The Amazon River, my younger mind couldn't help but marvel at its mysterious nature.

I'd always imagined it to be a worthy contender for which river would claim the prize-winning

fight for the title of greatest river on earth. I'd visualize the names of two challenges

echoing out in a gladiatorial colosseum. In the blue corner we have the amazing Amazon

in the red corner, the jewel that is the Nile. Now having been born to Garnie and parents,

the purest in me was somewhat satisfied with Africa being able to claim victory for

the world's longest river, the Nile. But by far the biggest river by volume, the Amazon

was in a league all of its own. I'm still yet to visit the Amazon Basin, but I have

travelled to the Pantanal wetlands in Brazil specifically to the Bodukena Plateau. This area

neighbours the Amazon Basin and shares many of its characteristics. It was one of the most

exciting and dangerous wildlife expeditions I've ever been on. These 150,000 square

kilometre wetlands and surrounding ecosystem are home to some seriously supersized animals.

Jaguars here grow twice as big as others on the continent. With the river banks also providing

the ideal home for the world's largest rodent, capybarras, which graze daily on the abundant

and lush vegetation. Joining me on my expedition of the Bodukena Plateau, a group of experts whose

continuing mission was to explore the region's large animals to get a better picture of

the overall health of the waterways. As we slowly ventured up river, something I described

as halfway between a breathy, winny of a horse and the soothing per of a cat gave away

the arrival of our welcoming committee, giant river otters. There's only about 5,000

of them left in the entire world, with most located in and around our location. Their

territorial calls eventually gave way to more curious behaviour. As one by one, they approached

the boat, bobbing their heads up and out of the water to get a closer look at us.

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