Corrientes Province
Esteros del Iberá
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Argentina’s biggest unsung attraction, Esteros del Iberá is a breathtaking wetland covering up to 13,000 square kilometers (estimates vary), nearly 15 percent of Corrientes Province. Recharged almost exclusively by rainwater, it’s really a broad, shallow river, covered by semisubmerged marsh grasses, reeds, and other water-loving plants; it flows almost imperceptibly northeast to southwest, where the Río Corrientes enters the middle Paraná. There are also, however, open-water stretches like Laguna Iberá, a 24,550-hectare lagoon that’s protected under the Ramsar convention on wetlands of international importance.
In terms of wildlife, Iberá is an American Serengeti—while it may lack the faunal biomass of Africa’s famous plain, the variety of species and the sheer numbers of birds, mammals, and reptiles is still awesome. For these reasons, it has attracted the attention of international conservationists such as former Esprit clothing magnate Douglas Tompkins, who has purchased several area estancias to help preserve their natural wealth.
And Iberá needs defenders, as the marshes have a fragile ecology imperiled by mega-hydroelectric developments of the Yacyretá dam, north of the city of Ituzaingó. As runoff from Yacyretá’s rising reservoir seeps into Iberá, deepening waters threaten to break the link between the marsh vegetation and the dissolved sediments from which the plants derive their nutrients. Additional threats have included land invasions and forestry projects.
Sights and Recreation
Iberá is a year-round destination, but the summer months can be brutally hot and humid, and rain can fall at any time. Activities include wildlife-watching, hiking on a gallery-forest nature trail, and horseback riding.
Launch tours on Laguna Iberá, which involve poling through floating islands where an outboard motor is useless, are available through all the hotels, and private guides as well. Two-hour excursions, which cover a lot, begin in the US$33 range for one or two persons, US$13 for each person in groups of three or more. As some animals are nocturnal, nighttime tours are also available, especially under the full moon.
Rental canoes and kayaks are available, but kayaks are unsuitable for exploring the marshes, whose dense vegetation makes visibility poor—other than Pellegrini’s cell phone tower, this nearly featureless terrain has few landmarks and you can’t stand up in a kayak to get your bearings.
English- and Japanese-speaking Jungle Riders (tel. 03773/15-418577) does 2.5-hour after-dark safaris along the Mercedes highway to view wildlife.
Other Practicalities
At the approach to Colonia Pellegrini, immediately before the Bayley bridge that crosses Laguna Iberá, ex-poachers staff the provincial Centro de Intepretación, the reserve’s visitors center. On the other side of the bridge, Pellegrini’s Oficina de Información Turística (tel. 03773/15-4012050) has good maps and lists of services, but its personnel can be amateur. Hours are 8 a.m.–1 p.m. and 3–8 p.m. daily. Hotel staff and guides are also excellent sources of information.
© Wayne Bernhardson from Moon Argentina, 2nd edition
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