Pousada Rio Claro

We only stayed here for one night of a 10 night trip to the Pantanal. The gardens are full of beautiful birds, coatis and monkeys. We also did a very pleasant boat trip on the river. The rooms are nicely furnished and have a fridge and private patio. The aircon struggled to cope in the hot weather. The bathroom is very small, but perfectly adequate. As there is no shade it wasn’t possible to sit on the private patio in 40 degree heat and sun, but there were lots of shady public areas from which to watch the birds. The reason for my 3* review is because of the poor food hygiene and lack of food. The restaurant is extremely hot with many non functioning fans, but has window netting designed to keep insects out. However, at every meal the dishes of food appearing from the kitchen area were covered in flies. We did not see this at any of the other lodges we stayed at. This is clearly a health risk. We arrived for breakfast at 7:45 - well within the scheduled opening times, but there was virtually no food left. As we were the only four people in the dining room the staff didn’t bother to replenish any of the food. There was a small amount of ham and cheese, covered in flies trapped under the clingfilm, and a few slices of cake. This isn’t really acceptable at a lodge that charges such high prices which are meant to include food. The lodge seems to cater for large tour groups and doesn’t seem too bothered about individual guests.

i visited two other pousada before this one, and glad i waited for this one. standard package at pousada is one daily activity, dinner on day of arrival, then breakfast and lunch the next day, before checking out. credit card is accepted at property. I negotiated to have two activities included. I chose night safari (truck) for the day of arrival and river safari (boat) for the next morning. sightings for each * night safari - tapirs, crab-eating foxes, marsh deer, and baby caiman * river safari - many birds, caimans, capybaras, green iguana, howler monkey, ocelot there are also a lot of animals, wild and domesticated, on property: a smorgasboard of birds, tegu, horses, and pigs, as well as a residential caiman named Zico. the iconic bird of Pantanal, Jabiru stock, also built its nest at the tree right in front of the property. if you self drive, you can also explore the tracks around the property in your own car. if you are a birder, I think you will like it here

Price way to high for the service. My partner and I got food poisoning (along with another guest) from their food. That meant 3 days in bed, not eating, missing on the main safari. No apologies (but they did propose local medecine) or slightest discount for the food not eaten (we paid for all meals) or just the inconvenience. Two stars are for the flexibility of the activities, the rooms are cleans and they tried to make vegetarian food. But this place lacks love and true kindness. They do the minimum. Regardless of the huge property no big hikes are available. They are not prepared for foreigners. People will accompany you in activities but lack knowledge on the fauna and Flora. Also it is very unpleasant to find that the same activity costs way less in the next hotel . Also wanted wrongly to add 800 R on the difficult to read bill at the checkout. One cool thing are the birds that come eat in the pousada.

We stayed her with our tour guide, Rizardo Silva. It was an excellent place to stay! A super comfy bed, with strong wifi, hammocks in the shade, and a nice pool. The food was excellent with lots of options. We enjoyed staying at this property.