Jag Jag Jaguar

We sped up and down in a small boat for eight hours a day for four days to see Jaguar. It was VERY hot on the water and the reflection up and onto us was unrelenting.

We had one very average sighting in the first three days. That jaguar had only one eye and was lying flat on the ground in the dark undergrowth. It opened it’s one eye once. I did my best but the photo was not too attractive, what with the one eye and the flat carpet look. The last morning as we were going to travel back along the river to the small fishing port where we were being picked up we decided to have one last try as we had heard there was a sighting about 2 kms upriver. We raced along that brown and wide river holding onto all our luggage. JAGUAR!!!

 

It was fantastic. This is a young male and he was hunting. They eat Cayman (their favourite) and Capybaras. Please do not imagine that this was easy. The boat was rocking madly. There were ultimately about 8 other boats with photographers around us and they were jostling for position which meant our boat rocked even more and then there was the Jaguar that was moving swiftly all the time. It is so hard to see it. Look at the last photo.

It was prowling at the top of the river bank and then came down to cross the river. They swim a lot. BUT humans are not so intelligent as we all know (Trump) and one boat kept going into its path so that the tourists on that boat would get the best view. They kept scaring it back up and into the thick undergrowth. So we never got to see it in the water. I blame Trump for that too.

 

 

PS. These pictures are especially for my niece Eleni (waiting for the genet photo, Leni) and my new birding and leopard-whispering friend Rob , who did not believe I would get them. JAGUAR, Rob! (Chunkier and squatter than Leopard)

 

PPS. Look at the butterfly pattern on his forehead. All jaguars have a different butterfly. Like a fingerprint.

 

PPPS. Wonder what Trump has IN and ON his head.

Done