North Pantanal

Visiting Brazil’s North Pantanal on a Budget: A Wildlife Road Trip Guide

The North Pantanal is one of the most incredible wildlife destinations in South America, and arguably the best place in the world to spot wild jaguars. Alongside them, you’ve got capybaras, caimans, giant otters, hyacinth macaws, anacondas, toucans, and if you’re really lucky, tapirs and ocelots too.

But here’s the catch: the Pantanal is no longer a hidden gem. In recent years, tourism has exploded, and with the rise in popularity of luxury jaguar lodges, prices have shot up. A few days in a high-end eco-lodge can cost well over $1,000, especially if you want guided tours and full-board meals.

But don’t worry, you don’t need to spend a fortune to have an amazing Pantanal experience.

We managed to do it on a 'backpacker budget' by renting a car, camping, booking tours directly, and doing our own wildlife drives.

This guide walks you through exactly how we did it, from how to get there, to where to stay, our 2 day budget, and what we wish we knew before going. If you’re short on time, low on cash, but still want a proper Pantanal adventure, this one’s for you.

Getting to the North Pantanal (Poconé)

• Step 1: Fly into Cuiabá: The gateway to the North Pantanal is Cuiabá, the capital of Mato Grosso. We flew in from São Paulo, and the flight takes just about 2 hours. It’s the biggest city in the region and the best spot to rent a car and stock up on supplies before heading into the wild.

• Step 2: Rent a Car: We rented a car from Localiza at the Cuiabá airport. Having our own vehicle gave us total freedom to do sunrise and night drives, reach budget-friendly accommodation options, and stop for wildlife sightings along the way. We recommend getting a car with high clearance (it doesn’t have to be 4WD, but make sure it can handle dirt roads with potholes and occasional water crossings).

• Step 3: Drive to Poconé: From Cuiabá, it’s about a 1.5-hour drive to Poconé, the last town before the real adventure begins. Poconé is the official gateway to the Transpantaneira, a 147 km dirt road with over 120 bridges, some of which are a bit sketchy, but manageable with caution. 

Car Rental

We took an Uber to Localiza at the airport.

• Rental Duration: 12 days total (including our visit to Chapada dos Guimarães), 6 days exclusively for the Pantanal.

• Car: Automatic SUV

• Cost: 30 USD per day

• Booking: Reserve in advance via the Localiza website

• Note: They don’t speak English, use Google Translate

• Requirements: Bring your international driver’s license

When Is the Best Time to Visit?

• Dry season (May–September) is the ideal time. Water levels drop, animals concentrate around riverbanks, and wildlife viewing improves dramatically, including jaguars. Jaguars are best seen from June onward (in May chances are lower)!

• Peak season (July–August) increases your chances of seeing more wildlife, but brings more tourists too.

• Shoulder season (June, September) gives a good balance between wildlife sightings and fewer crowds.

How Long Should You Go?

We spent 5 days exploring the North Pantanal because we wanted time for both self-guided wildlife cruising and a jaguar tour. But if you’re on a tighter schedule (or budget), you can still see jaguars in just 2–3 days, details coming later in the itinerary.

Where to Stay Cheaply in the Pantanal?

• Rooms in Pantanal pousadas often cost $100+ per night without tours.

• We saved money by sleeping in our car at a pousada, which allowed us to use their facilities and book tours directly.

• We booked a night at Pousada Dona Onça Jaguar Lodge in Porto Jofre for R$100 (≈ $20 USD) per person to sleep in our car. It was uncomfortable, but our most affordable option. We also booked our jaguar tour directly with them.

• You can book directly via WhatsApp, or through pousada websites.

Prep & Self-Catering Tips

Meals at pousadas can be R$70 each, which is quite expensive if you’re on a budget. We brought our own food, using the pousada fridge for storage. Cold microwave lasagnas kept us fed for less. Stock up on food and snacks from supermarkets in Cuiabá, it is cheaper and there are more options than in smaller towns.

Essentials include:

• Pillow for car sleeping

• DIY mosquito net: essential for sleeping with windows open (net with duct tape)

• Bug spray

• Headlamp

• Own towels

Our 5-day Itinerary (Plus Quick 2-3 Day Option)

Day 1: Arrival in Poconé + Evening Wildlife Cruise:

• Drive from Cuiabá to Poconé (~1.5h).

• Overnight at Hotel e Churrascaria Pantaneira (250 real per night).

• At 4:45 pm, we drove 2 hours along the Transpantaneira at dusk and saw: Crab-eating foxes, Emas, Pampas deer, Storks, Caimans, Hyacinth macaws, Capybaras, Toucans, and 2 Lancehead snakes.

• Tip: If you’re short on time, drive straight to Porto Jofre and start the jaguar tour the next morning, skip Poconé entirely.

Day 2: Transpantaneira Drive to Porto Jofre

• Early departure driving the full Transpantaneira in ~4 hours. Make sure you get gas before the trip as there are no gas stations along the Transpantaneira.

• Spotted our first caiman lizard.

• Arrived at Pousada Dona Onça, set up camp, took a nap, then did an evening wildlife drive, spotted foxes and great horned owls.

Day 3: Full-Day Jaguar Boat Tour

Let’s be real, jaguar tours in the Pantanal are not cheap. Even doing it on a budget, you’ll still have to fork out around $100 USD per person for a shared 7-hour boat trip. But if you’ve made it all the way to Porto Jofre, you’re probably here for one reason only. And honestly, the tour was 100% worth it for us.

