Anaconda Diving Trip Report 2025

Bonito, Brazil
August 31 - September 7, 2025

September 1, 2025. Day One.

It is raining. I woke up to thunder at about 4 AM. I was hoping it was going to pass, but nope. At 7 AM, when I peeked my head out the door, it was pouring rain.

This is the dry season, so pouring rain today surprised me.

Of course, I never check the weather before a trip.

There really is no point, as I can’t do a thing about it.

So if the captain says we can’t go out today because of bad weather, well, we will find out then.

So I contacted our local guides, Luis and Juca, to see if it was still a go, and it is. The only thing that might change is the river we will visit today.

8:30 AM. Stopped by the dive shop to grab our BC and regulators. We will only need scuba gear if the snakes are in strong current and hard to get to.

9 AM. Heading down a bumpy, muddy road. Conditions are crappy, but it can only get better from here!

We went out onto the river, but it was still rainy and cold. We cruised up the river, but no snakes. I didn’t think we would have luck in the morning due to the cold and rain.

So we went back to the area where we parked our truck to have lunch and wait for the sun to come out.

The sun was supposed to come out after 1 PM.

1:20 PM. Still no sun, but we went out anyway to have a look, still no snakes.

However, we encountered a southern tamandua in a tree by the river, the giant anteater’s close cousin.

It was skittish and climbed up the tree quickly, so it was difficult to capture images of it in the leaves and branches.

But we got some okay proof of life shots. This is not a species that is easy to see, and definitely one you can’t just go out and try to find.

So we got lucky… I love it when we are lucky with wildlife.

2:20 PM. We left the anteater and headed back up the river for another look, but still no snakes.

Nature is not just going to give us her magic.

We have to earn it.

3 PM. We admitted defeat and called it a day.

No snakes… it’s just too damn cold. They did not want to come out of hiding.

So we packed up our muddy gear, jumped in Juca’s truck, and went off in search of giant anteaters.

We are hoping to photograph a mom and pup this week. It’s been a while since I have seen a baby anteater.

A friend of mine was out here shooting this week, and they encountered three females with babies. So I know they are here somewhere.

We drove around for an hour to known hotspots, but no anteaters emerged from the woods.

We spotted two toco toucans high up on a dead palm tree.

I was excited, I thought we found a toucan nest. It turned out they were robbing a couple of parrots. They were breaking apart their tree nest to get to the eggs or chicks.

I guess when we arrived, we disturbed the hunt because the toucans stopped ripping up the tree nest and flew to a nearby tree.

This gave the parrots trapped inside the nest a chance to attack the toucans.

It didn’t work, though, and in the end the parrots abandoned the nest.

Toucans are quite brutal. I do hope the parrots return.

It was getting late and the sun was setting. However, right before it set, Taylor spotted a six-banded armadillo in a cattle pasture on the side of the road.

We quickly jumped out and silently snuck up to the armadillo, snapping photos and capturing videos of this cute little guy.

We spent about half an hour with it. After a while, some of the cows in the pasture took an interest in us and started getting closer. One of them even walked over to smell Taylor, and then walked over to smell David.

I watched my boy with his eyes wide open as the cow sniffed his face. It was too funny.

We left the armadillo and decided to call it a day.

No snakes, but some nice encounters with not so easy to find animals. Not a bad start.

September 2, 2025. Day Two.
We woke to perfect snake weather. No clouds, lots of sun. Just beautiful.

We visited another river, downstream from the Sucuri River we were on yesterday. This river is stunning!

Visually just amazing, the water is super clear, the trees, the water falls.

Nature’s Magic!

Right away we found a snake. She was deep in her hole, living right next to the pier where we launch the boat.

Her eyes were white, glazed over from shedding her skin. So she was partially blind.

We decided to snorkel it in search of snakes.

We were all in. We floated with the current, scanning the river’s edge.

The water felt good, but it was a bit chilly, and after an hour it got really chilly.

David eventually found a male anaconda.

They’re much smaller than the big females and also very skittish. This one quickly disappeared into a hole in the riverbank. We all got to see it, which was good. No photos though.

Back on the boat, we returned to check the snake we’d seen at the start of the day, but she was still in her hole. 

So we headed back to the river we were at yesterday. The visibility there isn’t as great as this river, but there are more snakes.

We started scanning the hot spots on this river…

Then magic happened!

We found the big female, around 5 meters long, and just beautiful. 

We found her in her usual spot.

She was on the riverbank and jumped into the water as soon as she sensed us.

She swam across the river and we followed, swimming with her for a bit. 

It got chaotic as we tried to track her direction. At first she swam downstream, which was not good for us, since the soft sediment and our movements clouded the visibility. So we all backed off and let her choose. She then changed her mind and turned upstream, which was what we hoped for. Eventually she settled in a rocky area, which was perfect!

