September 13 - 23, 2012 Photo Tour

Looking for the photography trip of a lifetime? Join Dan and Tanya and explore deep into the pristine Brazilian Pantanal, home to one of the largest, healthiest jaguar populations on Earth. No other location in the world can offer this many Jaguar sightings. We will be staying at the new "Jaguar Flotel", a floating air conditioned hotel that is in prime jaguar country, all other camps need to transport their guests 1.5 hours by boat daily to get to this location. We work with the best!

Hundreds of species of beautiful and rare birds include anything from small hummingbirds to the large Jabiru Stork, as well as parrots, macaws, and parakeets. Enjoy sights of the world's largest rodent, the capybara, along with reptiles, fish and mammals, including Giant Otters and Brazilian Tapir. Don't miss out on one of our planet's most biologically rich wetland systems, a photography trip that is guaranteed to provide abundant, spectacular wildlife opportunities!

Meet Daniel and his wife Tanya

Guests that travel on our trips are people that love wildlife and photography. You do not have to have a level of expertise or use a certain type of camera. Our trips are designed to get you to the right places to photograph and have you learn new techniques about photography in the field with Daniel. Not only do we want you to go home with great images but also new found friends and incredible memories to share for a lifetime...

Also please know our guests come FIRST! I have heard many stories of pro photography guides out to photograph for their own gain and not being available to their guests. Dan is dedicated to helping each and every guest in the field with their photography needs FIRST.

Sign Up Form

2012 BRAZILIAN PANTANAL JAGUARS WILDLIFE EXPEDITION with DANIEL J. COX

September 13 Arrive São Paulo (GRU) any time of day and board your connecting flight to Cuiabá. Hotel Deville Cuiaba Welcome Dinner this evening.

September 14 & 15 - 2 nights
After breakfast, depart from Poconé on the elevated Transpantaneira Road, one of the best wildlife-viewing areas of the world. We may have numerous encounters with the capybara, brown capachin monkeys, howler monkeys, coatimundis, crab eating foxes, caimen or neo-tropical otters. Anaconda, the world’s largest constrictor can sometimes can be seen along with other elusive mammals including the giant anteater, tapir, jaguar or puma. This area harbors a world-record 82 species of large birds, 3,000-5,000 of which can be seen during a 1 hour car ride.

Late afternoon arrival at our first lodge along the Rio Pixaim River to enjoy a wildlife boat ride until sunset. Here we are deep in the Pantanal with great photographic opportunities.

Our first lodge consists of one large, fully-screened living room/dining room with many overhead fans, outdoor sitting areas, and a library on Brazilian nature. Screened guest rooms have private bathroom with hot showers, overhead fans, and air conditioning.

Explore wildlife all around the lodge, including unique wildlife observation towers, one near a nest of habituated Jabiru Storks. In morning or mid-afternoon, take a boat ride on the Rio Pixaim River, a great source of photo opportunities for caimans, the capybara, brown capuchin monkeys and howler monkeys. Birds including the toucans, king fishers, parakeets and hawks. It is also one of the best sites for predictable viewing of wild family of giant otters from a distance of only 3 to 16 feet away. Often, they will come close to the boat, craning their necks, and snorting loudly. After dinner, we will do a night spotlighting safari. (B, L, D)

September 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 - 5 nights
Depart early after breakfast, continue on the wildlife-rich Transpantaneira Road en route to our second lodge. We will travel to the end of this road, and then boat on the Cuiabá River to our remote camp in the Meeting of the Waters State Park.

We will be staying in the heart of jaguar country. To improve the Jaguar viewing experience for its guests, we have switched accommodations from the tented camp used in previous years to a new superb alternative located 40 minutes closer to the best area for sighting Jaguars. This alternative is the Jaguar Flotel, an air-conditioned, floating hotel, custom-built last year.

The Jaguar Flotel features 10 private cabins, each of which has two beds, a mini-bar fridge, a silent air conditioner and an en suite bathroom with flush toilet and never-ending, hot water shower. The flotel is anchored right in the center of the river sections that have produced the best Jaguar sightings in recent seasons.

This optimal location, combined with administration by biologists, its unique fleet of radio-equipped scout boats and highly-trained Jaguar spotters have enabled all of its guests visiting in 2011 to see Jaguars multiple times.

Here we will begin our full day searches for jaguars along the riverbanks in our radio-equipped boats. The Jaguar Flotel offers the highest probabilities of any other camp of seeing the Big Three South American rainforest mammals - the Jaguar, the Tapir and the Giant Otter.

