Learned Traveller

Mato Grosso is a large state in Brazil, bordering Bolivia to the west. It was really easy to organise our trip - we just flew into Cuiaba, the state capital, hired a car and drove around, staying in hotels that we had booked online. Language is a bit difficult as most people only speak Portuguese, but we found that Spanish was useful at times.

We spent time at (a) the Chapada dos Guimaraes, an area of cerrado with much grassland, and impressive sandstone cliffs, (b) Jardim da Amazonia, an area of Amazon rain forest (although surrounded by large farms) and (c) the Pantanal, seasonally flooded wetlands with lots of wildlife. 

The highlight was definitely seeing jaguars in the Pantanal. If that was all you wanted to do you could easily do it in a week. You simply have to drive to the settlement of Porto Jefre from where they organise regular boat trips to look for them. You should see giant otters as well, and of course there are lots of birds.