This river is something like 95% soft sand and sediment, 5% rock and gravel.

And that’s exactly where she stopped. Love being lucky!

We stayed with her for over an hour. Once she settled, she didn’t move. Just stayed in place, all coiled up.

These animals are truly polite predators. Yes, they’re dangerous and demand our respect, but they’re also shy and reclusive. They want nothing to do with people and prefer to hide.

The opportunity to photograph and share this other side of the anaconda means everything, to show the public that they’re still here in our wild places, and that they deserve respect and protection. 

Their habitat deserves respect, too.

Anacondas play an important role in the ecosystem, keeping the balance in the Pantanal.

My hope is they’ll always be here, doing their job.

We spent the rest of what was left of the day photographing her.

She stayed put, calm, giving us everything we could have hoped for. 

After an hour, I felt it was time to leave. 

She had already given us quite a show, and I wanted her to slip back to her favorite spot in peace.

Such amazing animals.

Can’t wait for tomorrow!

September 3, 2025 — Day Three

Woke up to beautiful snake weather again. The day begins!

We headed to a new spot today, one I’ve never been to before, and new for our crew as well. 

Supposedly, it’s an absolutely stunning place with a lot of wildlife, and home to one very big resident female snake.

Hoping to see her today and discover what else we can find.

When we arrived at the river, they were right, the place is stunning. Waterfalls, clean clear water… pure magic.

And the day began with a bang!

The new spot’s resident female, said to be an 8-meter snake, was there, and we found her! 

This was the biggest snake I have ever seen. I can’t say for sure if she measured 8 meters, but she was easily 6 meters. Massive.

At first, I thought she had a belly full of food. She didn’t, she’s just so thick it looked that way.

Her eyes had a white coating, which meant she was partially blind and preparing to shed her skin. Snakes get this fluid over their eyes when they’re about to shed.

Seeing a snake this big gives me hope for the species.

She swam back to one of her hiding holes in the river, and we didn’t spend a lot of time with her, because she was half blind from her shedding and really couldn’t see.

We are hoping she stays in that area for future trips. What an animal. 

This is exactly what people imagine when they picture a giant anaconda: giant, powerful, and almost otherworldly. Her body was so massive, I can’t imagine how she hunts successfully.

After leaving her, we motored on into the river. The scenery was breathtaking, tiny waterfalls, that we slowly passed through, lush forests, the kind of place where countless untold stories live. Juca, our guide, mentioned capybaras can sometimes be seen swimming here. That would be a dream to witness.

For now, we were searching for caiman. The pressure of finding a snake was over, after all, we had the find of a decade this morning. Now we could just enjoy the day.

Not long after, one of the boys spotted a freshwater stingray. We jumped in for a quick swim with it. 

It was a very cool encounter, stingrays are common in the ocean, but here in Brazil’s rivers, they’re an exotic and unique find.

Not sure the species… will start trying to find out what it is.

We motored further, and the stories proved true, a juvenile capybara was swimming in the river. 

When it noticed us, it panicked and swam to the opposite side to climb out, but the steep forest cliffs gave it no way out. It turned and swam downstream, so we followed. We jumped in for a chance at underwater photos. It was a short but amazing swim with the capybara. 

Brief, but unforgettable. 

I managed to snap a few proof-of-life shots. In the craziness, my settings were not perfect, and I was on the wrong side of the animal, and ended up shooting into the sun. Its the stuff that frustrates you, but still happy for the chance to shoot it. 

Thank you to the little capybara for modeling, wishing you a long life far from jaguars and anacondas.

As we continued, Nicholas suddenly shouted, “Anaconda!”

There on the riverbank was another massive female, even bigger than the one we saw earlier. Absolutely wild. 

She was sunning herself on the river bank, and when we approached, she slid back into the water and swam downstream.

We spent over an hour with her. 

She swam for a while, then settled on the bottom of the river. It was pure magic. This was our third giant snake in three days. 

So far, we’ve seen seven different individuals: three males and four females. 

Brazil delivers.

We captured plenty of images, even put on scuba gear when she dropped to about 8 feet deep. It was incredible spending time with such an iconic animal.

Eventually, we had to move on. Realizing we still had a long way upriver to reach the area where our vehicle is waiting for us, we reluctantly said goodbye to her.

5:42 p.m. We were still motoring. The light was fading, and I had no idea how much longer it would take to reach the dock.

By 7 p.m., it was pitch dark, and still no dock in sight. This river is enormous, no wonder we’ve never been here before. Honestly, I don’t think our guides thought it was this far either.

Finally, at 8 p.m., we made it back.

 It was a long, exhausting day… but absolutely worth it. 

This was, without question, one of my best days of anaconda diving ever. 

Pure magic.

September 4, 2025 — Day Four

Today, we decided to give the river a rest and explore some of the other renowned wildlife that Bonito offers.

