Where the Water Meets the Sky
Iberá stopped me in my tracks. Spread across Corrientes Province in northeastern Argentina, it is one of the largest freshwater wetlands on Earth: a mosaic of lagoons, floating islands, marsh grasses, and palm savanna that runs to every horizon.
I came to see firsthand what Fundación Rewilding Argentina have built here. I left convinced that Iberá is one of the most hopeful conservation stories in the world, and one of the finest wildlife destinations in South America.
A Wetland Brought Back to Life
For much of the last century, Iberá was emptied by hunting and habitat loss, and species that once defined these wetlands vanished one by one. Fundación Rewilding Argentina was created in 2010 by Argentine conservationists and activists and heir to the legacy of Tompkins Conservation. Working alongside local communities and the provincial government, they helped secure the protected landscape of Iberá Park, then began the patient work of bringing missing species home.
The results are remarkable. Capybara now thrive across the marshes. Collared peccaries, giant river otters, and giant anteaters have been returned to the wild here, and the maned wolf, South America’s tallest canid, is back in the protected grasslands. Every species restores a piece of the ecosystem. Just as importantly, ecotourism brings income and pride to the surrounding communities, turning conservation into a livelihood.
Life Around Every Bend
In Iberá, wildlife is not a matter of luck. Capybara were everywhere: grazing at the water’s edge, dozing in the sun, leading lines of young through the grass. By the first morning I had stopped counting. We came across several families of collared peccaries rooting along the forest margins around the lodge.
On boat tours in the waterways, caimans lay motionless along nearly every channel, eyes just above the surface. The birdlife was astonishing, with herons, storks, kingfishers and raptors at every turn, and flashes of color from species I had never photographed before. For anyone who loves birds, Iberá alone justifies the journey.
An Afternoon with a Giant Anteater
The highlight of this safari came on the last afternoon, in the grasslands. My guides and I found a giant anteater foraging, and for the better part of the afternoon I had the privilege of watching and photographing it entirely on its own terms.
It moved through the grasses, searching for food, its huge tail trailing behind. Every so often it stopped to tear into a termite mound with its powerful claws, then probed the opening with its long, sticky tongue. It seemed completely unbothered by our quiet presence, which let me work slowly and wait for the light.
Giant anteaters had disappeared from this region, and this animal is here because people decided to bring its kind back. Knowing that made every frame feel meaningful. It was conservation photography at its most rewarding.
The Return of the Jaguar
The most ambitious chapter is still being written. Jaguars, the apex predator of these wetlands, are the most recent species Fundación Rewilding Argentina has returned to Iberá, and they are now being spotted around the lodge.
That is a powerful sign that the cats are settling in. Restoring a top predator rebalances everything below it, from how prey animals move to how vegetation grows. For our guests, the chance of seeing a wild jaguar in Iberá is quickly becoming real.
Pairing Iberá with Península Valdés
Iberá is an extraordinary destination for conservation-based safaris, and it pairs beautifully with Península Valdés on the Patagonian coast. There, colonies of more than 100,000 Magellanic penguins share the shoreline with elephant seals and sea lions, while Southern right whales come close to shore to breed and raise their calves.
Together, the two regions offer wetlands and ocean, restored species and great marine gatherings, all in one unforgettable Argentine journey. If you would like to experience it for yourself, the Rewild Safaris team would love to help you plan it.