Jaguar Adventure with Nigel Marven

Production Details

The Pantanal – the world’s biggest wetland, the size of Britain… and home to the planet’s largest population of Jaguars. These big cats are notoriously hard to find, let alone film. But when Tigress Productions heard of a location where they were being sighted regularly, Nigel Marven couldn’t wait to get there.

A healthy jaguar population needs a lot of food – and Brazil’s Monster Swamp is jam-packed with animals. Standing between the Amazon Rainforest and the savannah grasslands, the Pantanal attracts a stunning diversity and number of creatures from across South America. The abundance of prey makes the Pantanal’s jaguars the biggest in the world.

Over four weeks, Nigel comes face-to-face with the Pantanal’s most spectacular and charismatic residents – from curious Armadillos and Giant Otters to amorous Anacondas and hungry Anteaters. Obsessed by reptiles, Nigel gets up to his neck in Caiman-infested waters (there are 10 million of these crocodiles here) and endures a painful encounter with a Brazilian Water Cobra.

But it’s the jaguars that steal the show. Previous crews have either filmed captive jaguars or managed to catch just fleeting glimpses of wild animals. We heard of one biologist who hadn’t seen one in 11 years of trying. But a statistics-obsessed local expert promised us 1.2 jaguar sightings per day. On his stretch of river we saw 9 in 7 days (managing to film 7) – exceeding even these seemingly wild expectations.

This gives Nigel a unique chance to learn about the least known of the Big Cats. The jaguars of the Cuiaba River are not only abundant, but incredibly trusting. Nigel not only realises his childhood dream of meeting a jaguar in the wild, he spends hours following them in his boat, observing their daily routine.

Further south, though, Nigel unearths a crisis. The jaguar’s taste for cattle has brought it into direct conflict with the cowboys who inhabit Brazil’s Wild West. Some ranches are losing 2 cows to the cats every day. It’s no surprise that the ranchers retaliate. Already threatened by habitat destruction, the jaguar’s future stands on a knife-edge.

Seeking a solution, Nigel tracks down a team of conservationists using a jaguar hunter’s techniques to help save “The King of the Pantanal”.  This offers a way forward for big cats and cowboys – and gives Nigel a unique chance of meeting a jaguar in its jungle home… on foot.