We left the lodge at 7 am and started slowly cruising the river. The first couple of hours were fairly quiet, but we still enjoyed spotting some of the area’s amazing birdlife, including nesting jabirus, herons, and kingfishers.

Then, we got extremely lucky. One of the tourists on our boat had brought a friend along, who just happened to be a Pantanal wildlife guide. The guy had hawk eyes and basically spotted everything before anyone else. Thanks to him, we ended up seeing five different jaguars, including one actively hunting a caiman. 

But that wasn’t all, we also saw a group of giant river otters, plenty of capybaras, dozens of caimans, and several green iguanas basking along the riverbanks.

Another thing that made our tour better than expected: our guide took us further upstream, beyond the main tourist areas. Most boat companies communicate through walkie-talkies, so once a jaguar is spotted, it doesn’t take long before 10+ boats swarm the location. But since we were ahead of the crowd, we had our first jaguar sighting all to ourselves before the other boats even showed up. Later, we went even further upriver where we were completely out of radio range, which meant the last few jaguar encounters were peaceful, quiet, and just us and the animals, exactly how it should be.

After the tour, we drove straight back to Poconé and stayed the night there.

Alternative if you’re short on time or budget: Skip Day 1 and 2 entirely, drive directly from Cuiabá to Porto Jofre, do your jaguar tour the next morning, and then head back the same day or the following one. It’s definitely doable in 2–3 days total and saves you both money and time if you’re not interested in extra wildlife drives.

Day 4: An Unexpected Encounter

For our fourth day in the Pantanal, we decided to do another sunset/night cruise along the Transpantaneira. To be honest, we weren’t feeling super optimistic. We had already seen so much wildlife, and this drive started out a bit slow. One more lancehead snake crossed our path, but otherwise, it was pretty quiet.

And then… eyes lit up in the distance. At first, I thought it was just another fox. But as we got closer, I realised, it was an ocelot. An actual ocelot. The animal I spent so long searching for in the South Pantanal with no luck. I had kind of given up on seeing one altogether, so spotting it here, when I wasn’t even thinking about it, was wild. I nearly shouted in the car.

And as if the universe wasn’t done with us yet, five minutes later we saw another one. Two ocelots in a single night, completely by chance. We were in disbelief.

(Sorry for the awful photos, night shots from a moving car aren’t exactly Nat Geo quality. But the moment made up for it, 100%.)

Day 5 – The Most Insane Wildlife Cruise Ever

I’m not exaggerating when I say this was the most insane cruise of our entire trip. Everything we had been hoping for, some of it for weeks, showed up in one perfect evening. I honestly don’t know how to top this.

We started around 4 PM, hoping to spot some animals before sunset. At this point, I had fully given up on seeing anteaters. After so many drives, I’d accepted it wasn’t going to happen for us.

And then it happened.

A giant anteater slowly crossed the road right in front of us. I was so shocked I let out a full-on scream (actually, multiple screams). My partner didn’t know my voice could reach that pitch. We parked the car, and the anteater just kept foraging a couple of metres away, totally unbothered. It felt like a personal moment between us and this incredible creature.

And it didn’t stop there.

Just after sunset, we saw a Brazilian tapir cross the road, again, slowly, calmly, as if it was out for an evening stroll. We had been hoping to see a tapir for weeks. Everyone kept saying, “Oh yeah, they’re common.” Lies! But finally, on our last night cruise, it showed up like it had been listening to our rants.

And then, just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, we spotted another ocelot. This time it was much closer, and we were able to quietly watch it for a good 10 minutes. I was so overwhelmed I couldn’t even hold the camera straight, panicking while trying to film, half-laughing, half-crying.

This night had everything. Three of our biggest target species all showed up, one after the other, like the Pantanal was giving us a final goodbye gift. Honestly, this night alone made the entire trip worth it.

(Again, sorry for the bad pictures!)

The Ones That Got Away (…Almost)

Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to cross the southern tamandua or the yellow anaconda off our list, two species we were really hoping to spot.

But can you imagine what happened on our drive back to Cuiabá?

We saw two dead tamanduas and one dead anaconda on the road.

I couldn’t believe it. After days and days of searching, they were suddenly right there… just not in the way we hoped. It was honestly heartbreaking to see, especially knowing how rare these sightings are alive.

It’s a harsh reminder of how roadkill is such a big issue!

Budgeting

Here’s roughly what you can expect to spend per person for a 2-day visit, with jaguar sightings included.

Total: ~$149 per person

Included: full 7-hour jaguar tour, a night in Porto Jofre, roundtrip drive down the Transpantaneira from and back to Cuiaba, and the freedom to spot wildlife at your own pace, without luxury lodge prices. It’s not the most luxurious way to see the Pantanal, but it absolutely works, and the wildlife doesn’t care how fancy your accommodation is.

Final Thoughts

The North Pantanal is one of the best places in the world to spot jaguars in the wild, but that doesn’t mean you need to splurge on luxury ecolodges or package tours. With some flexibility, prep work, and willingness to rough it a bit (like sleeping in a car and eating cold lasagna), it’s totally possible to visit this region on a budget. Driving the Transpantaneira, camping at a pousada, and joining a local jaguar tour gave us all the wildlife we were hoping to see, without draining our savings.

Whether you’ve got 2–3 days or a full week, there’s a way to make the Pantanal work for you. And if seeing a jaguar in the wild has been on your bucket list? Trust me, it’s worth it.