Esteros del Ibera and Rincon del Socorro

On December 14^th we arrived at the Rincon del Socorro, another beautiful property owned by the Tompkins. This beautiful Estancia shares a space with some of the most stunning and well-preserved wetland habitat in the world. We immediately fell in love with he wild space, and wished we could have stayed for more time! The staff was very informative and a lot of fun, and jobs and opportunities here were almost as diverse as the habitat around us.

Some history: 3.2 million acres in the upper basin of the Corriente River, the Esteros del Ibera Nature Reserve protects one of the largest freshwater wetlands in Argentina. Inside the reserve is Ibera Provincial Park, covering 1.2 million acres. This area protects species of wildlife that have been previously targeted by hunters. This conservation area is reinforced with 370,000 acres of private land purchased by The Conservation Land Trust (CLT), and fully protects the natural wonders inside. Rincon del Socorro is privately owned, but allows visitors to stay at the hostel. This giant reserve is home to more than 500 vertebrate species and more than 4,000 native plant species.

Rincon del Socorro

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The most rewarding and eye-opening portions of our stay on the Ibera were the excursions we did into the marshland. Even just outside of the Estancia compound we immediately encountered vibrant and profuse amounts of wildlife all intermingling together in a very complete and balanced food web. On our first nature walk we saw hundreds of Capybara rodents hopping into mud holes, chewing grass, carrying their young on their hairy backs, and generally effecting a very lazy and content attitude. In the sky, trees, and brush we saw birds of every shape, size, color, and biological purpose; some were huge birds of prey, while others darted around eating mosquitoes and bugs, but most were on branches or reeds happily chirping to the gawking gringos walking by. Foxes darted into bushes after giving us curious looks over their shoulders, and viscachas (small rodents – a fatter version of a prairie dog) hopped around on their mounded communities chattering away with squeaks and grunts. Perhaps the most impressive site was the Marsh Deer, which was about the size of an elk and had a rack of horns to match. Walking back to the compound, we encountered an armadillo digging his burrow right in the middle of the road, and it actually looked offended about our interruption! The flora and fauna is in a pristine balance here, a perfection and unity of nature that neither of us have seen for quite a long time.

The fragility of this beautiful habitat was made all the more apparent when looking over the fence at the heavyset hooved beasts munching and compacting the ground into a monotonous wasteland. Much like the western United States, the ubiquitous cow is turning beautiful habitat into an inhospitable moonscape. It was depressing to think how many wild animals were being displaced and sacrificed for the abrasive herbivore. Looking at the two sides of the fence we were both stunned by how much of an affect poor land management has on the environment. Though Ivan started to go into one of his introspective angry activist moods about how much he hates cows, he was shown portions of land bought by CLT (Conservation Land Trust – part of the Tompkins conservation movement) that has had the cows removed and is being allowed the chance to heal itself. The land was making a remarkable recovery and gave hope that even abusive cattle ranching wouldn’t mar the landscape forever. CLT still has a portion of land with cattle, which they are using for a ‘control’ in an experiment to compare the affects of continued cattle raising versus damaged land left alone. However, even more exciting than land given a chance to recover, was being shown a future restoration site were the earth will be pushed back into its natural contours and restored with native plants.

Another restorative activity we did was to shadow Jamil, a wildlife biologist working on his PhD. His goal is to reintroduce the Giant Anteater back into the Ibera marsh, where it has been absent for quite some time. We walked through several squishy areas with a radio sensor trying to find the elusive ant vacuum, however it was found a day later in a much farther location (a good thing too since there is a better chance of it mating there!). Jamil uses several remote cameras to monitor their activity, radio collars, and even tranquilizer guns to sedate the animal for tests. We had an eventful afternoon practicing with the tranq-gun, which is amazingly accurate and adjustable.

Out in the field enjoying the sunshine as we track for the Anteaters

Ivan practicing his skills with a tranquilizer gun for the next day's adventure to put a tracking collar around a baby Anteater

Kristin had the best shot/aim when practicing with the blow-dart tranquilizer!! Kristin mastered this skill of having large amounts of air in ones lungs and blowing out quickly from her 9 years of playing the clarinet! :)

Another fantastic outing was spending the day with Sebastian, who is in charge of exotic specie removal (ie: weeds, pigs, axis deer, water buffalo, and other invasive species), as well as control burns and plant restorations. He took us to the Laguna Ibera, a large lake inundated with amazing wildlife. A local at one of the CLT campsites took us around in a small boat to get up-close and personal with alligators, birds, fish, capybaras, deer, and many other kinds of flora and fauna. We got to see 2 species of alligator, which were sunning themselves with one sneaky eye open for potential prey. After an amazing tour of the Laguna, we headed down the road to the visitors center to see some informative exhibits about the riparian habitat, as well as a short nature trail that had some howler monkeys (didn’t see any though…). It was great talking with Sebastian and hearing about the different and wide-ranging challenges of managing thousands of hectares of land. He was really impressed with Kristin’s soil science degree, and Ivan’s dabbling in restoration ecology. He has promised to visit us in the states, and may even stay for a while to learn English and more on restoration management.

