The area around Cuiaba and towards Campo Grande is a drier scrubbier habitat. Chapada dos Guimarães is a park in Cuiaba which protects this habitat, but it was closed when we were there. Apparently a rock slide had killed some people a few years ago. This habitat is home to the Maned Wolf, a fox-like animal with very long legs. There seemed to be quite a bit of this habitat remaining, unlike the large farms I had seen on the previous bus ride.

Our bus arrived at Campo Grande, and we were immediately greeted by people trying to sell us hotels and tourist trips into the southern part of the Pantanal. Finally, we had found the tourist trail. The Pantanal packages all looked super interesting, as did a trip to Bonito, a town in the Pantanal where fresh water diving was possible. But we were behind schedule. The deals kept getting better when we kept saying no, and I think the south Pantanal is much less expensive than the north. We decided to visit the local parks in the city. The first was a city park with open fields and walking paths. We found four kids who wanted a cigarette, but otherwise the park was empty, which is typical for Brazil. A Grey-necked Wood Rail, Campo Flicker, and a Snowy Egret were seen here.

Next door was another park, which was all primary forest, but it was closed. My wife called, and misunderstood the Portugese that they were not opening later in the day. We came back after lunch, and it was still closed, despite the hours on the sign. We called from the police station across the street, and then they opened for us and we got a private tour. Our guide told us this was the largest area of virgin untouched land in the city limits of any city in the world. Is this possible, and in Brazil? We saw some of the usual birds, including a Motmot and Squirrel Cuckoo, and then visited the animal rehabiliation area. They have hundreds of amazon parrots there, and from what I can see their effors are on rehabilitation and release or relocation. I remember seeing a very large flock of Amazons in the north Pantanal, so apparently they are abundant (and I don't have the species).

We left Campo Grande after a day and a half; our bus to Iguazu passed very large area of primary forest. Since Brazil claims the southeast of Brazil is 97% deforested, I would like to learn the name of this park, maybe 50-100 km north of Iguzau.