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A capybara resting among dry leaves and grass near Colonia Carlos Pellegrini in the Iberá Wetlands

Sample journey · 8–10 days

Iberá, where the wild is coming back

Buenos Aires, Laguna Iberá, an estancia in Corrientes & the Iguazú Falls

Photo: Franco Capezio / Unsplash

Illustrative journey ideas — not bookable packages. No prices, dates or accommodation are implied.

In Guaraní, Iberá means 'bright water', and that is what this country is: lagoons, floating islands and a sea of reeds in Corrientes province, with nothing on the horizon taller than a palm. Capybaras, marsh deer, caimans and howler monkeys live here, and more than three hundred bird species have been recorded. But Iberá is remarkable not only for what lives here, but for what is coming back. A long-running rewilding programme, led by a conservation foundation working with the national and provincial parks, has returned species that had vanished from Corrientes: giant anteaters, pampas deer, collared peccaries, red-and-green macaws, giant otters and, since 2021, jaguars.

The journey begins in Buenos Aires and continues in Colonia Carlos Pellegrini, a village of sandy streets on Laguna Iberá, from where you head out onto the water by boat and into the marshes on horseback. Then an estancia, a working cattle ranch where gauchos work much as their grandfathers did and chamamé music plays in the evenings. To finish, the Iguazú Falls. It suits couples and slow travellers for whom nature matters more than views from a car window: the days are quiet, the stays are small lodges and ranches with a handful of rooms, and the transfers, especially the last stretch to Pellegrini on gravel, are on the long side.

The route

The journey

  1. Buenos Aires
  2. Posadas
  3. Carlos Pellegrini & Laguna Iberá
  4. An estancia in Corrientes
  5. Puerto Iguazú & the Iguazú Falls
  6. Buenos Aires
  1. The domed Palace of the Argentine National Congress and a broad avenue in Buenos Aires

    01Days 1–3 · Buenos Aires

    A beginning in the big city

    After the long flight, two nights in Buenos Aires, to let your body catch up with the clock and your eyes adjust to a city that never hurries and dines late. Mornings in the leafy avenues of Palermo and Recoleta, in Recoleta Cemetery among its stone chapels, and in historic cafés where coffee comes with a biscuit and no rush. In the afternoon, the streets of San Telmo with their antique shops and old houses, and, if it's a Sunday, its market. In the evening, a long dinner at a parrilla or, if you like, a tango night where porteños themselves dance. The beginning is deliberately calm: on the third morning, a flight of about an hour and a half to Posadas in the north-east, where a different Argentina begins, with red earth, warm air and rivers as wide as lakes.

  2. Two ducks in the shallow water of a marsh among green plants near Colonia Carlos Pellegrini

    02Days 3–4 · Carlos Pellegrini & Laguna Iberá

    Bright water

    From Posadas the road runs south through red-earth farmland and eucalyptus plantations, and its final stretch is a long gravel track across marsh and grassland. About four hours in all, and along the way you'll often see the first capybaras in the ditches, or a jabiru stork. Carlos Pellegrini is a few hundred people, sandy streets and a causeway across the lagoon. In the afternoon, the first outing by boat: slowly, among water hyacinths and floating islands, where caimans bask on the banks, marsh deer hide in the reeds and capybara families graze belly-deep in the water. The next morning, while it's cool, the forest trail at the visitor centre, home to black howler monkeys, and in the afternoon a second boat, perhaps a canoe, into narrower channels. Evenings here are short and quiet: a chorus of frogs, stars and dinner at a lodge with a handful of rooms.

  3. A close view of a caiman's head with sharp teeth and scaly skin in the Iberá Wetlands

    03Days 5–6 · The Iberá Wetlands

    On horseback through the marsh, on the jaguar's trail

    The third day on the lagoon belongs to what makes Iberá its own. In the morning, a ride with local gauchos: the horses wade through shallow marsh where you couldn't go on foot, and birds lift just ahead of their hooves. It's an easy, unhurried ride, fine for those who have ridden little. In the afternoon, a conversation with a guide or researcher from the rewilding programme about how vanished species are being brought back: from giant anteaters, now seen fairly often in the grasslands, to the jaguars released from 2021 onwards. Seeing a jaguar is very unlikely, since they are secretive and the territory is vast, but their tracks in the sand, and knowing they are here, change the whole feel of the landscape. Sunset on the shore of the lagoon, as the eyes of the caimans shine in the torchlight.

