The Pantanal also serves
as an ecological corridor between the savannah, the
(Bolivian and Paraguayan) Chaco and the Amazon region.
It is one of the greatest natural treasures of Brazil,
the largest wetland on the planet and home to a unique
fauna.
Biologists rank the Pantanal among the ecological hot
spots of the planet although only a tiny part of all
plants and animals have been studied and classified
botanically.
The Pantanal is a natural paradise shared between three
countries: Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. The Brazilian
part is the largest, with an area of more than 230.000
km² (more than three times the size of Belgium
and Switzerland together), stretching over the states
of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. It is located
in the basin of the Paraguay river, the second largest
of Brazil after the Amazon. Its limits are the Paraguay
River in the West, the Serra da Bodoquena in the South
and the highlands and Chapadas in the East and the North.
In this vast inland delta, formed by a geographical
depression in the pre-Andean area, the rivers flow slowly,
due to the low inclination of the land. The Pantanal
is also characterized by its torrential rains, with
an average annual rainfall from 1300 mm to 1450 mm.
The almost completely even terrain is periodically flooded
with the formation of innumerable corixos and vazantes.
At the height of the rainy season, these temporary water
bodies are connected both to each other and to the Paraguay
River, carrying seeds and nutrients and enriching the
soils with their sediments.
