Pantanal

Located in the center of the South American continent, Pantanal is a natural region encompassing the world's largest continuous wetland. With a total area of approximately 200,000 km², Pantanal is a biogeographic mixing bowl containing elements from the Amazon Rainforest, Caatinga, Brazilian Savannah, Atlantic Rainforest and Bolivian Chaco.

This complex ecosystem relies on an annual flood cycle – during dry seasons, the landscape consists of open savannah, patches of forest and isolated brackish lakes. However, when the rain arrives later in the year, up to 80% of Pantanal is transformed into a saturated expanse of flooded land, nurturing an astonishing biologically diverse collection of aquatic plants and helping to support a dense array of animal species.

This fantastic biodiversity includes about 650 bird species, 300 fish species, 90 mammalian species, 50 reptile species, 3500 plant species and over 9000 different subspecies of invertebrates. Among the rarest animals to inhabit Pantanal plains are the marsh deer, the giant river otter, the hyacinth macaw, the maned wolf, the giant armadillo, the South American tapir, the yellow anaconda, the giant anteater, the puma and the elusive jaguar. Common species in the Pantanal include the capybara and the caiman. There are over 10 million caimans in the Pantanal, making it the highest concentration of crocodilians in the world.

The Pantanal is the South America's primary wildlife sanctuary and was declared a World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, 2000.