We will use small motorboats connected by radio to explore for jaguars in the narrow and wild rivers. September and October, the driest two months in the Pantanal, the prime time for spotting jaguars - many of them at close range for extended periods of time. Often they can be seen on the riverbanks, resting, drinking water, hunting prey or swimming. All photographers will have their own two seats (side by side) in the jaguar search boats for optimal space for gear and shooting. We will do our best to track these cats for optimal viewing and photography. Patience is always needed, wildlife tracking can be hard long days. This is not a zoo, you are venturing out on this trip to see jaguar in the wild which can be challenging.

A number of the giant otter groups that live nearby are quite habituated, permitting superb photo opportunities of these hyperactive, entertaining "river wolves". Monkeys and numerous species of birds can also be seen.(B, L, D)

All Camps/Lodges in the Pantanal are NOT EQUAL
10 Good Reasons Why We Stay With The Best Jaguar Camp:

1) We will wake up and go to sleep in the middle of the cats (and lunch there, and snooze after lunch).We are where the action is, 24/7. Since we are staying where the cats live, we will be out with the cats 1-2 hours before our competitors and can stay 1-2 hours later than competitors.
2) Our camp keeps close track of which cats are active, where they are and what they are doing.
3) We will have the only system with systematic radio network linking all boats. And we have a central control tower that co-ordinates how and where our boats should go to see sitting cats that one of our boats finds.
4) We will have scout boats with radios helping find more cats.
5) Meals are eaten where the Jaguar are - we will never take you from a sitting Jaguar unless you vote to leave (we WILL take people away one by one for a bathroom break and then return them).
6) There will be evening lectures about the jaguar monitoring. No other tour operator has information with maps of where the cats live.
7) Our tour operators have tested all speeds and all distances from the riverbank and know which speeds and distances from the bank produce the best results in Jaguar sighting. Some of the competitors go much too fast and miss a lot of cats——and also erode the rivebanks with their big waves.
8) Our tour operators carry out scientific research on the cats by building up a profile of their use of time (a so-called "ethogram").
9) The Jaguar Flotel will be anchored in prime Jaguar country. The competing lodges have cement block houses 1-2 hours away from the central of the Jaguar Zone. All those "competing" lodges are in direct sun in deforested clearings—all hot and none permitting you to hear birds, crickets, and large mammals.
10) We work with the only operation that has full time biologist on staff to help co-ordinate the data collection and give the lectures.

September 21
After breakfast, take one last boat ride and head back to our first lodge via the Transpantaneira Road. Afternoon activities at this lodge include a boat ride on the Pixaim River and/or visits to the two wildlife observation towers or forest trails around the lodge.(B, L, D)

September 22
One last day to work the rich wildlife of the area. Night spotlighting safari in our dedicated photo safari truck.(B,L,D)

September 23 Eat early breakfast and return on the Transpantaneira Road to Cuiabá. Arrive in Cuiabá (CGB) by 9:30 a.m. for flight to São Paulo. Evening flight home from São Paulo (GRU)(B)

Please email Tanya at info@naturalexposures.com if you have any questions about the itinerary.

September 13 - 23, 2012

ARRIVE September 13 at São Paulo (GRU) any time of day and connect with your flight to Cuiabá (CGB)
• GOL airlines (part of Varig) flight 1624 leaves GRU at 10:10 am and flies nonstop for 2 hours to Cuiaba (CGB). There are many other flights during the day to CGB, but we mention this one in particular because it connects with many international arrivals. It is probably best if you buy your GRU-CGB-GRU flight along with your international ticket.
DEPART Cuiabá (CGB) September 23 for evening flight home from São Paulo (GRU)
• We will arrive in Cuiabá by 9:30 a.m., so you can book your flight from Cuiabá to São Paulo any time after 9:30 a.m. This is an approximate 2 hour flight which should be plenty of time to catch an evening flight home.

Price per Trip: $6880/Based on Double Occupancy
Single Supplement: $780

Installments:
• Deposit due at time of booking ($1000, Visa/MC or check accepted)
• 1st of $3000 due February 1, 2012
• Final payment due June 1, 2012 - CHECK ONLY made payable to Natural Exposures and mailed to our office at:

Natural Exposures, Inc.
810 N. Wallace, Suite E
Bozeman, Montana 59715

Remember: If you wish to book a trip please contact our office at 406.556.8212 or email us at info@naturalexposures.com. Please also fill out a sign-up form:

Sign Up Form

• Private small group travel with Daniel J. Cox
• Naturalist guide
• Transfers in Cuiaba and to/from wildlife camps
• Pre lodging in Cuiaba & wildlife camps, 9 nights
• Meals where indicated
• Beverages on jaguar-shooting boats
• Each photographer has their own two seats (side by side) in the jaguar search boats for optimal space for gear and shooting - 3 people per boat
• All mineral water you can drink
• Entrance fees

