Pousada Piuval - A Pantanal Lodge Reveiw

Lying 120 km from Cuiaba and 15 km from Poconé, Pousada Piuval is the gateway to the Pantanal. Well, to the northern part of it in Brazil.

The Pantanal is a land of wildlife, and Pantaneiros, as cattle ranchers, are known in Brazil. Not surprisingly, Pousada Piuval is a 10,000-hectare working farm-cum-ecolodge.

Pantanal cowboy — Most of the people living in the Pantanal are cattle ranchers

If you are planning a trip to the Pantanal, you already know that this epic wetland is one of the most wildlife-rich places in Brazil. Not to mention that Brazil is the most biodiverse country in the world!

There are 159 species of mammals, 656 species of birds, 53 species of amphibians and 98 species of reptiles living in the Pantanal. This is the highest concentration of wildlife in South America.

In this post

How to Get to Pousada Piuval

Most people visit Piuval lodge on their way to or from Porto Jofre, but it is also possible to visit Pousada Piuval Lodge for a day trip from Cuiaba. In fact, Piuval is the easiest lodge to visit in the northern Pantanal because of its proximity to Pocone and sealed roads.

The lodge offers the airport shuttle service, so if you don’t want to drive in Brazil or join an expensive Pantanal tour, this is your opportunity to experience the Pantanal. All you have to do in turn up at Cuiaba airport.

We spent a night in Piuval at the end of our northern Pantanal adventure, and even after a week in the Pantanal, we found new species of wildlife at Piuval. The farm is teaming with wildlife. The lodges along the Transpantaneira highway, like Pousada Piuval, are generally good for spotting forest and savanna species that are harder to see from the river in Porto Jofre.

The Lodge

The property is about 3km from the Transpantaneira highway (which is more of a dirt road than a highway), and on this short drive to the lodge, we spotted our first Giant anteater.

Giant anteater in the northern Pantanal — Giant anteater ambling along the Transpantaneira highway

This gentle giant of the Pantanal is a wonderfully bizarre creature. With its tiny head, giant snout and massive bushy tail, it looks as if Mother Nature couldn’t quite decide what animal to make. It is also larger than you expect it to be.

The fantastically odd creature ambled shortsightedly from one termite mound to the next, ripping into them with his long, sharp claws and lapping up the termites with his incredibly long tongue. The only better sighting of an Anteater we had was in the southern Pantanal at Fazenda San Francisco (which is also the best place in the world for spotting ocelots!).

The lodge is a collection of up-market condo-style rooms called standard apartments and deluxe suits, some of which have spa baths. You can check the availability for your dates here. It was the most comfortable of the three lodges we stayed at in the Pantanal.

The entire property is meticulously clean, well-kept, and capybara-friendly; these oversized rodents happily roamed right outside our front door.

We stayed at the standard apartment, which had one large bed and one single bed, a modern shower and a lovely balcony looking out onto the grassland.

The common area of the lodge is centred around a very inviting swimming pool that even has a little waterfall. There are hammocks, and poolside chairs for relaxining on those lazy afternoons when it is just too hot to be out and about.

The Food

Like everywhere else in the Pantanal, food at Pousada Piuval is varied and plentiful. The buffet spread included several kinds of pasta, salads, traditional rice dishes, beans, fish, beef, lots of fruit and desserts. It is mostly hearty Pantaneiro food, and it’s very easy to eat entirely too much.

Guides & Tours at Pousada Piuval

We visited Piuval with our guide Julinho from Pantanal Trackers. The benefit of visiting Pantanal lodges with a private guide, beyond being able to customize your itinerary, is that your guide will speak good English and will be able to tell you about the various animals you see and introduce you to the local context.

But if you know your otter from your capuchin and don’t need introductions, you can easily have an epic wildlife-watching experience in Pousada Piuval without a private guide. Especially if you buy a wildlife guidebook at reception.

There are several tours offered at Pousada Piuval, including photo safari tours, canoe adventures and walking tours. The guides are amazing spotters – they know the area and its wild inhabitants like the backs of their hands.

You’ll have just as good a chance of seeing a jaguar with a private guide as you do with the lodge guides. The difference is whether the guide’s commentary will be in English or Portuguese.

Animals of Brazil - Azara's agouti at Pousada Piuval — Azara’s agouti in the northern Pantanal.

Having said this, a good wildlife guide does more than point out the animals. Julinho absolutely made our trip. In one week of traveling with him we learned more about the Pantanal than we would from reading an entire library. We saw more animals than we thought was possible. We met local people in remote locations and even flew a small plane over the Cuiaba River and the surrounding Savannah. It is not surprising that all of my fondest memories of Pantanal involve Julinho in some way.

Our Experience at Pousada Piuval

We arrived at Piuval in the late morning, traveling along the Transpanteneira from Porto Jofre. By the time we arrived, it was almost unbearably hot, so as the first order of business, we jumped into Puival’s inviting swimming pool.

