Chaco and Formosa 2022 Day 33

Date: Tuesday 20 September 2022

Trajectory:  Paso de la Patria – Roque Saenz Peña

Distance covered: 260 km

Managed to make contact with Catalina of the the Animal Reserve in Paso de la Patria, but had to wait as she was held up in traffic. Worth waiting, though and by 09.30 I was at the Centre.

Very interesting visit, and Catalina took me through the cages and compounds where they are looking after damaged and rescued animals. Nearby is a separate re-wilding section which quite rightly I didn’t see – this is for animals considered candidates for re-releasing, who are kept out of sight of humans.

I did however use my telephoto lens to snap an endangered red macaw in the rewilding compound. I don’t think I’ve caused any damage as I was a very long way away.

One of the animals I did see in the rescue section was an elderly jaguar, blind in one eye, and living out her days in peace and comfort. 

I walked a trail here and saw some indigenous but rare trees, all marked with name and species, and a few birds: from here my bird of the day, a greater ani (I think!). [Ed: it was a smooth billed ani, the smaller one].

The trail had a few ‘thoughts’, too – this one from Atahualpa Yupanqui.

Another appropriate thought from the Centre grounds ….

… where Catalina was showing a group of five-year-olds around. Hopefully the seeds of their visit will germinate.

I also saw oranges everywhere – or perhaps they were lemons – it’s hard to tell up here.

Visit over, I drove on to Roque Saenz Peña but my satnav tried to take me somewhere else and I had a fight to get back on the road. I won – I simply turned it off. The drive was short and uneventful, but I did stop to see a southern tamandua (aka lesser anteater) who had also lost a fight with a motor vehicle. These are beautiful animals, and roadkill like this is always distressing but I like to record what I see. I have however blurred some of the injuries).

Got to Roque Saenz Peña about 17.00. I had decided to treat myself to a little luxury as some uncertain days and nights lie ahead. My hotel of choice was full, but the second choice, just as good and half the price had one bed left so I grabbed it. 

Tomorrow on to an alarmingly named rendezvous with Luis Dellamea at Paso del Infierno, and the beginning of a new adventure.

Chaco and Formosa 2022 Day 32

Date: Monday 19 September 2022

Trajectory:  Ituzaingo – Paso de la Patria

Distance covered: 260 km (with detours)

The storm continued all night, with lightning flashes and thunder rolls, the rain sounding heavy on the metal roof of my hotel room.  Got up to a wet world … 

… and an indifferent breakfast (with undrinkable coffee), so headed to the nearest service station which was an ACA but not of the modern kind – very run down, and no wifi.

But they still had the 5% ACA fuel discount, and the coffee, if slow in coming, was excellent.

Drove all morning through dark, wet highways to my stop for the night. Not the weather for birding; it rained hard pretty much all the way. I had arranged to go to the Maned Wolf Centre in Paso de la Patria (in season a sandy beach holiday resort, but not today!). But the Centre was closed – I’m trying to arrange a visit for tomorrow. 

Beer and luncheon on arrival in Paso de la Patria (one of the toughest milanesas de carne for a long time) and found my cabin for the night at Cabañas Belen Efrata. A huge, sprawling and very comfortable cabin with a lived in look I approve of.

The owner, Marcelo, is on the same Provincial Tourism committee as Alejandra, who made the booking for me – an excellent overnighter for an excellent price.

Full kitchen facilities so for supper I made a packet soup with crackers and an apple. Wifi was iffy (where isn’t it?) but for once I was able to piggy back off my phone. Finally up to date with the blogging, but anticipate problems again as I hit the Chaco.

Finally, my bird of the day, shot from the car through a gap in the clouds  – a golden-breasted woodpecker perched on a post boy the side of the road.

Chaco and Formosa 2022 Day 31

Date: ~Sunday 18 September 2022

Trajectory:  Don Luis – Ituzaingo

Distance covered: ± 60 km

Early to bed last night, after another splendid meal. 

After a six o’clock breakfast we drove back to civilisation, and then made our way to Bahía Caraya where we had intended to go on a boat journey on the river/lake and through the marshland. 

But it was not to be. The water was very rough and it would have been uncomfortable and probably unsafe …

… so with Horacio Matarrasso, who had joined us with an Australian birder, we worked our way through the forest.

‘Caraya’ means howler monkey, and we saw plenty of them: some thoughtful …

… and some more aggressive. Rightly is they called ‘howler’ monkeys.

Plenty of time to socialise over mate with a good guy whose name I never got – but I did like the way he walked around with his mate and thermos …. it’s a very Argentine thing.

And I was impressed by his collection of knives/facones, all super sharp. Knives seems to be all a thing in Corrientes Province.

Then back to Casa Bonita to catch up on blog, etc. I had just checked in when the heavens opened, and I found myself hoping Ale and Cepi would get back on the trails where the sand would be changing to mud. But with a Hilux I’m sure they will have been OK.

Bird of the day – a white-browed meadowlark, seen on the road between Don Luis and Ituzaingo.

