EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

Although less frequented than the Porto Jofre route, CÁCERES is another good target from Cuiabá, 233km west of the city. It's a very pleasant, laid-back place, and given the prices of accommodation along the Transpantaneira, definitely deserves consideration as a base for visiting the Pantanal. It's a three- to four-hour journey by bus, several daily leaving from the Rodoviária in Cuiabá. On the upper reaches of the Rio Paraguai, which is still quite broad even this far upstream, Cáceres is a relatively new town, apparently made up of wooden shacks, bars and pool rooms. There are lots of cheap hotels , the best of which is the Santa Terezinha, Rua Tiradentes 485 (tel 065/223-4621; $10-20), which is clean and hospitable. The Hotel Comodoro, Praça Duque de Caxias 561 (tel 065/223-2078; $35-50), has motorboats for hire, as do the Barco Hotel Santa Maria, Rua Marechal Deodoro 73 (tel 065/223-5455; $20-35), and the small but well-equipped Lancha Gaiva tour boat company (tel 065/223-4956) whose office is at the Praça Duque de Caxias 206. The travel agency Natureza, at Rua Coronel José Dulce 304 (tel 065/223-1997), can arrange pousada accommodation and a number of good-value tours.

About 60km away on the confluence of the rios Paraguai and Jauru is the touristy, Japanese-owned Hotel Fazenda Barranquinho (tel 065/223-1081; $90-125), which can be reached by track or boat in around three hours from Cáceres. It's a beautiful spot, but is still not far enough into the swamp for the best chance of spotting wildlife. Best bet for this is to take one of the cargo boats to Corumbá from Cáceres, which also gives details of luxury fishing boats. For an even more adventurous option, you could hire a small motorboat for a week or two, which would certainly give you greater freedom, though a guide would be advisable. The Cáceres Iate Clube, Rua Maravilha (tel 065/223-2148) may be of help. Other potentially useful contacts are on Rua Boa Vista: the Oficina Náutica São Luiz at no. 115 (tel 065/223-1427), and Nautica Turismo at no. 119 (tel 065/223-1565).

The only road to go further into the Pantanal is the track that leads on to the Bolivian border settlement of San Matias; from here you can fly to Santa Cruz.