Our Ibera Wetlands Argentina Wildlife Adventure

An Unexpected Close Encounter

We were enjoying a walk through Colonia Carlos Pellegrini, the main township in the Ibera Wetlands, en-route to a patch of jungle we’d read was home to several Howler Monkeys. While holding hands and discussing our post-Ibera Wetlands plans, out of nowhere Shelley screamed “Oh my god!!!” as she un-gripped my hand and ran to the other side of the road. “What?” I concernedly shouted back. “Snake!” she shrieked while pointing back to where we were happily walking just a few moments ago.

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After a couple of heart racing seconds, I could see why she was so panicked. Anyone is entitled to be scared of snakes, regardless of size or species. Especially Londoners like us. Snakes aren’t commonly spotted slithering through the West End. But this didn’t look like just any snake. The sheer size of it made us immediately think of one species. We’d seen enough travel documentaries to know that what we’d nearly stepped on was an Anaconda! An Argentina wildlife encounter we had not expected to experience.

It was only partially visible in the rough grass but you could still see it’s extra wide girth. Even it’s partially visible length was impressive. I was almost certain our species hunch was correct. Shelley was keen to run away from the beast as fast as possible but I wanted to take a quick photo. Hopefully, someone at the visitor centre could confirm that what we saw was, in fact, an Ibera Wetlands Anaconda.

The Anaconda

The Ibera Wetlands

We were in the remote region of the Ibera Wetlands in Argentina. Once an area popular for hunting, these marshy wetlands, streams, lagoons and floating islands is now thankfully protected as a nature reserve. Now Argentina wildlife such as caiman, otters, swamp deer, capybaras, wolves, howler monkeys and over 400 species of bird thrive there.

We approached an official in uniform once we’d reached the visitor centre. I frantically turned on our camera to display the photo and he immediately raised his eyebrows. “Anaconda!” he said while pointing at the screen. We knew it! We couldn’t believe we came so close to something so dangerous while strolling through Colonia Carlos Pellegrini.

After all the excitement, we realised how this story could have gone another way. As you probably know, if you’re attacked by an Anaconda, you’re most likely a dead man. They’re expert killers by wrapping their bodies around their prey. Squeezing tighter and tighter until they can no longer breath. Crushing bones at the same time so they can swallow their catch whole. Images of newspaper headlines British Backpackers killed by Anaconda came to mind.

Darren posing with a resident caiman

Shelley posing with three resident caimans

Anacondas Aside, We Were Very Excited to be at the Ibera Wetlands

The remoteness of the region in Northern Argentina has restricted tourism in the past, but now the area is opening up to visitors in a low-key way. The low-key feel of the Ibera wetlands is what appealed to us. On our travels, through other parts of South America, we came across only one other person who had visited the Ibera wetlands. She was glowing with positive reviews of the rural town of Colonia Carlos Pellegrini and it’s potential Argentina wildlife spotting opportunities.

We’re always keen to explore areas heavily populated with wildlife. They’re getting harder to find these days but we’ll go well out of our way to experience the sight of wildlife in their natural habitat. Other wildlife highlights from our travels include Borneo’s Kinabatangan River and Sri Lanka’s Kaudulla National Park. Both adventures that we’ll never forget.

Caiman

Getting Into the Ibera Wetlands

Getting in and out of the Ibera wetlands wasn’t easy. It’s remoteness and low key nature brings no properly laid roads for access into Colonia Carlos Pellegrini. Our trip consisted of an overnight bus from Salta in the North West of the country to Corrientes in the North East. In Corrientes we had to wait for several hours for another bus to a town called Mercedes. By the time we reached Mercedes, 18 hours after leaving Salta, we had missed the last of two daily buses into the Ibera wetlands. So we spent a night at a local guesthouse in Mercedes before catching the next bus to Colonia Carlos Pellegrini in the morning.

The Mercedes to Colonia Carlos Pellegrini Bus

Without your own wheels the only way to get to Colonia Carlos Pellegrini is by two daily local buses from Mercedes. Both of which take about 3 hours. The first bus was at 10 am so we got there early to make sure we got a ticket. We needn’t have worried as we seemed to be the only tourists in town so shared the bus with only four other locals.

