The Pantanal is one of the world’s largest tropical wetlands areas. Located mostly in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil, it is home to an array of animals and birds. Although it is known as one of the world’s most beautiful places, riding through its flooded fields on horseback is extremely challenging.
From the city of Corumba we trekked 200 kilometers south towards Miranda. We found nothing but water, birds, wild animals and very large farms.
I have never in my life seen so many different species of bird. Every thirty seconds a different colored bird would fly by the ponies. It is said the Pantanal is home to 1000 different kinds of bird, one more beautiful than the next. I would watch them fly by, envying their freedom and imagining where they were flying to. After so many months of bureaucracy I couldn’t help but feel as though I had grown a pair of wings myself.
Our first night on the road we were hosted by a family who has been living in the Pantanal their entire life.
“We live a very simple life here but we are very happy,” Joao said to me.
Having recently become a father, he says he wouldn’t change this little piece of heaven for anything. This is all he knows and all he needs.
“We don’t have any stress here, this is where I was born and this is where I will die… I hope my children do the same,” he said.
After eating an amazing dinner with the family we headed straight to bed. The next day we came to a three-kilometer bridge over the Paraguay River. After inspecting the large bridge I realized it would be impossible to cross it during daylight – the traffic was way too busy and the bridge swayed with every vehicle that passed. But after speaking to the maintenance workers, they agreed to help me cross.
“We’ll stop the cars for you so you can cross the bridge,” a worker said.
Riding Dude and ponying Frenchie and Bruiser we made our way across the long bridge. It took us over half an hour to get to the other side. The top offered a beautiful view of the river.
“If they didn’t close the bridge there was no way you would have been able to cross that thing,” Emma said to me as we fed the horses on the other side.
Barretos, the largest rodeo in Latin America, and one of my sponsors for the journey, lent us a van for the Brazilian leg of the trip. This allows us to carry hay, water and feed for the ponies – something very important while traveling in the Pantanal this time of the year as the pastures are all submerged under water.
“Eat your hay boys,” I said to the horses as they munched away.
The next day we were forced to trek 50 kilometers before we found a place to sleep. Because both sides of the road consisted only of cattle pastures completely inundated with water, it was impossible to set up camp.
It was an extremely hard day both for the horses and myself, but finally just after sunset we arrived at a park ranger station where we managed to tie up the horses and spend the night. The mosquitos were so bad that after caring for the ponies we immediately went to sleep. My knees and back were killing me from the day’s ride. I was not looking forward to the next day.
