A tiny school deep in the Brazilian Pantanal

During our 2008 Brazilian Amazon-Pantanal kayaking expedition, Bill and I encountered a remote school deep in the Pantanal, the world's largest wetlands. About 15 students who live on the surrounding cattle ranches attend the tiny school. The school year begins when the floodwaters recede enough for the students to be transported to school by tractor. Then as the water recedes they travel by truck to school.
      One day Bill and I had the good fortune to ride the "school truck" with the kids to school. We piled into the open-back truck along with about ten kids and sat on wooden benches and began the hour-long journey. A student's parent drove the truck across open fields of green grass then followed narrow sandy tracks through dense thickets of vines and trees. Hyacinth macaw parrots squawked down at us as we passed beneath their favorite tree. We rounded a bend in the track just a startled group of coati, their striped tails held high, dashed across our path to seek the safety of deep shadows among the trees. Cascading vines covered in pink flowers added to the soft morning light.
      As we crossed ranch after ranch, herds of white Nelore cattle with their customary companions, the equally white cattle herons, placidly separated to allow us to pass through their midst.
      Crossing one cattle ranch or fazenda after another, opening and closing the gates of the numerous cattle fields was an important part of the journey. The kids took turns to jump off the slowing truck to race ahead, open the gate, and then close it before climbing back onto the truck. An hour later we arrived at the school under a sun that had by now become oppressively hot.
      Surrounded by kids excited to start their school day, Bill and I were escorted into the classroom where I was invited to tell them of the children and schools we had visited in other countries. With the help of a parent who translated my English into Portuguese I told them of the children we had met in Russian Siberia and Alaska where winter temperatures can plunge to minus 40 degrees F and where the summers are short and cool. They were fascinated to hear stories of a place where daylight disappears in the winter months, the earth remains frozen for most of the year, and children their age walk across snow and ice to school. But when I told them that sometimes northern Alaskan children have to watch out for an occasional polar bear there was a stunned silence. It was difficult for these children of the hot, humid Pantanal to comprehend such a vastly different lifestyle.
      One six-year-old boy asked if we ever rode a polar bear. Living on a large cattle ranch of several thousand acres where cowboys riding horses round up hundreds of cattle he couldn't see the usefulness of an animal as large as a polar bear if it couldn't be saddled and ridden.
      A common question concerned clothing in cold climates. After I described the many layers required to stay warm one eight-year-old girl asked, "how can anyone walk while wearing all those clothes?"
      A small boy declared, "They must not play soccer because they can't move much."
      The teacher, a dedicated woman, who without adequate pay, puts her heart and soul into preparing her students for the world they will enter after leaving her tiny school.
      We were shown the spotlessly clean kitchen. The mouth-watering aroma of a large saucepan of beef stew bubbled on top of the wood fueled stove. Later we joined the kids for lunch in the dinning room where we all enthusiastically ate bowls of stew and thick slices homemade bread.
      Due to the long distances some students must travel to this remote school many stay in the school dormitory during the week and return home on weekends. The dormitory was a tidy place, brightly painted with beds neatly lined up and everything in its place.

About The Pantanal
Located south of the Amazon River Basin the Pantanal, is the world's largest freshwater wetland, a seasonally flooded plain fed by the tributaries of the Paraguay River. The 75,000 square miles is almost 10 times the size of the United States Florida Everglades. Annual floods, fed by abundant tropical rains, create one of the world's most productive habitats and are a giant nursery for aquatic life, supporting 260 species of fish. The name "Pantanal" comes from the Portuguese word pântano meaning wetland, bog, swamp or marsh.
      As the waters recede in the dry season, large numbers of birds and other animals arrive to take advantage of the rich food source making the Pantanal the world's largest wetland and one of the world's greatest natural habitats.
      Over 80% of the Pantanal floodplains are submerged during the rainy seasons. Elevation of the Pantanal ranges from 260 to 490 feet above sea level. Annual rainfall over the flood basin is between 39 to 59 inches with most rainfall occurring between November and March. Its average temperature is 77 °F but temperatures can fluctuate from 32 to 104 °F.
  • Location: The Pantanal straddles Brazil's border with Bolivia and Paraguay. About 80 percent of the Pantanal is in Brazil. It lies mainly within the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso.
  • Major Habitat Type: Flooded Grassland Savanna Animals and Birds Among the rarest animals to inhabit the wetland of the Pantanal are the Marsh Deer (Blastocerus dichotomus) and the Giant River Otter (Pteroneura brasiliensis). Parts of the Pantanal are also home to the following endangered or threatened species: the Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhyncus hyacinthinus) (a bird endangered due to smuggling), the Crowned Solitary Eagle, the jaguar (Panthera onca), the Maned Wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), the Bush Dog (Speothos venaticus), the Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), the South American Tapir (Tapirus terrestris), the Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) and the Yacare Caiman (Caiman yacare).
  • Threats To The environment: The Pantanal is vulnerable to the advance of large-scale agriculture, including cattle ranching. Dams and river transportation cause water pollution thereby increasing the pressure on the entire wetland habitat. 1) Cattle-ranching: Approximately 99% of the land in the Pantanal is privately owned for the purpose of agriculture and cattle ranching. There are approximately 2,500 ranches or fazendas in the region and up to eight million cattle. Erosion and sedimentation caused by this activity alter the soil and hydrological characteristics of Pantanal flood-plain ecosystems with the consequence that native species are threatened by the change in ecosystem variables. 2) Hunting and smuggling of endangered species. Reptile, wildcat, and parrot species are particularly at risk from the smuggling industry due to their high value on the black market.
  • Eco-Tourism: Due to reduced cattle-ranching profits, many ranchers are turning to eco-tourism. Eco-tourism offers much needed employment to unskilled and semi-skilled workers who languish on Brazil's unemployment rolls. But of even greater importance, the relatively new industry provides protection for the land and the wildlife that would otherwise disappear under the hooves of large herds of impressive white Nelore cattle. Tourists are given the opportunity to visit the world's largest freshwater wetlands and observe the abundant Pantanal wildlife which includes many species listed as severely endangered. Eco-Tourism provides hope for the future of the Pantanal and it's unique wildlife.
  • Climate Change: Gradually rising temperatures are of concern to Pantanal residents who worry that in time the prevailing sandy soil could become a wasteland, resulting in the devastation of animal, bird, and fish species.
To view photos from the school - Click Thumbnails