For about a month we travelled first to the Mata Atlantica between Rio and Sao Paulo to see the special bird species, then to the north and south Pantanal. Summer rains flood the Pantanal region – the largest wetland system in the world, while the winter dry season creates plentiful lagoons. It is truly the Serengeti of the Americas with incredible varieties of flora, and especially fauna including the 3rd largest cat in the world - the jaguar, ocelots, giant river otters, giant anteaters, the largest rodent – capybara, and wonderfully colored macaws, parrots, kingfishers, and many others. Like everywhere else in the world, the teaming wildlife is under constant threat from industrial activities and illegal poaching.