My worst experience of the trip so far was to follow: I went from my room in the hotel to the car to get some stuff and the wind blew the hotel door closed with my keys [and more importantly my phone] inside. I am the only person in the hotel and being Sunday there was no resident staff (it’s a strange sort of hotel altogether). For a while I didn’t know what to do. Ingenuity won the day; by enquiring at various houses in the street I was able to find someone with the hotel owner’s telephone number and all was OK. But not the best way to spend three hours on a stormy afternoon!

Spent the rest of the day getting blogs, etc. up to date, now that I have wifi again. Tomorrow heading west again towards Chaco and will sleep outside Resistencia.

Chaco and Formosa 2022 Day 30

Date: Saturday 17 September 2022

Trajectory:  Don Luis

Distance covered: ±10 km

Woken up by howler monkeys – a pleasant change (or, thinking about it, perhaps not all that pleasant) …

and presented with the best breakfast of the trip so far – scrambled eggs, orange juice, fruit, chipa and decent coffee!

We set off early for a very productive drive/walk, with caiman …

… capybara …..

and cuis (a guinea pig sort of creature) everywhere … 

… and a truly amazing collection of birds, including a huge variety of seedeaters I had never even heard of. But my bird of the day simply has to be the strange-tailed tyrant, a bird that so many people come to this part of the world to see (and often dip on).

The heat was getting up and I took some down time in my little home to try out a new [to me] kind of hammock and catch up with this diary. There’s no wifi but I’ll catch up later.

The house is called Tyto alba and has its own owl box, which I kept checking …

I finally did see the barn owl, but at night, so no photograph. But there were boxes all over the site – here’s one for the campo flicker, with occupant emerging.

And here’s one of several that Cepi, an amazingly competent carpenter/mechanic/builder sort of guy, made for the endangered red macaw, focus of the local rewilding efforts.

We then had a great lunch with Ale’s family and friends – fish (boga), meat and salad, washed down [in my case] with Fernet and Brahma beer. Then a siesta, and a second birding outing that segued into drinks and dinner.

Ale and husband Cepi like cooking with the circular ‘disk’ (top right of photo) and all their cooking is done outdoors. Good wholesome food, too. More beer, and to bed for an early start. Tomorrow we go on the water again at nearby Bahía Caraya.

Chaco and Formosa 2022 Day 29

Date: Friday 16 September 2022

Trajectory:  Ituzaingo – Don Luis

Distance covered: ±60 km

Breakfast in Casa Bonita and then met Alejandra at 09.00. 

First we went to visit the bird centre she manages in Ituzaingo, an imaginative and well laid out project. There I saw lots of photos of birds I would like to see, but realistically knew I would only see a few. `With luck!

I spent some time with Ale at the Bird Centre, planning the next couple of days. She is high up in local tourism circles and set up a number of future stays and attendances for me.

I then went with Arturo, one of the guides at the centre, to Santa María – a nearby reserve with boardwalks and an observation tower. A nice visit and an informative guide, but sadly low on birds …

… as happens from time to time. I particularly liked the sentiments expressed on this sign: rough translation “although you may not see them these grasslands have many inhabitants’.

After lunch I met Alejandra again and [slowly] we drove out to her lodge San Luis (see the red dot in the map above). A 38 km drive through rough tracks, mainly sand and wetland embankments, eight separate barred gates and a lot of birds.

One of those was the Iberá seedeater, only recently discovered and endemic to the area. An obvious candidate for my bird of the day. 

The site of Don Luis is quite wonderful, with its buildings scattered wide across a large area. I was assigned to a cabin called Tyto alba 1, which fittingly had a nesting box inhabited by a barn owl.

As the sun was setting it was time for a cold beer and then supper ( a local fish called ‘boga’, as we planned tomorrow’s activities.

To bed, happy and with several lifers in the bag.


Chaco and Formosa 2022 Day 28

Date: Thursday 15 September 2022

Trajectory:  Ituzaingo – Isla Apipé

Distance covered: 15 km (on foot)

Up early and took the 07.00 launch to Apipé Island, an Argentine territory in Paraguayan waters.  My watch and iPhone were confused with this and kept switching between Argentine and Paraguayan time which was a little disconcerting.

We arrived safely on the big island …

… where my guide, Anibal, was waiting for me with his tractor – the ravaages of Covid having obliged him to decommission his other vehicles.

During the day we walked through different kinds of terrain and saw large numbers of flowers …

… buterflies …

… mammals (in this case a male howler monkey) …

… and of course lots of birds, including my bird of the day, the always comical burrowing owl.

Anibal gave me a great lunch, washed down with a herbal drink made with cocú (aka chal-chal) leaves left to steep overnight in cold water. Very refreshing.

After which a snooze was necessary – in a hammock for a change

More walking after lunch, and I arrived back to my casa bonita (and a proper bed) in Ituzaingo, tired and happy.

Not sure yet what tomorrow will bring, but the uncertainty doesn’t bother me at all.

