Corumbá sits on the western bank of the Paraguay River at the Bolivian border and calls itself the capital of the Pantanal — not an empty boast. The town is the main gateway into the southern Pantanal, the vast flooded wetland that is one of the world's great wildlife habitats. Jaguars, giant otters, capybaras, and hundreds of bird species live in the surrounding floodplains.
Known as the "white city" for the pale calcareous rock that underlies its soils, Corumbá has a colonial centre with 19th-century buildings and casarões (townhouses) left over from its days as a prosperous river port. The Porto Geral waterfront — once the third-largest river port in Latin America — remains the social heart of the town and the place to arrange Pantanal boat trips.
The city itself has more to offer than a transit stop. The Museu de História do Pantanal traces 10,000 years of human presence in the wetlands from a beautifully converted 19th-century warehouse on the waterfront. Forte Junqueira, a tiny hexagonal fort within an active military base, has sweeping views across the river into Bolivia and a history tied to the Paraguayan War.
Fishing and cattle ranching are the traditional industries; tourism now runs alongside them. Come in the dry season (May–September) for the best wildlife sightings; the wet season transforms the Pantanal into an inland sea but makes overland access harder.