Today we are leaving this beautiful Estanica and heading back to Mercedes to begin our journey into Uruguay where we plan on spending Christmas and the next 10 or so days.

Iguazu Falls

On Friday the 10^th, we left the Laguna Blanca Estancia with Franco and Flaco, who we befriended during our stay at the Estancia. It was nice to share another mate, or 10, with them on the bus ride, as well as some Quilmes beer harmlessly disguised in a thermos. They got off the bus in Goya (Corrientes Province), and we continued for another couple hours to Corrientes Capital. After a few hour layover and some pizza in Corrientes, we took an overnight bus to Puerto Iguazu. After some fitful sleep and an unexpected bus transfer we arrived in Puerto Iguazu at 10 am with some tropical rain and, of course, wonderful humidity. Fortunately, our hostel was just up the road from the bus terminal.

After some coffee and sandwiches we boarded a bus to the Cataratas. Luckily the rain stopped, which was perfect because it scared away the less adventurous crowds. By noon we were in the park and just about running to the falls we were so excited. Walking down swampy boardwalks towards the falls, we were amazed at how loud it was-- you can hear the falls from over 3 km away!

The first falls we discovered were called “Las dos Hermanas,” which were twin falls cascading right next to each other. While we were initially amazed, they were nothing compared to the falls farther into the canyon...Or the other 270+ falls that make up the enormous Iguazu!! In most parts of the park, the boardwalks would be right next to the falls or even extending over the torrential falls. We were constantly being amazed at every turn by the views, mists, and sounds. Later that day we went to the base of these 2 falls, which made them look even more impressive! The stupendous Kristin got a lot closer, and consequently very wet, while the un-adventurous Ivan stayed back like an old man to keep his camera equipment dry. The power of the water was very humbling, and we could not even fathom how many millions of liters were tumbling down per minute.

Something that was a bit disheartening was the turbidity of the water, which was a brownish muddy color. This is caused by deforestation, which inevitably leads to the erosion that carries the topsoil downstream from the fragile rainforest. Of course the reddish-brown water is not unheard of, even in pristine watersheds, but here it was apparent (and documented in historical photos) that the water was tainted by man.

Also in the park was the diverse flora and fauna. Exotic colored birds flitted and squawked in the lush canopies around us, while other animals eluded us in the undergrowth. The “coati” is a small long-nosed aardvark that frequented the park, and was very cute. Luckily for us, a family of them crossed the path in front of us. The babies would wrestle, climb on mommy, scramble up the nearby limbs and chase bugs, while the mom vigorously burrowed in the humus for ants and bugs. Very entertaining to watch!

Baby Coati playing in a tree

Just another exotic creature we came across in the park...

The finale of the day was taking a small chu-chu train to the upper part of the falls. We walked the last kilometer suspended over water on expanded metal boardwalks to the “Garganta del Diablo,” or “Devil’s Throat.” This is the most impressive waterfall, which is both wider and taller than all the other falls. Here it was almost impossible to take a picture because there was so much misty water jetting around us. Within minutes we were completely soaked, but absolutely in awe of the enormous falls arrayed like a tumultuous horseshoe in front of us. Our pictures will not do justice to these falls and proves that this is truly something that must be seen in person to really grasp. The incredible power and energy here was remarkable. In comparison, Niagara Falls was called a “ripple” in our guidebook, which Ivan thought was an over exaggeration, but in actuality it dwarfs the Canadian falls, like Ivan's height in a Bolivian market ;).

durrrr

After 6 hours of walking through the park we caught the bus back to town for some delicious parilla and a big salad with a live band to accompany the rhythms of our forks and knives.

The following day we visited an animal sanctuary and got to see a lot of animals from around the Missiones Province. Kristin was very excited to see the colorful toucans up-close, and we were both very impressed with their gigantic beaks. Our favorite though, were the Capuchin monkeys, which were very playful and liked to show-off their acrobatic skills (fortunately they didn’t fling their poo at us..!). Also impressive in the sanctuary were the large birds of prey which they were rehabilitating. However, the funniest, and perhaps most disturbing site, was witnessing two tortoise’s engaging in grunty coitous. Interestingly, the Argentinean tourists became very giddy and childish during this Discovery Channel episode and skipped away with Catholic guilt all over their faces. In the sanctuary, most of the animals have been adversely affected by humans, but are being rehabilitated and eventually reintroduced to their natural habitat. We were very impressed with the quality and professionalism of the facilities, which deservingly boasted a very high rate of success for reintroduction and for their veterinary skills.

Toucan Sam's Cousin

The last tourist thing we did was visit the “Hito de Tres Fronteras.” Here you can see the corners of 3 countries that are separated by the Parana river. We were obviously on the Argentinean side, but had a great view of Brazil and Paraguay. Each corner had an obelisk painted with their flags’ colors.

Even sportin' Argentine colors!

After Puerto Iguazu, we are traveling for 1 1/2 days to get to the Estero's del Ibera in the Corrientes province. 22 hours in buses, woot! Going to see some of the worlds most pristine riparian habitat!!