A curious crab-eating fox captivated my two nights at Pousada Piuval, one of the gateways to the Pantanal. I followed this intelligent canine as it scavenged the hotel property’s trash piles in search of anything edible. Along the way, I found more action that added to the fun—bats darting through the glow of telephone lights to hunt insects, and capybaras resting cautiously at the edge where the safety of artificial light meets the dangerously unpredictable darkness ridden with Jaguars.