  4. 04Days 6–8 · An estancia in Corrientes

    A ranch that still works

    From Pellegrini, gravel again, about two or three hours, to the northern edge of the wetlands towards the Paraná River. Here, an estancia: a family-run cattle ranch with thousands of hectares of pasture, palm groves and lagoons. Two nights in an old house with a handful of rooms and tall windows onto the grassland. The days follow the rhythm of the ranch: early in the morning you can ride out with the gauchos to move cattle, in the afternoon watch the horses being shod, or simply sit on the veranda with a mate. The pastures run into the wetlands, so marsh deer, rheas and anteaters often appear here too. In the evening, an asado over the embers prepared by the hosts themselves, and sometimes chamamé, Corrientes' accordion music, inscribed by UNESCO as intangible heritage. It isn't a show: it's simply how evenings are spent here.

  5. A long-exposure view of water plunging into the Devil's Throat at the Iguazú Falls

    05Days 8–10 · The Iguazú Falls

    After the quiet, the thunder

    From the estancia it's about five hours north through Misiones province, past red-earth hills and plantations of tea and yerba mate, to Puerto Iguazú. Two nights here. On the first morning, the Argentine side as soon as the park opens: trails above the falls and below them, a small train and a long walkway across the river to the Devil's Throat, where the water falls with the greatest force and the spray rises higher than the trees. After days of quiet in the wetlands, the thunder is all the more overwhelming. On the second day, the Brazilian side for the widest panorama, or quiet forest trails on the Argentine side, where toucans and coatis are often seen. On the last day, the flight to Buenos Aires and, depending on timings, home the same evening. Alternatively, leave out Iguazú and end the journey in Buenos Aires.

Experience highlights

  1. 01

    By boat among floating islands

    Caimans, capybaras and marsh deer, often just a few metres from a slowly drifting boat.

  2. 02

    Wildlife coming home

    A conversation with the people behind the rewilding programme about the anteaters, macaws, otters and jaguars returning to the wetlands.

  3. 03

    Riding through the marsh

    An unhurried ride with the gauchos where you couldn't walk, birds rising ahead of the horses.

  4. 04

    Evenings on the estancia

    An asado over the embers, mate on the veranda and a chamamé accordion: everyday life on a Corrientes ranch.

First, we listen. Then, we explore what's possible.

Make it your own

  • More slowly

    A fourth night on the lagoon, or a second side of Iberá: another of the park's entrances, with its own trails and fewer visitors.

  • For a honeymoon

    More time on the estancia, a sunset ride for two and, to finish, a few nights at a winery in the Uco Valley beneath the Andes.

  • By season

    Roughly April to October, the days are cooler and drier and wildlife easier to see; summer is hot, humid and buzzing with mosquitoes, but the wetlands are at their greenest.

  • With Salta or Patagonia

    From Buenos Aires it's easy to continue to the coloured valleys of Salta and Jujuy, or to the Valdés Peninsula, stretching the journey to around three weeks.

Practical considerations

  • The last stretch of road to Carlos Pellegrini is gravel, which after heavy rain can become slow or briefly impassable. We leave slack in the journey for that and arrange transfers with local drivers who know the road well.
  • Wildlife is plentiful here, but what you see and when always depends on nature. Jaguars were returned only recently and are very secretive; we don't expect to see one.
  • In Iberá the days start early, when animals are most active; summer (roughly December to February) is hot and humid, so light long-sleeved clothes, a hat and something against mosquitoes are worth having.
  • Visiting the Brazilian side at Iguazú means crossing the border; we check current requirements before you travel.

General guidance only. Seasons, weather and wildlife are never guaranteed, and travel requirements are always worth checking before you go.

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