Professors Richard Aronson and Mark Bush recently led 18 Florida Tech alumni and friends of the university on a memorable journey to the Pantanal region in southwestern Brazil.
This massive wetland – 20 times the size of the Everglades – supports an astonishing abundance and diversity of wildlife, and the group saw many of the region’s famous and charismatic denizens during the eight-day Alumni Study Tour II from July 8-16: giant river otters, capybaras, howler monkeys, hyacinth macaws and, most famously, jaguars.
“The Pantanal is first and foremost the best place on the planet to see jaguars, and we saw a lot of them stomping around, hunting, swimming, grooming themselves, and generally acting like domestic kitty-cats—only a lot larger and with much bigger teeth!” Aronson said.
A day after flying into Cuiabá, Brazil, the group headed 85 miles southwest to Aras Eco Lodge, where hiking, canoeing, safaris and more awaited. The final few days of the trip were at the Hotel Santa Rosa, where travelers experienced boat rides to see the amazing wildlife at the confluence of the Cuiabá, Piquiri and Tres Irmãos rivers.
All told, Aronson said, the experience was outstanding.
“The accommodations were great, the food was fine, and the logistics went off brilliantly,” he said. “Everything worked.”
The first Alumni Study Tour took guests to Ecuador in 2025. Alumni Study Tour III in May 2027 will center on Tanzania. That trip is already sold out.