• International airfares
• Connecting flights from São Paulo (GRU) - Cuiabá (CGB) and Cuiabá (CGB) to São Paulo (GRU)
• Laundry, misc expenses, beverages including alcohol are not included
• Any Vaccinations
• Tourist Visa
• Gratuities for staff and guide (we will give a recommendation/suggestion based on service)
• Travel Insurance: All guests MUST carry travel insurance. Travel insurance/emergency evacuation is needed by our tour operators. We recommend checking out InsureMyTrip.com and/or GlobalRescue.com

Patience is always needed with wildlife photography. This trip is considered low activity. You have to be able to get in and out of a boat and carry your own camera gear. Weather conditions could be very warm at times. You have to be able to get along with others! We stay at the best hotels and lodging in the areas we will be visiting. Temperature average temperatures range from 80-95 degree F. In September/October are hot months however it is quite dry and not as humid and stuffy as in the Amazon. Sunrise 5:38am/ sunset 17:42 - almost exactly 12 hours of light.

EXTRA ACCOMMODATIONS
If you need a hotel in Sao Paulo we recommend the Marriott near the airport. It is only 4-6 minute drive away.

VISAS
All passports must be valid for at least six months after your entry into Brazil, so please be sure to renew your passport accordingly if needed. Also, visas may be needed for entry into Brazil depending on what country your passport has been issued from.

Guests with passports issued from certain countries do NOT need a visa to enter Brazil. Please see link below if you are unsure if you will need a Visa:
Tourist Visa Exemptions

MESSAGE FROM OUR TOUR OPERATOR IN BRAZIL: Brazil requires a visa and charges $140 for U.S. residents. Visas should be applied for far in advance as they will keep your original passport for two or three weeks while the process grinds away. Below is a link which has further links to all of the Brazilian Consulates in the United States. Guests should consult the nearest one FAR in advance. It is each guest's responsibility to obtain a visa. To avoid last-minute stress, we recommend doing so as early as possible.
BRAZILIAN CONSULATES IN THE U.S.

If you do not live near a listed U.S. consulate, you may need to hire a visa service to obtain the visa for you from the consulate. Please contact us if you need assistance in locating a visa service.

If your passport is not issued in the U.S. or is not on the exempted country list and you have any questions regarding the Brazil visa, please contact us and we will do our best to help you out.

CLOTHING
Typical long and short sleeved field clothes. Waterproof jacket. One sweater, in case a light cold front appears. No boots needed. Only sneakers and sandals. Good sun hat. A list will be sent to everyone.

CAMERA GEAR
Dan will phone each guest to discuss camera gear needs & send you a list of suggestions on what to bring. Tripod or Mono-pod can be used in the boats.

Dan suggests to bring as big of a telephoto lenses that you have for this trip. He plans on using his 200-400mm lens the most, however, he also has a 600mm which he will bring. You will be shooting from open boats, so a monopod and/or possibly a tripod can work. Some shooting might be hand-held depending on the situation.

TYPICAL FOOD
Chicken, beef, catfish, in various manners. Beans (vegetarian) and rice at every lunch and dinner. A lot of fresh fruit, and a lot of vegetables and salads. Potatoes, pasta. Desserts like passion fruit mousse.

MOSQUITOES
A few, at dusk, but not many. Sept is SO dry that the mosquitoes are a minor concern. No other biting insects, which is a miracle and very nice. There is no malaria of any kind in the Pantanal, which is GREAT. And there is no leishmaniasis, either.

AIR CONDITIONING
Both locations along with our hotel in Cuiaba have air-conditioning.

FISHING
We will have the opportunity to casually fish off the Jaguar Flotel - casual fishing between photo excursions also.

SUGGESTIONS FOR TIPPING
$10 per person/per day - guide
$10-20 dollars per day for all the rest of the boat drivers, hotel staff, camp staff, etc.

TRAVEL INSURANCE
All guests MUST carry travel insurance. Travel insurance/emergency evacuation is needed by our tour operators.

We recommend looking at travel insurance through InsureMyTrip.com and/or GlobalRescue.com for emergency evacuation. Please pick a plan that is best suited to your needs.

Please Note: Deposits are non-refundable. If for any reason you need to cancel your trip we will need this request in writing. We will refund your payment (minus deposit) ONLY if we can resell your space.If we need to discount your space to sell it we will refund you (minus deposit/minus discounted amount). No partial refunds are made for unused portions or services of a trip. All prices are quoted in US dollars. We will do our best to help you resell your space. As with all wildlife travel destinations we cannot guarantee wildlife or good weather.

By booking a trip with Natural Exposures you have agreed to the following TERMS AND CONDITIONS. A waiver must be signed by all guests along with our tour operators waiver in Brazil.

BRAZIL PANTANAL JAGUAR PHOTOGRAPHY TRIP 2012