Jaguar Safari on the Cuiabá River

Drive the Transpantaneira road south from Cuiabá, crossing more than a hundred wooden bridges while caimans, capybaras and jabiru storks line the ditches. At the road's end you board small speedboats that patrol the Cuiabá, Três Irmãos and Piquiri rivers, where jaguars hunt along the banks in the dry season.

Two full days on the water give you the best odds of long, close sightings, with a naturalist guide reading tracks and radio reports from other boats. Nights are spent at a riverside lodge with time for spotlighting walks and the Pantanal's spectacular sunsets.