A traveler who already knew Brazil, her son’s first trip to the country, and three nights on the Miranda River, told in her own words
Sandy McKelvey, 63, has been going to Brazil for most of her adult life. She teaches ESL at a community college in New York and speaks Portuguese, since she ran a business in Brazil when she was younger and traveled the country for 12 years.
Besides living in Bahia and Pernambuco, she also has been to Ceará, Belém do Pará, Manaus, Minas Gerais, Natal, São Luís do Maranhão, Santarém, Rondônia, and Acre. What Sandy had never done, in all of that, was set foot in the Pantanal, which was recommended by her biologist friend based in Corumbá, a city close to the wetlands.
Her son, Robert, provided the perfect opportunity during his two-week break. As it was his first visit to Brazil, exploring Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo was an easy choice for the beginning of their itinerary. However, Sandy sought a contrasting experience to round out the trip. She selected the vast wetland spanning 210,000 km² across Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul.
Sandy and Robert spent three nights of August 2026 at a jungle lodge on the banks of the Miranda River on a Budget Pantanal Tour organized by PlanetaEXO and led by a local guide. Now we share her story—check it out below!
What she expected and what the Pantanal actually is
Sandy arrived with an image built from nature documentaries, but she found an impressively working landscape, as cattle ranching runs across a good chunk of the Southern Pantanal.
“I realized that so much of the Pantanal is farmland, fazendas, and raising cattle,” she said. “And that made sense. It wasn’t exactly like I had envisioned, but it was still very interesting. I still really enjoyed it.”
She also knew how unpredictable a wild environment can be, especially when it comes to animals, but that didn’t stop Robert from hoping to see an anteater. That unfortunately didn’t happen, but mother and son were graced by capybaras, caimans, buffaloes, howler monkeys, and many beautiful birds.
In the Pantanal, it is worth knowing: the dry season, roughly July to October, concentrates the animals around the water that is left and gives you the best odds. Even though this is the best destination for wildlife viewing in Brazil, nature follows its own rhythm—and it is precisely this organic unpredictability that makes ecotourism so authentic.
👉 Read more:
In the Pantanal, your guide is your best friend
Ask Sandy what made the trip, and she talks about Bobby, her guide. “What made the trip most special was our guide. He was just so wonderful.”
His job, as she describes it, never stopped. “He was scanning the environment for animals constantly. And honestly, if he had not been with us, we would have seen nothing, because they’re hiding.” The example she keeps coming back to is a troop of howler monkeys, high up and far away. “He just noticed some of the tree branches moving and was like, ‘Look, howler monkeys!’ It was amazing,” she marveled.
In a fun twist of fate, Bobby turned out to be close to that same friend from Corumbá, which made the experience even richer and more personal.
The conversations with him were the other half of it. Sandy asked questions the whole time, and what came back was a part of Brazil she had never met in Bahia or Pernambuco. “I liked meeting people who are different from people I’ve met in other parts of Brazil,” she said.
Sandy’s conclusion is the simplest but most valuable piece of advice. “Never go to the Pantanal without a guide. It would be a complete waste of time.”
Up a narrower river, where the wildlife came close
Of everything on the program, one outing stood out: the second river excursion, the one that went upstream into a smaller water channel where Sandy saw more wildlife.
The moment she describes best happened in a marshy stretch thick with plants, where the boat simply stopped. “We just stayed there for a moment, and then we realized that we were completely surrounded,” she recalled. Dozens of caimans on every side.
And walking across the vegetation among them, there was a jaçanã, the species locals call the Jesus Christ Bird due to their unique ability of “walking on water”—their enormous feet, with slender toes and long nails, allow for weight distribution across aquatic plants, enabling a fluid and surprising glide across the water.
“It was just right there, among all the jacarés, and nobody bothered each other,” she added. “They were just hanging out together. I thought that was very beautiful.”
👉 Read more: 15 Amazing Pantanal Animals and Wildlife
A surprisingly memorable fishing day
Piranha fishing is a standard activity at the lodge where Sandy and Robert stayed, but she was not excited about it. Her group’s slot had to move because another group took it, so it landed on the last day. “I thought it was going to be rushed and just not so great,” she admitted.