About 15 minutes into our swim, we realized that a pair of Blue and Yellow macaws was nesting inside the palm tree stump standing by the pool. The blissful cool of the pool immediately forgotten, I raced for my camera. This was our first sighting of Blue and Yellow macaws after spending a week in the Pantanal.

Blue and yellow macaws in the pantanal — Blue and yellow macaws

In the afternoon, once it cooled off, we went on a safari drive with Julinho. The grounds of Pousada Piuval are enormous, beautiful and absolutely serene. We spotted a Red brocket deer, Crab-eating foxes, Capuchins, Greater rhea, Hyacinth macaws, Blue-fronted parrot, Toco toucan, and a Chestnut-eared aracari in a couple of hours.

Sunset Canoeing

As the sun was setting, we came to check out the marshes and saw a couple of canoes on the bank. Julinho suggested we jump in, and we happily agreed.

By now, the sun was beginning to set and paddling along the still surface of a winding waterway was an incredibly peaceful experience. We were surrounded by animals, some of whom were settling in for the night, others emerging from their daytime slumber.

As we paddled along, our canoes occasionally brushed past the caimans, who were too lazy to move out of the way.

At one point, a fish jumped out of the water and into one of our canoes!

Hundreds of birds were calling to each other as they were gathering in their roosting sites. It was absolutely incredible to see and hear so many birds in a relatively narrow patch of riverbank real estate.

giant otter at Pousada Piuval in the Pantanal

Then, two Giant otters popped out of the water near our canoes. Snorting and coughing, they lifted their curious faces high out of the water to have a better look at us. Growing to 1.7 meters in length, these highly social aquatic mammals are the most entertaining denizens of the Pantanal. They are the most vocal of all otters and seem to exist in a state of constant motion of chasing each other, catching fish and eating fish.

Sadly, Giant otters are one of the most endangered animals in South America. Hunted for their velvety pelts in the 50s and 60s, they are now threaded by habitat destruction and degradation. Pantanal is one of their last strongholds.

By the way, did you know that a group of otters is called a raft of otters? It is just one of the curious collective nouns we use for animals.

Once the otters disappeared, the Fishing bats arrived, flying close to the surface of the water. Dozens of them raced past us on their way to their fishing grounds.

And when the last squawks of the birds died down in the fading light, a serene stillness enveloped the river. This kind of quiet you can only experience in nature.

Night Sky

The night sky at Piuval is immense. Away from the city lights, the sky in the Pantanal is relatively free from light pollution, and you can often see the band of the Milky Way arching across it. I knew that the stars in the Pantanal were going to be epic, so I brought my tripod with me.

Milky Way over the Pantanal, Brazil — Milky Way over the Pantanal

If you have a tripod, aim your camera at the sky, set a high ISO and leave the shutter open for about 20 seconds. You will be amazed by how much the camera can see in 20 seconds.

Sunrise Over Pantanal

On our last morning in the northern Pantanal, we got up before the sun and went for a short drive to the boat jetty to watch the sun rise over the wetland.

On the way back to the lodge, we stopped at an observation tower and watched capybaras, storks, and egrets browsing the marshes. A Little woodpecker was hopping up a tree trunk above them. And a dainty Azara’s agouti was munching on some large nut nearby. Agouti are strange creatures. I always think of them as little deer, like the tiny Mouse deer in Southeast Asia. But the agouti is actually a rodent. Just like the capybara.

Our biggest surprise was waiting for us closer to the lodge. During our time in the Pantanal, we saw most of the animals we wanted to see, but one creature from our bucket list kept evading us – the Black-tailed marmoset. These tiny monkeys with their Yoda-like faces are more often heard than seen. Growing to all of 18-28 centimetres, they are just too small and too fast.

Wildlife of the Pantanal - Black-tailed marmoset at Pousada Piuval — Black-tailed marmoset

Finally, as we were driving back to the lodge for breakfast, we struck gold – Julinho spotted a small group of Black-tailed marmosets in the high branches of a tree.

Things We Missed

Since we only spent one night at Piuval, we missed several things at the lodge. Most people crave sightings of jaguars and we didn’t see any at Piuval. Mostly, because we haven’t been looking for the big cats, having spent four days observing several different jaguars around Porto Jofre.

Horse riding would’ve been a fun thing to do as well. Not so much for spotting wildlife but for experiencing the Pantaneiro cowboy lifestyle. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to do it all.

Final Thoughts on Pousada Piuval

We loved our stay at Piuval. Even after exploring different areas of the Pantanal for a week, we found new species of wildlife in Piuval, and it was by far the most comfortable lodge we had stayed at in the northern Pantanal.

If you can, spend a couple of days at the lodge. And if you are not planning to go all the way to Porto Jofre, Pousada Pivual offers the perfect taste of the Pantanal within easy reach of Cuiaba.

One thing to keep in mind is that the lodge gets booked out early. So if you want to stay at Piuval, book as far in advance as you can. Check the availability of Pousada Piuval for your dates.