a record number of the little buggers. The guides have never seen anything like it. The record numbers have even made international news - great - and we were not allowed to wear repellent. I was lucky - I only got approximately 50 bites on my legs. Some pour souls had their faces chewed up - one lass has over 100 bites. Tip: never walk through a tropical jungle during record mossie season not wearing repellent - its not fun. The snorkelling though was well worth it. The fish had no problem with people and were swimming around - visibility was beyond belief - far better than the Carribbean Marine Reserve waters. I even saw a Caiman hiding out in its den under the surface!
From Bonito we entered the Pantanal. This is an area the size of France - it is incredibly humid - with alot of rivers. It is categorised as a giant swamp but it is a beautiful place. We had been warned about the bite through anything mosquitoes here but after Bonito they were in fact tame. I got to see so much wildlife here. People go on Safari into the Pantanal especially to see the birds. I saw Toucans, Tiger Herons, Storks, Eagles, Hawks to name a few. Also saw alot of Capivari´s which is the worlds largest rodent. They don´t do much and reminded me of wombats On one of the jeep safaris I took I also saw alot of caiman - they were in the water, sunbathing at the side of the road - some were even playing chicken with the jeep. Caiman are the smallest of the crocodile family and do not attact humans - we are far too big for them, so they are quite safe to be in close proximity to, both in and out of the water - unless of course you do something stupid such as trying to annoy it! Another thing that is present in the rivers here are Piranha fish. Our group went Piranha fishing - although we stood in the boat to do it. Between us we caught around12 and some of these were cooked up for tea. Piranha taste really good - one of the best fish I have eaten. Alas they are terribly boney and picking all the bones out gets very frustrating. Ah the price you have to pay in these parts to get a good meal!