Shockingly, it became one of the best things about the trip. The difference, again, was the guide. “It was actually super fun. If it had not been for Bobby, it would not have been fun.” Sandy had heard about other groups who caught nothing and gave up. Bobby set a rule instead: nobody stops until everybody catches a fish.
“Every one of us caught a fish. He kept giving us more meat and explaining everything. We didn’t stop until we all caught one,” she said with a smile.
A necklace, a machete, and half an hour of braiding
The last activity of the stay was a short trail walk. Again, being guided by a professional was crucial. “We wouldn’t notice anything unless he had pointed out certain things, like specific trees,” Sandy noted.
At one point, Bobby stopped at a succulent plant, showed the group how to strip the fibers out of a leaf with a machete, and started braiding, making it strong enough to hold. He was making a bracelet for Robert but misjudged the length and gave it to someone else. It was no problem; he would make Robert another one.
He cut a second leaf and then carried it back. The next day, right before the fishing, Bobby and Robert sat down and worked on it together. It came out as a necklace instead of a bracelet: a caiman tooth he had with him, a second fiber braided in for a contrasting color, and about half an hour of work.
“It was so unbelievably beautiful, because this guy is clearly an artist as well as a guide,” she said. “Completely out of your expectations. [Bobby] just wanted [Robert] to have a nice little souvenir.”
Great hospitality and one very hot day
Sandy and Robert were aware that their accommodation of choice, the Pantanal Jungle Lodge, was comfortably rustic. “It’s kind of rugged, but we expected that, and we like that,” she stated. They took one of the bunk beds and shared the room with two other travelers. “It was totally fine. Everyone was super polite.”
The rest of her verdict is short and consistent: “The food was really nice and all the guests were super friendly.” The lodge sits right on the Miranda River, which does half the work—she photographed birds without leaving the property.
Sandy was pleased with her stay, but the heat was difficult. The Pantanal is naturally hot and, depending on the time of year, dry, but one particular morning, during a horseback ride, was especially demanding. “It must have been about 100 °F (38 °C). It was really hot and we were out in the sun.”
That afternoon, the group went kayaking against the current. “I actually like kayaking a lot, but it was just so hot. At that point I was like, I have heat exhaustion.” While that was a challenge, she clarified no one else had the same problem. “That was just me. I was having a hard time with the heat.”
Something worth mentioning is that the weather plays a huge part in the itinerary and in people’s experiences—not only in the Pantanal, but in any nature destination. Knowing your limits, like Sandy did, is the wisest thing to do!
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Was the Pantanal safe? Sandy’s honest answer
Sandy does not answer this question naively. She has lived in Brazil, has had various experiences in Brazilian cities (both good and bad), and is deliberate about how she moves around big cities.
Her answer about her experience in the Pantanal came immediately. “I felt 100% safe. You don’t have to even worry about where you leave your wallet or your purse,” she affirmed.
The animals never worried her either. “I never felt any fear of the animals. It never really occurred to me,” she said. “We’re in a big boat. It’s safe.” She noticed the operating side of it too. “[The staff] was very responsible about everyone wearing a life jacket.”
Next stop: the Amazon (with her daughter this time)
The Pantanal trip is already producing the next one. Sandy’s daughter is arriving in Brazil for the first time, and the two of them are going to Manaus and into the Amazon—a place Sandy knows from years ago and has not seen since.
It is a fair pair to have in one lifetime. The Amazon is a forest: dense, vertical, and mysterious. The Pantanal is an open wetland, where the water pulls the animals into view.
As someone who knows Brazil intimately, Sandy recommends the place that won her heart: Salvador, in Bahia, one of the cities where she has lived. “It’s so unique, so historical—the culture, the music. If you’re going to go to Brazil, you have to visit Salvador.”
👉 Read more: Pantanal or the Amazon: Which One Should You Choose?
Visiting the South Pantanal with PlanetaEXO
Now that you have seen Sandy’s incredible travel story, you know what the South Pantanal really offers: a working wetland where animals are found rather than displayed, and where a guide who reads the riverbank makes the whole trip.
PlanetaEXO is an ecotourism platform specializing in Southern Pantanal tours. Working alongside experienced local guides and operators, we handle the logistics (transfer from Campo Grande, lodge, meals, and activity program), so you can focus on the nature from your first booking to your last boat ride. Contact us now!
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