From The Pantanal, Brazil
Its beady eyes stared and its jaw opened wide. The caiman wasn't best pleased to have been disturbed from its slumber. I was trying to get a better angle on the macaws above, so we steered towards the bank. As I got my camera ready, the caiman appeared in the reeds.

I think, of the two of us, I was perhaps most startled. There was a sturdy dug-out canoe separating us, but I didn’t like the look of its stare. I snapped a photo and moved on.

From Iguazú Falls, Argentina/Brazil
A big blue sky and a sea of trees - millions of trees as far as the eye can see. Nothing else to spoil the view. Blue and green, all around.

When you arrive by air at Iguazú you get the somewhat unnerving sense that you are about to land square amongst the branches of a few of those trees, like a scene from Lost. In fact, the first glimpse you get of the smoothly tarmaced runway is when you finally touch down upon it. Welcome to the jungle.

From Iguazú Falls, Argentina/Brazil
This photo always makes me smile. Toucans are just so expressive - their default face is happy, smiling, playful. Watching them bounce around the trees added a very different dimension to my time in Iguazú.

The power of the falls, nature at its rawest, juxtaposed by these little creatures bobbing around right in front of my eyes, unfussed by the spectacle unfolding nearby. I never tire of looking at it and sharing it with others.

From Iguazú Falls, Argentina/Brazil
Surrounded by lush trees and exotic birds, I felt firmly rooted in the depths of a jungle. I could count at least twelve waterfalls and I would have happily stayed all day getting to know each one.

They say that upon seeing Iguazú, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt exclaimed ‘Poor Niagra!’. I have never been to Niagra and so cannot make the comparison, but frankly, I don’t feel the slightest inclination to go any time soon. How could anything beat this?

From Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
From Corcovado you understand how beautiful Rio's setting is. From Sugar Loaf you find out how darn big it is. Beaches, bays, islands, mountains, tumbling favelas and huge apartment blocks unfold in an ordered chaos. You then come to understand that, amid the rolling hills and sharp granite peaks, this really is no place to build one of the world's great cities.

But that's Rio, where life comes at you from all angles and somehow hangs together.

From Salvador da Bahia, Brazil
After a third round of lamb, as I slumped close to oblivion, I reflected that green and red weren’t the right colours for the flags. They should have been green and white, as it was surrender that was uppermost in my mind.

This is ‘churrasco’ dining, where a platoon of waiters bring unending freshly-grilled meats until you tell them to stop, using the flags. It was high time I lowered my green one. But perhaps one more before I hoist the red.