8:44 am.  We headed to the sinkhole where red-and-green macaws gather.

This isn’t just your average wildlife spot; it’s a massive, circular crater hundreds of meters wide right in the middle of flat lands, seeming to emerge from nowhere.

The sinkhole, known as Buraco das Araras Macaws’ Hole, is South America’s largest sinkhole. 

We arrived and photographed both the sinkhole and the birds congregating there. Around 20 or so macaws were in the sinkhole, a bit fewer than the 50+ I’ve seen here before, but still awe-inspiring.

Photographing them in flight is everything. 

Their wings unfold in fiery red, emerald, and cobalt, contrasting against the red stone walls. 

Shots of their backs with tail feathers fanned out are the real prize.

Among the red-and-green macaws was a lone blue-and-yellow macaw, introduced here, if I recall correctly. 

It paired with one of the reds and greens and is thriving. 

That kind of mix isn’t unheard of here, but seeing the two species flying side by side is rare and incredible. Capturing their diverse hues dancing in the sunlit corridor of the sinkhole was fun.

Beyond macaws, the entire sinkhole feels special, not just visually but ecologically. 

It’s home to more than 120 bird species, including toucans and ibises, and hosts mammals like armadillos, anteaters, coatis, even broad-snouted caimans in the emerald lagoon at the bottom.

How they got in there I have no idea. It is deep. 

From the raw, wild grandeur of the sinkhole, we shifted gears in the afternoon.

4:00 pm.  We set off to find giant anteaters. 

Driving down back roads and grazing pastures, we first encountered a skittish individual who bolted at the first scent of us. No photos there.

With daylight slipping away, we pressed on, and luck turned our way. 

We found a large male.

This time, we approached with patience.

We stayed downwind, parking a safe distance back, and walking slowly.

He occasionally sensed us, hackles raised, but carried on feeding. 

We Followed him along a worn cattle trail to try and walk silently.

We didn’t want to scare him, because he would definitely run.

You can’t force these encounters.

We continued following the anteater slowly.

Then the unexpected happened… a southern tamandua appeared on the same path! 

Two anteater species in one afternoon, mind-blowing good luck.

We snapped photos of the tamandua as it climbed a bare tree.

Before I left the van I had to make a decision. Bring my long lens with a higher f-stop, or bring my 24–70 mm f/2.8. The light was fading, so I opted for the shorter lens and it paid off; I captured some decent proof of life images despite the poor light.

We spent around ten minutes with the tamandua before letting it continue its evening routine.

We walked back to the van with the setting sun, all of us smiling happy with how the day ended. 

September 5, 2025 — Day Five

Woke up to a windy, cold, cloudy day. Damn it. Not good snake weather, but it’s what we had, so we made the best of it and hoped things might improve.

We started at the first spot we visited earlier this week, no snakes around. 

So we moved on to another location, hoping to find either snakes or caiman. Fingers crossed.

On the road, we got lucky, a seven-banded armadillo was foraging in an old cornfield. 

I think the armadillo we saw on Day One was a six-banded, so this was a different species.

We followed her for a while as she foraged, and at one point I knelt down to get some side shots. She walked straight toward me, almost touching the lens on my camera, before turning and darting back to her nearby burrow. 

Such a cool way to start the day, moments like that just make me happy.

Later we arrived at another beautiful river, home to three resident female anacondas. Sadly, because of the weather, they weren’t out.

But the river gave us something else, a Yacare caiman.

It was perched on some dead branches sticking out of the water, its body submerged and only its face above the surface. 

Because it was resting over deeper water, we geared up and swam toward it slowly. 

The moment it sensed us, it slipped below and pressed itself against the riverbank.

To reach it, we had to squeeze through tangles of debris, dead tree branches and vegetation, just to find an angle for photos. The caiman was calm and patient, letting us photograph it with only a few minor shifts in position.

We spent about 30 minutes with it, working hard for each shot, carefully finding gaps to push our cameras through, trying hard not to kick up the silt. 

It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.

After that encounter, we called it a day, and with it, wrapped up our time in the beautiful southern Pantanal.

What a trip. Blown away by this place, the people, and the animals. Just… wow, wow, wow.

I love this trip, and I love this week. I feel like we did a good job, but I can’t deny that at times it felt like we were photographing unwilling subjects. 

The snakes wanted nothing to do with us. As much as I wanted this to be a completely ethical experience, it wasn’t perfect.

But truthfully, that could be said about 95% of wildlife. 

Most animals want nothing to do with us. We’re the invasive ones, entering their worlds, hoping for a glimpse, a moment, an image. 

That’s the paradox of wildlife photography, we seek connection with animals who owe us nothing.

And yet, we still got the photos. We still told the story. 

Those images may have come from fleeting, imperfect moments, but I feel like they carry the weight of something bigger… proof these animals are here, living their lives, and always worth protecting.