The largest tropical wetland on Earth, between 140,000 and 195,000 square kilometres of it, about 80 percent in Mato Grosso do Sul and the rest reaching into Bolivia and Paraguay. It works on a flood cycle: from November to March roughly 80 percent of the floodplain goes under, the Paraguay river rising 2 to 5 metres, and the water crawls through the vegetation at 2 to 10 centimetres a second rather than running off. Slow flooding is what makes the wildlife easier to see here than in the Amazon, and it supports one of the largest and healthiest jaguar populations anywhere. UNESCO listed it in 2000 under three natural criteria. The dry season, roughly May to September, is when the animals concentrate on what water is left and the roads are passable.
Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil
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