Some 180 km southeast of the northern city of Corrientes is Parque Nacional Mburucuya; which lies just to the north of the Esteros del Ibera, some 11 km from the small colonial village of Mburucuyá. The park itself covers almost 17,700 hectares which in 1991 were donated by Doctor Troels Pedersen, a Danish botanist, who had worked in the area where he identified some 1,300 plant species. The land had been previously bought by Petersen’s father in the 1920s as part of Estancia Santa Teresa.

The park boasts over 100 ponds, the wetlands of Estero de Santa Lucia and areas of Chaco with carob and quebracho forests as well as grasslands with pindo and yatay palms. Needless to say, it is packed with flora and fauna which include some 290 species of bird, among them the tucan grande and the nandu, 29 species of fish and 10 species of reptile such as the boa curiyú, a four-metre-long water snake and the two-metre-long yacare, a black alligator. Also, there are 36 species of mammals which inhabit the zone, which include the red fox, the maned wolf, the capybara and the raccoon-like aguará popé.

Within the park there are two short trails, the Sendero Aguará Popé which leads through forests and past several ponds, and the 2.5-km-long Sendero Yatay along which you can get a fine view of the Estero Santa Lucia, both accessed near the visitor centre inside the park. Parque Nacional Mburucuyá, tel: +54 (0) 378 249802. Open 365 days a year. See www.parquesnacionales.gov.ar for more details.