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Published: April 16th 2006
Reserva provincial esteros del Ibera is a large wetlands with hundreds of different types of birds, as well as caimen (small alligators), black howler monkeys, capybara (the largest living rodent!), neotropical otters and different types of deer. It has converted Angus and I into bird watchers! We went out on several boat rides to explore the wetlands and enjoyed seeing several bird species (including herons, egrets, comorants, humming birds, kingfishers, woodpeckers, hawks, caracaras, woodrails, terns, parakeets, cuckoos, owls, martins, swallows, cardinals, finches, blackbirds, marshbirds, Southern Screamer, ducks, limpkins, gallinules, jackannas, tyrants, vultures.......sorry to go on). We particularly enjoyed taking the hostel owners canoe out to explore ourselves. It is made us of several lakes with channels leading off. The lakes are surrounded by marshland and floating islands. One time we were a bit suprised a after going a few kilometers and getting to an area with particularly big Caimen, the Guardaparque came out to tell us we'd gone too far. We also did a night boat ride where we saw bats, caimen at night, and .....lots more birds!
We stayed in a very relaxed hosteria. In between going out to the wetlands we lazed about in the hammocks in the garden.
We had delicious food there, with special no egg/fish dishes for me.
Our leaving journey was very exciting. We took a 4 by 4 to Posadas, the next town. It is a 300 km drive down a muddy, off road track, which the driver drove up to 120 km/hour! We had several skids and flying over bumps. It was very interesting landscape to go through. We went through several small villages where there at least 8- 10 children per family. The children start riding horses as soon as they can walk. We saw the men- Gauchos, out in the open areas on horses herding cattle. A large part of the journey was planted forrests of araucaria trees and Australian eucalyptus. We then past logging stations and the trucks taking the logs away. In the open areas we also passed several wild fires which are common here in the intense heat, and cause a lot of damage.
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