28 September, 2010

New Postcards

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Photo and Artwork: © Daniel De Granville, 2006-2010

The new postcards of our exclusive collection have just arrived – now we have 20 different models printed in special, high quality paper. This time we chose to show two scenes that are icons of Bonito: the Lago Azul (“blue lake”) cave and the Monument to the Piraputangas, at the city’s main square.

Contact us and get them while they’re hot!

Photo and Artwork: © Daniel De Granville, 2008-2010
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18 September, 2010

Expedition, Part 3: Pantanal

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READ PARTS 1 and 2 OF THIS STORY
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Smile, you are being photographed!
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2010

“What’s so special about the Pantanal?”. The question, asked when the team is deciding whether the original itinerary will be changed or not, claims for an easy – but not necessarily short – answer. So, I prefer to offer an abridged version of my lecture that I keep in my laptop. At the same time, I give a partial answer, saying that the abundance and profusion of wildlife in the Pantanal – specially at this time of the year – is something fascinating and indescribable for animal lovers. I explain that, upon crossing the gateway which indicates the beginning of the Transpantaneira Road, the landscape changes abruptly and the animals put on a show before our eyes.


While one caiman seems full of hunger...
... the other
carries its banquet, a freshly caught armored catfish.
Photos: © Daniel De Granville, 2010



Franco jokes: “oh, so you are saying that, at one side everything is calm, but all of a sudden, starting at this spot that you mentioned, the animals decide to show off and make a parade in front of the cameras?!”. I reply: “ex-act-ly”. He laughs.

We left Nobres by the morning, quick stop for lunch in Cuiabá, siesta in the van on the way to Poconé and finally the Transpantaneira. Almost everyone is asleep, already tired as we enter the second half of our intense trip. I, sitting by Ismael (our driver), keep my eyes open looking for animals. I ask Ismael to stop at the gateway. “Here begins the Pantanal”, the sign says. Everyone wakes up, gets off the vehicle to take some pictures, and I suggest that they leave their cameras ready.


(E) A Brazilian Tapir is followed by a swarm of insects while crossing the river.
(D) ... Pantanal diversity: Marsh Deer, Capybara and Cattle Tyrant share
one of the diminishing pools.

Photos: © Daniel De Granville, 2010


The van goes a few kilometers ahead and at distance we see the first bridge with some water underneath, packed with Caimans into a heap. Among them, wading birds are having a feast with the stranded fish that are dying by lack of oxygen. I turn back and see everyone’s flabbergasted gaze, fascinated with such a concentration of animals at a single spot. I look at Franco. He says nothing, but it's needless – his smile seems to say “yes, Daniel, you were right when I made that joke about the animals’ parade”... For the first time in our expedition, I was not apprehensive or tense with the possibility of not finding animals for them to photograph. The spectacle that we saw during the next two days is summarized on the pictures of this post.

Next week, Part 4 (and last) of our adventure:
Dolphins in the Amazon.



Clockwise from top: (1) Flooded field sprinkled with wading birds in search of fish; (2) A Jabiru Stork's nest; (3) A cow is butchered without ceremony at the river bank; (4) One of the last Piúva (Tabebuia) still in bloom.
Photos: © Daniel De Granville, 2010
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13 September, 2010

Expedition, Part 2: Stingrays

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SEE PART 1 OF THIS STORY
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Another mission accomplished:
please welcome the freshwater stingray!

Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2010

Ten days and 57 meters of anaconda later, already with the feeling of "mission accomplished", it was time to leave Bonito in search of our trip’s second objective: the freshwater stingrays. After my pre-production research, the region of Nobres – in the Savannas of Mato Grosso – was chosen as the ideal spot. Even though we had found some rays in Bonito, the visibility conditions in this new region were more promising, since – according to what we had heard – they occurred in areas closer to the river springs, where the water tends to carry less sediments, which is good for photography.

Upon arrival in Cuiabá, our local support team – Hélio and Jadilson – were already waiting. We followed on to the region of Bom Jardim, a district of Nobres, where we were supposed to stay for the next four days, before heading on to the Amazon to search for Pink River Dolphins. After settling down in our lodge we met for the traditional logistics discussion and, for the following day, decided to explore a river where the chances of finding stingrays were good.

Our well equipped Shaowen, before the first
encounter with a ray, tries to overcome a fallen tree,
while little fish seem amused by the view.

Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2010


Next morning. After the detailed preparation of all necessary gear – masks, regulators, fins, tanks, weight belts, neoprene wetsuits, snacks, sandwiches, drinks, cameras, lenses, batteries, vehicle, etc, etc, etc – we left on our new adventure. The first hour, at least for me, was rather tense, since we did not see a single stingray in the river and I could catch a certain glimpse of frustration coming from the rest of our team – specially after such as blast with anacondas. That’s when our guide Jadilson suggested: “Let’s continue downstream through the part that tourists don’t go, because stingrays are shy and may be concentrated elsewhere. But it will not be an easy drift, since there are fallen branches and trees both above and below water”. Said and done: it was really a more complicated way down the river, with all the gear getting tangled on the vegetation, but our reward came soon: at the first 100 meters of this new way, stingrays started showing up. And after the first one came another, and another, and another, until we totalized eight freshwater stingrays of various sizes to appease our photographers.

Jiří photographing one of the eight stingrays
that we met on the same stretch of the river.

Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2010


The sudden success was so surprising that, after the first day was gone, the team considered that they had photographed stingrays in every possible way. So, a change of plans became a possibility. They asked for my suggestion and I – eternally in love with the Pantanal – recommended a two-day “pantaneira” expedition. Even though there was nothing underwater to be photographed there, they surprisingly agreed... The story goes on in the next post!

A pause on the dives to watch the flight of the macaws
before saying goodbye to Nobres.
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2010
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07 September, 2010

Video: Diving with Anacondas

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.Underwater, face to face with a peaceful anaconda
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2010


I am back to my office after the adventures with underwater photographers Franco Banfi, Jiří Řezníček and friends through the Cerrado, Pantanal and Amazon. On the next posts I will tell more about what happened after we left Bonito, but I can already anticipate that it was a blast!

For today, I invite you to watch a video clip that I took of our team diving with anacondas. More soon, enjoy!

03 September, 2010

57 Meters of Anaconda

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Franco Banfi, in the water, up close and personal
with the second anaconda that we found.
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2010


I spent the last three weeks working with Franco Banfi from Switzerland and Jiří Řezníček, from Czech Republic, two renowned underwater photographers that came to Brazil with the objective of photographing anacondas, freshwater stingrays and pink river dolphins. To accomplish these tasks, we traveled for 21 days through rivers in the Cerrado, Pantanal and Amazon Forest. Joining us were Shaowen and Jana, also photo enthusiasts and lovers of nature adventures. I will tell you the stories on my next posts along September.

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It was about eight in the morning when I left home with an unusual task: to find anacondas basking in the sun on river banks. After a sequence of very cold nights, the thermometer outside was showing 12 °C (54 F) as the lowest temperature overnight, and the sun shining strongly, still near the horizon, was the sign of a warmer day. Perfect for my upcoming mission.

The first part of our trip started here in Bonito, always with the indispensable presence of Juca Ygarapé and our “henchman” Dudu, besides the long distance support of Carol from Ambiental, who was always backing our needs with impecable competence. If the challenge of finding the snakes made Juca and I remain tense during the weeks before our clients’ arrival, with the possibility of not living up with the team’s expectations, the first day in the field was enough to fascinate and tranquilize us. After all, in the first hours of our adventure – that included going down waterfalls with a boat loaded of heavy and expensive equipment, passing under fallen trees, walking through saw grass and coping with bloodthirsty black flies – we already found two huge Yellow Anacondas in perfect conditions for our job.


The anaconda’s house...
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2010

Relieved with the sensation of “mission accomplished” (even though our demanding photographers did not consider that they had the ideal shots, what took us to the same place five more times), we went on with our activities and the encounters with these serpents succeeded repeatedly. To such extent that, after the sixth anaconda sighting, we started reckoning our success rate in total meters of anaconda (57 meters / 187 feet in total!).


... and the house’s owner!
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2010


It is worth remembering that, due to the difficulty of finding anacondas in the wild and the fact that they were the trip’s major objective, 70% of our time in Bonito had been reserved for us to search for them. Since we had such a high success rate in the first days, we decided to invest in the second critter of our list, the freshwater stingrays. Here, once again, success and mission (almost) accomplished, since we were able to find many of these fishes posing for Franco, Jiří and their companions at the bottom of the river.

Franco has a good time with a stingray surrounded by little fish...
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2010

In short, when we reached Day 9 of our expedition, we had already found two of the three main species that our clients were looking for, which meant more time to go for even better pictures and explore other natural wonders that these regions offer, such as macaws, caimans, caves and crystal-clear rivers full of fish. What did we see afterwards? Wait for next post :-)

Besides anacondas, freshwater stingrays and caimans, the program included relaxing dives in crystal-clear rivers full of life.
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2010
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