Araras Pantanal Eco Lodge

Rustic eco-lodge on a working fazenda, offering rewarding wildlife spotting both on guided excursions and around the grounds, including from the lodge's own canopy observation tower.

Araras is a small eco-lodge which is part of a working fazenda, two hours by road from the Pantanal gateway city of Cuiabá. The attractive building houses guestrooms decorated in a rustic regional style, linked by a sunny communal terrace with hammocks and rocking chairs. The restaurant offers wholesome, home-cooked fare with a Brazilian twist, and breakfast can be taken al fresco by the pool, where you'll be surrounded by feeding birds.

Wildlife viewing is generally very rewarding here, and the guides are eagle-eyed and well-informed. They'll lead you on enjoyable nature excursions on foot, on horseback or by open-sided truck. In addition to the common sightings of caiman, capybara, coatimundi, storks, parrots and water-loving birds, there have been regular viewings of tapir, anteater, peccary, deer and ocelot. You can also potter off in a canoe on the river, or view the surrounding grasslands from the 25m-high canopy tower, often visited in the early morning by a variety of tropical birds.