SECRET BRAZIL: PANTANAL

Natgeo Channel 
Documentary - 3 x 45' 

This series offers viewers the opportunity to experience 3 episodes of adventure caused by a little-known force of nature that creates a unique haven for the greatest concentration of animals in the Americas.

While the Amazon is better known, the pristine wilderness of the Pantanal conceals the world’s largest freshwater wetland system, and an astonishing diversity of flora and fauna - over 400 plants, 500 butterflies and moths, 400 fish (including some endemic freshwater stingrays), 30 kinds of frog, 80 reptiles, 650 birds, and 75 mammal species.
 
The heart of the Pantanal beats to the rhythmic pulse of the water cycle. Annual rainfall is between 1,000 to 1,500 mm (39 to 59 in). During the rainy season, the water in the Pantanal basin rises between two and five meters (6 to 16 feet). As this flows and ebbs, animals move in and out of their element. Aquatic species spread out with the flood, while land animals seek the small areas of ground that remain – forcing them into conflict with others. In the dry spells, fish, river otters, and caiman alligators are confined to dwindling lagoons that shrink to shallow pools.
 
Unlike other locations, the Pantanal and its water cycle is the major driver. In the rainy season, it is not just wet, but underwater. Its highly changeable nature ensures that the animals that survive here must find ways to overcome the natural cycle as well as their natural predators.
 
The varying pressures and challenges throughout the year provide a chain of natural dramas for the series’ key characters. The first show highlights those creatures whose biggest challenges come as the waters recede - Caiman, Anaconda, Giant River Otter and Piranha. The second reveals the lives of those whose greatest difficulties come as the floods return - Jaguar, Giant Anteater, White-lipped Peccary, and Jabiru Stork.
 
In the 3rd episode, the filmmakers Lawrence Wahba and Haroldo Palo Jr. penetrate the heart of the biggest wetland on earth - the Pantanal, in South America. Their mission: to obtain new footage of nature and wildlife surviving the extreme conditions of the Pantanal – where almost 80% of the land drowns each year. They must overcome the constantly changing technical and personal challenges that arise throughout the entire annual cycle. Despite the desiccating heat of the dry season and the lashing downpours of the rain-soaked flood season, they risk their lives to capture a wide variety of wildlife, from the feared anaconda to the elusive jaguar, as humans and animals together face the trials of a unique and ever-altering environment.