Forget the Amazon for actually seeing animals — the Pantanal, the world's largest tropical wetland, lays its wildlife out across open marshes: jaguars lounging on riverbanks, giant otters bickering, hyacinth macaws in screeching blue pairs and caimans beyond counting. Boat safaris out of Porto Jofre, at the end of the Transpantaneira road, offer the planet's most reliable jaguar sightings. Come in the July-to-October dry season, when animals crowd the shrinking rivers and the roads stay passable.
Featured in Ten wild tropical trips for animal lovers · Tropical