General 5 — Jack Kerivan

The Amazon, Pantanal and Iguacu falls

Use a map to trace the geographical center of the South American continent and you will find yourself pointing at the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. Straddling the continental divide between the Amazon and Plata river basins, this amazingly diverse state provides the easiest and best access to the largest variety of habitats on the continent. Just a century ago this was a very remote and rugged territory, but a major airport in Cuiabá and highways in all directions have made it an ecotourism hotspot and the best region for a single trip to Brazil. By visiting three major ecoregions—the cerrado, the Pantanal wetlands, and the Amazon rainforest—we were exposed to a remarkable variety of tropical bird families, including cracids, parrots, toucans, woodcreepers and ovenbirds, antbirds, and cotingas. - Wings Birding trip note 2023