Refúgio Ecológico Caiman offers its visitors a fantastic experience with nature. With many tours, there is a unique opportunity to discover the fauna, flora, and culture of the Pantanal. The weather determines which tours will happen in each season.

For better enjoyment of the regularly offered tours, we recommend a stay of, at the minimum, 4 nights: check-in on the first day, before the afternoon tour, and check-out on the fifth day, after the morning tour.

There are two daily activities, one in the morning and another one in the afternoon. At night, visitors can watch an audiovisual presentation about the Pantanal or take a look at the animals at night. These night excursions are done after the afternoon outing in the winter; in the summer, they are after dinner.

The tour programs are varied, including horseback rides, boat rides, trail hikes and authentic photo safaris, all guided by the Caimaners. In Caiman it is also possible to create tailor-made programs, as the Cattle Drive, a traditional Pantanal activity, in which the guests conduct a herd with about 300 heads of cattle alongside the guides and peons.

Tours on Horseback
This is one of the best ways to explore the Pantanal, allowing visitors to go into areas of difficult access, as flooded áreas with water too deep for motorized vehicles or too shallow for boats. The horses raised in the Pantanal have hooves that are resistant to water and adapted for walking long distances in flooded areas.

The animals are trained for people without any riding experience, including children, to take them to see the different environments in the Pantanal. Before each tour, basic instructions are given about how to get along with the animal and the risks and care to be taken. The ride takes between one and a half and three hours.

A special tour – A Cattle Drive – on horseback offers a unique experience of going with the cowboys driving hundreds of heads of cattle on a trip that takes more than one day.

**Also on horseback, it is possible to participate in a special program called a Cattle Drive. This is an adventure of riding with the Pantanal peons in their work routine with the cattle, driving hundreds of heads on a trip that takes more than one day to finish (for more information, see Cattle Drive).

Canoe tours
The trip, made in Canadian canoes in the two bays of the farm, passes by the margins of the bays looking for mammals that live near the water and brush, as capybaras and monkeys, and, mainly birds that feed on the aquatic fauna, as cormorants, snakebirds, terns, herons and bitterns. The trip takes one and a half to two and a half hours, without leaving the canoes, and is appropriate for people of all ages.

On this tour, the main attraction is the alligators and, with luck, one can see capuchin monkeys, howling monkeys, agoutis, capybaras and a large variety of aquatic birds.

A remarkable experience, this tour is an exciting discovery of the sounds of the Pantanal: in the canoes, silently, the visitors hear the singing of the toucans, herons, parakeets, jacanas, and kingfisher.

Hiking
The hikes are done on trails in dense bush near the lodges, and allow for first hand observation of the vegetation and forrest and the animals that live there, as the raccoons and monkeys. These tours allow for ultimate contact with the environment.

The trails are made through typical Pantanal brush vegetation, as in mountains and hills, and in transit areas, as scrub land, allowing for an even better view of the animals and plants of the region. There are about 12 different roads, taken in different orders so as to not disturb the animals. Leaving on foot, from the hotel or in a photo safari, participants hike about one and a half to three hours.

One of the hikes, the Farm Tour, is done from the Pousada Sede. It goes through the workers´ vila, the corral, the shed of the cowboys and the headquarters of the Blue Macaw Project, the Caiman's visit and the environmental interpretation center.

Photo safaris
In order to cover more territory, these trips are made in special vehicles, which cross fields and stretches of bush. The trip is perfect to see and photograph the wild life. At night, the guests go out to do “spot lightening tour ” – observing, with flashlights, the night animals, as alligators, capybaras, anteaters, and small wolves.

Farm Tour
Fufu is feeding the alligators, one of the oldest activities at Refúgio Ecológico Caiman: a fantastic, exciting moment when the tourists get very close to the animals, with the security of guides, to see the main symbols of the Pantanal up close.

Bike ride:
The Pantanal is very flat and allows for excellent bycicle rides, along the streets or trails. The silence and open-air exercise are the great advantages of this tour. The circuits vary depending on the group, and can reach the distance of 22 miles.

Optional: Tour of the Aquidauana River
Aside from all the special planning activities, you can perform one more unbelievable outing during the stay here in Caiman. This is the boat trip down the Aquidauana River and to the São Domingos Retreat, an optional outing 32 km from the Pousada Sede.

Taken in the morning or afternoon, this tour is a wonderful opportunity to discover one of the most distant áreas of the Refuge. One can see varios types of birds and mammals, travel down the river and even take a nice walk in the bush.

All of this is done with the orientation of the Caiman guides! In order to take this tour it is necessary to have a minimum of 6 people. Maximum capacity: 18
*Important: This activity is charged separately and is not included in our regular tours.