The pantanal is the largest freshwater wetland in the world. Just how big is it? Well, put it this way, if England and Wales were suddenly transplanted to the heart of this wetland complex in southwestern Brazil, everyone in both of those countries would be getting their feet wet.

The pantanal is also one of the last major wilderness areas of the world and is unique in that most of the animals appear to sustainably coexist with the two-legged inhabitants of the region. The wet savannahs, fields, huge marshes, and gallery forests are the stronghold of the Hyacinth Macaw (the largest parrot inn the world), endangered Giant Otters can be seen in rivers and lakes, and this damp ecosystem is also the best place in the world to see two other large neotropical mammals; the Giant Anteater and the Jaguar.

Giant Anteaters require large areas of undisturbed habitat to satiate their voracious appetite for termites and ants and the pantanal not only provides enough six-legged delicacies to meet their dietary needs, but the wide, open plains also make it easier to spot this strange, ponderous-looking creature.

Jaguars reach their largest size in the pantanal and are also more common there than anywhere else. These facts (and the thousands of waterbirds seen every day) demonstrate the highly productive nature of the pantanal. The big cats are more difficult to see than the Giant Anteater but once again, due to the open nature of the habitat, are encountered on most guided excursions that look for them!

One of the best places to stay for jaguar watching and experiencing the incredible Brazilian pantanal is the Jaguar Research Center. More of a comfortable hotel located in the heart of the pantanal than a biological field station, visitors to this place have a nearly guaranteed chance of seeing at least one jaguar during a three night stay (every single group of visitors since 2006 who stayed for three nights has seen one or more jaguars).

When not searching for this fabled big, spotted cat of the Americas, guests can also watch myriads of storks, egrets other wading birds, capybaras, and might also see an Anaconda!

Rain forests are famous for harboring thousands of plant and animals species. They hide, grow, creep, crawl, and fly at all levels of the forest but the majority of life has evolved to live way up there in the canopy. And by “way up there” I mean 90 or more feet above the ground; the type of heights better left to monkeys, birds, and super heroes who can fly.

For this reason, the rain forest canopy continues to be a frontier of sorts. Despite the fact that thousands of people throughout the ages have hunted, lived, and gone for nature hikes in rain forests, hardly anyone has explored its upper reaches. Means of accessing the canopy weren’t developed until researchers in Costa Rica and Panama made attempts to learn more about the roof of the rain forest.

One of these intrepid, tree-climbing biologists was a guy named David Perry. He has focused much of his work on studying the rain forest canopy in Costa Rica and became so enthralled with this tree-top world that he helped establish a company that built the “rain forest arial tram” at the edges of Braulio Carrillo National Park in Costa Rica.

The tram is a mechanical gondola ride that brings tourists up into the canopy of beautiful primary forest and therefore provides access to this little known aspect of the rain forest. The experience lasts about an hour and an excellent, bilingual guide accompanies each and every gondola to educate visitors about the wonders, features, and processes of the canopy. The guide also points out different trees and animals such as monkeys, toucans, and sloths that are occasionally glimpsed during the ride.

Built smack in the middle of primary rain forest, pains were taken to construct the arial tram with as little impact upon the forest as possible and it’s evident that no large trees were felled to make way for the ride. The trip is so smooth and the gondolas large and safe enough that even those who are afraid of heights might enjoy this peek into one of the Earth’s final frontiers.