HUNTING THE SHORT-TAIL stingray

Outside of the commercial fishing season, Tai Strietman joins a team searching the recovering Pantanal waterways for an elusive species.

MILLIONS OF mosquitoes? Check. Oppressive heat and burning sun? Check. Leeches, ticks, chiggers and razor grass? Check. Chance to see some amazing fish? Check. This is the usual list that comes into my head when I travel to the Pantanal wetlands here in Brazil, where the discomforts and the rewards are both considerable. You need to make sure you have plenty of kit; clothing, snorkelling equipment, camera gear, first aid pack, and repellents that can be used in this immense tropical habitat. During the wet season it’s the early morning, as in so many parts of the tropics, that’s the best time to experience the outdoors. The air is still cool, there are no insects about, birds are calling and the day is full of promise. By 8am the sun begins to burn, and fat, biting flies called Mutuca (think horseflies on steroids) begin ripping out chunks of skin, even through your clothes. The birds retreat into the cool shadows of the forest and the air hums with giant dragonflies, dogfighting with other insects desperate to escape these efficient aerial hunters.

I observed all this as I stood at the confluence of the Miranda and Aquidauana rivers, in Mato Grosso do Sul State, central Brazil. The almost black waters of the Aquidauna, a river that for much of its course tumbles and crashes over rocks and plunges through wide ravines, disgorge into the muddybrown waters of the more sedentary, sluggish Miranda.

Both rivers are home to some monster catfish, including some prized by big fish collectors (most of which would be better off in public displays) but are also full of smaller species, many of which are known to aquarists.