Day 27: 13 September 2017 – Laguna Capitán and environs

Chaco Chachalaca (Ortalis canicollis) – a somewhat noisy bird

Woken very early by something cackling horrendously outside my window. Turned out to be a Chaco Chachalaca (Ortalis canicollis, a very noisy bird: you can listen to one here), and we were to see (and hear) quite a few more of them.

As we were up we had an early breakfast followed by a walk around a. nearby lake. We saw a few waders around the shore and with the bins we could see a small group of peccaries in the distance.

Oven bird getting started on the nest …

Oscar has an encyclopaedic knowledge of species names in three languages and an impressive ability to identify them at a distance by their calls. Caroline particularly enjoyed looking at all the different nest structures – so fantastically varied and truly astonishing constructions, e.g. the oven birds and the thornbirds.

… and a little bit later

By 11.00 it was simply too hot to continue walking so we went back to the ranch for beers, an early lunch and a welcome siesta.

Birds were everywhere – these around the place where we were staying

After the snooze I went with Oscar to walk around another lake – to get there we walked across a desolate landscape of dead trees and salt pans – with very dense brush/shrub on either side. It was really quite frightening, very far from anywhere.

We walked a few kilometres around the almost dry lake; we saw lots of birds, and the footprints of various animals crossing the salt flats to get to the water. Oscar diagnosed these tracks as those of tapir, collared and white lipped peccaries, deer, and others but we only saw distant peccaries.

A thorn tree …

The Chaco is noted for it’s thorns and not without justification. We saw many examples – the longest some 6 inches and apparently poison tipped. Oscar told us that the soldiers in the Paraguayan army use them in a very nasty way as a poisonous dagger. As a birder it is easy to spike youself whilst looking elsewhere and Oscar showed us the scar on his forehead!

… and a thorn (which caused a puncture earlier in my trip)

Back to the ranch for shower and another very substantial dinner of stuffed cabbage leaves, rice and salad. It is amazing what Ulf produces from a primus stove – each bit cooked individually and assembled in a glorious final plateful.

Ulf, entomologist and chef …

We then drove and walked around the local lanes and lakes with a flashlight looking for wild life (or at least the eyes of). Saw three opossums, a Geoffroy’s cat (Leopardus geoffroyi) and a small armadillo.

Geoffrey’s Cat – stock photo (from https://www.deviantart.com/snowporing/art/Geoffroy-s-Cat-213095864)

Back for a bit of a drinking session, joined by a rather enigmatic German who claims he has sold up ‘everything’ and is ‘driving around the world’. Pleasant enough company, and the beer as usual good.

Day 24: 10 September 2017 – Iguazú

Up for a leisurely breakfast and out into the heat. In the morning we drove up to the Iguazú Falls on the Argentine side, walking around the Devil’s Throat area.

Part of the old boardwalk, no longer used

We walked out along a long causeway in the sweltering sun, crossing the turbulent water where they had filmed ‘The Mission’ and where some of the remains of the trackways for the camera dolleys were still visible. De Niro had been here!

Old walkways – detail

The Argentine side of the Iguasú Falls is noticeably less chaotic than the Brazilian side; well kept and clean, with organised parking and admission. Curious and unusual to see sign saying ‘no pets allowed – kennelling available’ – an excellent idea!

Another view of the Falls – spectacular from any angle

It was all very busy, very noisy, very impressive – although not so wonderful when we got separated for a while and had to use intuition and guesswork to restablish contact – an interesting experience for Caroline, who was carrying no pesos or even the address where we were staying. The falls were (literally) breathtaking – words of wonder taking temporary leave of absence.

Great Dusky Swift. flying behind the water curtain

There were a lot more giant dusky swifts today than when I visited with Guy a few days ago. Big birds, but they were very hard to photograph as they come up out of nowhere and, like all swifts. have wholly unpredictable flight paths. I managed to get a registry shot, but nothing very wonderful. I think it would need more time and patience than we currently had.

Toucans are not so easy to see, unless you keep your eyes open – bu they are there!

There was other wild life in evidence: toucans above and turtles below, and it really was a rather special place, if a little hot.

A toadhead turtle in midstream, watching the world fly by

We got totally confused with the trains and seemed to keep going in the wrong direction but it wasn’t really a problem: each stop meant a cold beer, a bite to eat and an encounter with the omnipresent coatis.

Coatis were everywhere, usually squabbling over tourist food. This one was alone,up a tree.

But it did seem to mean that we spent most of the day at the Falls. Finally we left, I bought a couple of Tshirts at the shop and we went back to the cabin for a little relaxation. 

A less glamorous view of Puerto Iguazú, somewhat off the tourist track

In the evening we went into town again, this time to La Rueda for a meatier affair.  Then to rest, with mosquito coils.

A nightly companion – they don’t smell too good, but it’s better than the bites.

Day 23: 9 September 2017 – Iguazú

Although technically day 23 of my solo trip, today is also day 1 of my joint trip with my sister Caroline.

Red-legged Seriema at Parque das Aves, Brach;

This (below) is an attempt to reconstruct the second part of the NE Argentina and Paraguay trip for which my sister Caroline joined me. A retrospective joint effort,  put together from notes and photos almost a year later; we were defeated at the time by the lack of Internet connections and to be honest a general heat-induced exhaustion in the evenings. It will be good to have some sort of record, however minimal. And minimal it will be!

Iguazú is close to the triple frontier

So, continuing from day 20 …

Long queues are common when crossing international borders in South America

I had to meet Caroline on the Brazilian side, at Foz airport, so I got up very early as I was unsure of the border queue. And a good job that I did, as it took me about three hours to cross over to Brazil. Got to Foz airport just in time; Caroline’s plane was also on time so it all worked out fine.

The airport on the Brazilian side, at Foz do Iguaçu

As we were in Brazil we went first to the Iguacú falls (there is good access to the falls on both sides of the border), hoping to see the falls from the Brazilian side, but there were so many people everywhere that we decided to leave it for later. Driving back we drove past the Parque das Aves– I had been there many years ago and we decided to give it a go.

Entrance to parque das Aves, Foz do Iguaçu

It had changed a great deal (for the better), and leaving aside the question of birds in captivity it was great to wander through the various canopied areas and see so many birds I am so unlikely to see elsewhere. Or maybe not.

Spoonbill in one of the Park’s large walk through galleries.

The Park has a reptile population too

From Caroline’s notes:“…an extensive collection of native (and a few non-native) species, of note were the Scarlett Ibis – so unbelievably red, the Hyacynth Parakeets, the King Vultures which sat side by side and shook and looked in true Disney style, as though they were waiting to make some aside about the audience and lastly the Cassowary that looked like it had just walked off the set of ‘Dinosaurs’.”

Colourful scarlet ibis – a rather unlikely deep red.

Took a ton of photos there and then we made our way to the bus station to get tickets to Asuncion – we would be travelling from Brazil to Paraguay rather than Argentina. That done, back to Puerto Iguazu (in Argentina) and another 3 hour wait in the immigration queue to get there.

Our home back in Puerto Iguazú

Picked up towels, laundry and beer and went to cabin for a quick shower, and then out again to Color for a fine fish supper. Caroline decided: “… I do not like Catfish – has the taste and texture of sloppy mud”.  

Over a bottle or two of this and that we planned the next few days.