A capybaras

Caiman surfacing close to our boat

The bus was a battered old vehicle with a dusty floor and hard wooden seats. The seats did not in any way cushion the impact of our sore bums bouncing up and down on the very bumpy gravel track. The bus was rattling and clanging so loudly for those three hours that me and Shelley could hardly have a conversation. We could only point out the Argentina wildlife we spotted through the window.

The journey was paused for a few minutes midway after one of the passengers seemed to have what we can only describe as a heart attack. He suddenly raised one arm into the air while screaming in pain before slumping in his seat. The driver and another passenger carried him outside, where he after a while gained consciousness and we were able to continue our journey. Due to the language barrier we never were able to find out what was wrong with the man.

One of many birds sighted

For the last hour of the journey the Ibera wetlands landscape got wetter and wetter. As it did so we started to see our first sights of Argentina wildlife right outside the window. Heaps of birdlife were zipping around the sky and wading through the water. Families of capybaras, or Moomins as Shelley likes to call them, were confidently roaming the nearby swamps.

We were then dropped off at the edge of simple Colonia Carlos Pellegrini. After loading our heavy backpacks on ourselves we walked the quiet streets in search for our accommodation.

Colonia Carlos Pellegrini and it’s Argentina Wildlife

The town of Colonia Carlos Pellegrini consists of just 20 streets laid in a grid. It has a real outback feel with hardly a soul in sight. Again we felt like the only tourists in town. We almost were. After checking out a handful of places to stay we decided on a guesthouse owned by a lady who spoke not a word of english. She wasn’t the friendliest of proprietors but we liked how she’d dressed the clean, cozy bedrooms and there was a huge garden with outside kitchen for us to cook our meals.

Our Colonia Carlos Pellegrini guesthouse garden

Typical road in Colonia Carlos Pellegrini

We spent 3 days in Colonia Carlos Pellegrini enjoying the Argentina wildlife. We’d previously not been particularly keen bird spotters but when you visit a region like the Ibera Wetlands, it’s hard to not develop a new appreciation for birdlife. The vast amount of bird species and high population was a wonder to see.

Boat Trips in the Ibera Wetlands

We took several boat trips from the Ibera wetlands campsite, spotting numerous caiman of various sizes. Some lone caiman basking in the sun and some groups of up to five! We also spotted plenty of Shelley’s favourites, capybaras. The tame giant rodents were so at ease with us being there we could almost reach out and touch them.

The remote and peaceful atmosphere of the wetlands is what springs to mind when we think back to those boat trips. Aside from the musical birdcall you could hear a pin drop. The sun sparkled off the flat blue waters, only broken by lush bright greenery and welcome wildlife. We also enjoyed uninterrupted sunsets with the wetland waters mirroring the changing colours of the sky.

Oh and we did get to see those Howler Monkeys we were en-route to see before our Anaconda encounter. Overall it was a very successful trip for Argentina wildlife spotting!

Getting Out of the Ibera Wetlands

Getting out of Colonia Carlos Pellegrini was even more difficult than getting in. We were heading to the Iguazu Falls on the border with Brazil. It made sense to leave the wetlands in that north east direction rather than going back on ourselves to Mercedes. We’d read about a deep sand track, only accessible by 4×4 vehicle, which eventually ends up on the main road to Posadas. Posadas is where you can catch a bus to the border and Iguazu Falls.

Chilling howler monkey in the trees above

There didn’t seem to be a tourist or local transport option in place that offered external transfers towards Iguazu Falls. We tried to speak to several locals regarding someone with a 4×4 to drive us but we didn’t have much luck. But on our last evening we were approached by a large local man who must have heard of our plight. He offered to drive us to Posadas. At about $50 each it was quite expensive but this was expected after our own guidebook research.

So the next morning we jumped into his 4×4 equipped with TVs on the headrests and Disney DVDs. Then while watching Finding Nemo we drove to dry land and ended our memorable Ibera wetlands Argentina wildlife adventure.

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