Chaco and Formosa 2022 Day 27

Date: Wednesday 14 September 2022

Trajectory:  Loreto – Ituzaingo

Distance covered: 120 km (with diversions)

Spent morning in Loreto, firstly visiting the Jesuit museum, containing valuable pieces rescued by families fleeing persecution and two previous incarnations of Loreto. Many valuable pieces are still kept in family homes but some are on display in the museum`:

And certainly worth a look at:

This crown of thorns particularly caught my eye:

Then on to Horacio Matarrasso’s new ecolodge project just outside Loreto, coming on very nicely. He’s decided to name the central lake (seen here filling slowly) ‘`Lake Appleton’, after our mutual friend Tim Appleton.

Here I shot my bird of the day, a green-winged saltator, in the feeding area. I’m not a fan of birds on feeders, but it was a lifer!

From there to the new ‘portal’ San Antonio on the other side of Loreto, in search of the black-and-white monjita, a bird that has eluded me for many years. Despite the efforts of local guide Ariel it continued to do so, so I cut my losses and drove on to Ituzaingó where Alejandra Boloqui had arranged accommodation for me at ‘Casa Bonita’. 

I found the plaque at top right of the door fascinating: it seems like a multi-use  facility for the elderly, a hotel for adults and a nursery for infants all rolled into one.  

Whatever, it looks very comfortable, even if the wifi is not very wonderful. 

Tomorrow I take a launch to Apipé Island. 

Chaco and Formosa 2022 Day 26

Date: Tuesday 13 September 2022

Trajectory:  Mburucuyá – Loreto

Distance covered: 130 km

Left my cabin home at Mburucuyá after two comfortable nights …

… at about 08.00 and had a very leisurely drive to Loreto. I was a bit birded out today and decided on a quiet day and a novel to relax with. Thank goodness for the KIndle Mimi gave me to replace the one I left in a BA remise. 

Although today was to be a non-birding day I did need a bird of the day, so snapped this great egret as I was leaving Mburucuyá.

On arrival in Loreto I went to the Tourist Information to locate my new cabaña (the electricity was down in the whole town). I found a little wildlife park there:

… and statues through the town to this guitar hero.

I never researched his story, because it was time for a beer …

… which kimd of segued into a great lunch of chicken and green pasta. I like the polystyrene coolers for the beer and bought myself one as a souvenir.

Then to my new cabaña, not at all unlike the other one but much cheaper, although without cooking facilities.

Tomorrow I hope to meet my friend Horacio who is starting up an eco-lodge near here.

Chaco and Formosa 2022 Day 25

Date: Monday 12 September 2022

Trajectory:  Mburucuyá

Distance covered: 60 km

Early breakfast of coffee and biscuits and off to the Mburucuyá National Park, some 22 miles away. The last part was eleven kilometres of sandy track, and I remembered on my previous stormy visit how lucky I was to get away through the mud.

I had a choice of paths and chose the Yatay Trail, a seven kilometre walk through different kinds of vegetation.

I was completely alone in the park (it isn’t easy to get to) and had a great sense of space …

… seeing the odd deer …

… and learning about animal tracks

There were a number of black vultures at the end of the trail, which for some irreverent reason reminded my of Disney’s ‘Jungle Book’.

But my bird of the day was the masked gnatcatcher, whom I watched as they performed their courtship rituals.

Then back to my new home for two nights, where I cooked for the first time in weeks.

Spent the rest of the day reading and catching up with emails. Tomorrow I return to Iberá on the western side, from the Loreto Portal, where I’m meeting an old friend from San Martín de los Andes.

Chaco and Formosa 2022 Day 24

Date: Sunday 11 September 2022

Trajectory:  Mercedes – Mburucuyá

Distance covered: 220 km (with side trips)

Left Mercedes hotel after miserable breakfast and undrinkable coffee – for what I paid I expected better. Hotel curious for staircase (no lift) with steps whose height and spacing seem to have been designed to fail to meet human expectations, so going up and down was a most laborious and disconcerting affair.

First stop of the day was supposed to be the urban reserve Aka Pita, which took forever to find – Mercedes could work on its Tourist information. Or maybe the reason it was unsigned is that it was closed today, for no reason the custodian could give.

I drove on, and found a jewel – completely unmentioned by the Tourist Office. It seems that the Gaucho Gil, a C19th Century Robin Hood like religious folk hero was probably born near here and most definitely died and is buried here. More on my Facebook page. Here a statue:

…his place in the Mercedes City cemetery …

… and the entrance to his sanctuary/shrine, a few miles outside the city.

It was a shortish drive to Mburucuyú, shorter perhaps than the time it took for me to learn to say it. I was stopped by Gendarmes and asked where `I was going. I slobbered out Mumburoocooyoocoo a few times and finally had to spell it out for them. I then had a brief pronunciation lesson from three gendarme teachers and spend the next twenty minutes repeating over and over again

As I approached the town I saw crowds of people at another religious/folk festival, this one involving horsey activities. All of the gauchos, man and women, had put on their best finery: the older men, competing in gaucho skills and dressage …

… the younger men, sporting a mixture of traditional gaucho and modern style gear …

… and fine ladies on fine horses, in their best gaucho chic.

I stopped and watched for a while, impressed by the high level of horseriding skills, and finally entered Mburucuyá, the home of chamamé.

Almost forgot my bird of the day – cattle egrets, doing what they do:

Tomorrow I’ll visit the nearby Mburucuyá  National Park.