The 2023 Brazil Journals, Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Marcela

 

“Jaguars possess an air of mystique,

 as if they hold the secrets of the jungle in their souls.”—Unknown

 

 

 

 

Vanderlay backs the boat out of its slip at 5:20 in the morning.  

We start the photo day with an anaconda that lives among the rocks at the base of a cliff along the river.

There's the body;  where are the ends?

More body!

Even more body!

There you are!

 

Head to tail.

 

By 6 A.M we are upriver and photographing Marcela, the two-year old female jaguar that we saw yesterday.

 

By 8A.M., I have more than 600 photos of Marcela!

Later, Octavio is smiling and shaking his head in that gesture universally recognized as bemusement.

“I have many guests who come here hoping to see a jaguar swim across the river and they never do," he says.   "This morning, in just a couple hours, we have seen Marcela cross three times!”

First crossing.

 

Second crossing

Third crossing

Let’s talk about jaguars.

 

They rank third in size among the larger wild cats in the world, with tigers first.  Second are lions, (then jaguars), leopards, pumas, and cheetahs.

 

Jaguars look a lot like leopards.   Each has a necklace of spots, one of the things that can identify individuals.

 

They can grow up to nine feet long, including their tails, and weigh up to 350 lbs., whereas leopards, even though they can reach the same length, only weigh up to 165 lbs.

A leopard can carry a prey animal that is three times its own body weight up a tree, whereas a jaguar has a lifting strength of 700 lbs., and can drag a large caiman up a steep river bank.

 

Jaguars are stockier, bulkier than leopards.   They also have no fear of water and, in fact, spend much of their days in the water hunting for caimans.   Leopards prefer to hunt on the land for antelope and other land game, which they carry up a tree to keep it safe from other animals that would steal it.

 

Jaguars aren’t afraid of any other animal, except other jaguars.

We aren't the only people with Marcela.   Watch the video below:

 

We watch Marcela hunt for three hours, catching her in and out of the water, watching from the high river banks, swimming through rafts of floating water hyacinth where the caimans like to linger on the surface.

 

Marcela swims across the river three times.   She has only to check the area and look across the river, and the boat drivers instantly give her a wide berth.   They back their boats away from her intended crossing and don’t move until she is on the other side.   Some boats are upriver and some are downriver  and they leave about 100 yards in between for the jaguar.

Marcela pauses for a drink.

 

After a while, Marcela disappears out of sight in gteh vegetation, so we visit a beautiful lagoon.   Floating water hyacinth line both sides of the narrow water passage and birds galore are in the trees.

This video shows how the floating water hyacinth moves up and down with the boat's bow wave.   I think Shelly took this video.

 

A Black Hawk.

Our first sighting of a giant river otter.

Giant river otter with fish.

Black-capped Donacobius

Then, we are back with Marcela, still hunting intently for caimans.   I add another 230 shots to Marcela’s album.

 

It’s hotter than blazes as we head back to Porto Jofre for lunch and a very welcome  afternoon break from the sun.

 

 

***

Because of the intense heat, we don't go back on the river until 3 P.M.   We encounter no jaguars.   No doubt they are hiding from the sun, too.

Instead, Vanderlay takes us into another lagoon and I am thrilled with all the birds, especially in the late afternoon golden light.

Anhinga

Anhinga with its wings out to dry.

Anhinga

Caiman swimming close.

Cormorant.

Black Hawk

Tiger heron

Tiger heron

Wattled jacana

Wattled jacana

Kiskadee

Kiskadee

Giant river otter

Orange-backed troupial

Cream-colored woodpecker

The homeward bound sunset.