The Pantanal ranching country is the largest wetland area in the World. Its a bowl shaped depression covering 96,500 square miles.

The wetlands slowly releases the water through the Paraguay River and tributaries. The formation is a result of the large concave pre-Andean depression of the earth’s crust, related to the Andean orogeny of the Tertiary.

During the rainy season the rivers burst their banks flooding the surrounding plain, provides nutrition for the Worlds largest collection of plants.

The name “Pantanal” stems from the Portuguese word pântano which is synonymous with wetland, bog, swamp or marsh. In comparison, the Brazilian uplands are locally referred to as the planalto, plateau or, literally, high plain.