AMAZING 5 JAGUARS SEEN DURING OUR BOLIVIAN WILDLIFE WATCHING TOUR
On the 19th of July we departed for our 5 day wildlife watching tour deep into the Bolivian Chaco, our tourist was an experienced traveller /photographer with over 20 years of expeditions to some of the worlds most wild and remote destinations. His previous trips to the Paraguay Chaco had been successful with a Jaguar and Puma sighting so we had our hard work cut out for us , if we wanted to impress.
The start of our trip was eventful, we saw a pair of rarely seen Huaron, a small weasel type species which was my 2nd only sighting of these mammals. We stopped into the Mission town of San Jose de Chiquitos where we had a buffet lunch before entering the vast forests of the Bolivian Chaco.
Our first night drive yeilded almost immediate results with a close up sighting of Ocelots and Crab Eating Foxes, they were not in the mood for pictures so we returned to camp ate a freshly prepared meal and got some sleep before a LONG AND EVENTFULL DAY AHEAD.
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| One of many Ocelot Sightings of the trip. |
Day two started with a 4am rise, it was freezing so after a quick coffee and breakfast we departed , focusing our search on a proven area where we have had excellent Jaguar sightings in the past. We had a quiet morning that produced another quick Ocelot sighting and an amazing sighting of an American Own Eating a Woodrail. Something you dont see everyday.
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| American Horned Owl with a freshly killed Woodrail. |
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| This spectacular Jaguar was the first of our 5 Jaguar sighting. Photo credit Ronan le degac |
As we drove deeper into the vast Chaco we had the spectacular sighing of a huge female Jaguar which was trying to warm up in the suns morning rays ! This was my first ever sighting of this indivual Jaguar and we spent he next hour watching it metres from our 4WD basking in the sun. This was one of the most relaxed Jaguars we had ever seen.
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| Mating pair of Jaguars, close up sighting |
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| Photo credit : Ronan le degac |
Overjoyed at this incredible sighting we didnt know how much better our day would get, we turned around and headed back for lunch only to be greeted with the incredible sighting of not 1 but two different Jaguars. The female was so small that we initally thought it was a female with its cub , but on close inspection it was male and female.
The male jaguar was very wary of our 4WD and didnt want to be seen , however the young female Jaguar was rolling around on the road just metres in front of our 4WD.
From past experiences we knew that when there is a female Jaguar on heat other Male Jaguars would soon be prowling the area, so after a short rest we ventured out looking for these majestic big cats. After less than 15 minutes and just a few kilometres from our camp we were rewarded with another amazing Jaguar sighting, a young male hot on the scent of the female. This Jaguar didnt like the attention and only stayed around for a few pictures before entering the thick Chaco shrub.
The last Jagaur sighting didnt provide us with any decent photos, but it was an amazing sighting none the less, this huge Male Jagaur was literally sprinting on its way to challenge the other male Jaguar for mating rights, it came again very close to our 4WD before dissapearing into the Jungle.
Overjoyed with 5 Jaguars in one day we returned to the camp for cold beers , wine and celebration.
The last few days were quiet in comparison, we had a rushed sighting of a Tapir, many 3 banded Armadillos, a huge troop of White lipped Peccaries, snakes, Monkeys and others. The most impressive sighting was that of two Solitary Peccaries which up until 1973 were declared extinct. This was an extremely rare sighting of this endangered and endemic Peccary.
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| The incredible sighting of the rarely seen Chaco or Solitary Peccary. |
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| One of our favourites, the interesting 3 banded Armadillo. |
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With cameras full and memories of a lifetime , we departed the Bolivian Chaco and made our way back to Santa Cruz.
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