This 20-days tour covers almost all of Paraguay and focuses on observing the fantastic birds and wildlife in the Heart of South America, encompasses the vast majority of ecosystems, ranging from the Humid Chaco, the Dry Chaco, the Cerrado, the Mesopotamian Grassland and the Atlantic Forest endemic and is rich in species. We will have the opportunity to search to put many specialties on our list. Like the “Targets 10” of Chaco – Chaco Owl, Quebracho Crested Tinamou, Brushland Tinamou, Chaco Chachalaca, Scimitar-billed Woodcreeper, Crested Gallito, Black-bodied Woodpecker, Black-legged Seriema, Chaco Earthcreeper and Spot-winged Falconet, besides other exceptional species, among them the world-threatened White-winged Nightjar, of which only 4 spots are known in the world, 2 of them in Paraguay! The Helmeted Woodpecker, Stranged-tailed and Cock-tailed Tyrants, plus a number of interesting and rare doraditos and seedeates, including the recently described new species; the Ibera Seedeater. This trip offers you to go to the heart of South America, continent of the birds!, and in addition to the great diversity of birds, Paraguay is probably the country where you have the possibility of seeing the largest amount of mammals of the neotropic, with the 2 spectacular species of anteaters (Giant and Tamandua), 8 feline species, including Puma and Jaguar, the three South American peccaries, the Lowland Tapir, the Maned Wolf and several species of deer, armadillos, monkeys and rodents. And of course an innumerable amount of fabulous reptiles, amphibians, insects, forests, orchids, bromeliads, ferns and the geography and fantastic ecosystems where they live and accompany us throughout this small piece of Paradise!

Program Summary

Day 1 – ARRIVAL IN ASUNCIÓN. Please book flights to arrive in Asunción during this day. If time allows, we will visit the wetlands and shores of the Bahia Asunción. Overnight in Asunción.

Day 2 – ASUNCIÓN, ARROYOS Y ESTEROS BIRDING ON TO CERRADO OF RIO VERDE. Early in the morning, we will go birding in the Arroyos y Esteros area, hoping for many waterbirds but also some rare and unusual flycatchers. The target bird is the Strange-tailed Tyrant. We will continue to Reserva Natural Rio Verde after lunch, and we certainly will try for our first specialties such as: Cook-tailed Tyrant, White-rumped Tanager, White-banded Tanager, Sharp-tailed Tyrant, Giant Snipe and White-winged Nightjar among others. Overnight in Santa Rosa del Aguaray.

Day 3 – RESERVA NATURAL RIO VERDE – MBARACAYÚ RESERVE. We have other chances during this morning in this fantastic reserve. We will drive during the afternoon in order to maximize our time at the Mbaracayu Reserve. Lunch on the way to Mbaracayu Reserve. Overnight in Mbaracayu Reserve.

Day 4 – TO MBARACAYÚ RESERVE. We will take the trails near the Lodge, which usually hold great surprises. Overnight in Mbaracayu Reserve. Early in the morning we will go to the center of the reserve, the place is known as Lagunita and then we will walk on the trail called Moroti Stream, we will take a picnic lunch, and then we will go to the Cerrado Area called Aguara Ñu, we will be all afternoon and part of the night looking for the specialties of the place, this will be our second chance to look for the White-winged Nightjar. Overnight in Mbaracayu Reserve.

Day 5 – MBARACAYÚ RESERVE. In the morning we will go to the northeast of the reserve, The Carapa Falls is a spectacular falls in the jungle; you will never forget this magical place . Overnight in Mbaracayu Reserve.

Day 6 – MBARACAYÚ RESERVE AND DRIVE TO SAN RAFAEL NATIONAL PARK. The drive to San Rafael will take all day. We will leave early and have lunch on the road. If at all possible, we will look for birds once we arrive in the afternoon. Overnight in San Rafael.

Day 7 – ESTANCIA NUEVA GAMBACH; PARQUE NACIONAL SAN RAFAEL. Birding in the forests and grasslands of San Rafael. Overnight in San Rafael.

Day 8 – ESTACIÓN KANGUERY GRASSLANDS. We will concentrate on grassland birding today, hoping for Cook-tailed Tyrant and Saffron-cowled Blackbirds as well as after dark Giant Snipe and some very interesting owls. Overnight in San Rafael.

Day 9 – ESTANCIA NUEVA GAMBACH. We will spend the day on other trails of the reserve. Overnight in San Rafael.

Day 10 – ESTANCIA NUEVA GAMBACH TO YACYRETA ISLAND. After some morning birding, depending on what species we have yet to see, we will depart for Ayolas. Overnight in Ayolas

Day 11 – YACYRETA ISLAND TO YBYCUI NATIONAL PARK. Early in the morning we will take the Aguti Trail on the Island and then we will start to go to the Ybycui National Park. Overnight in Ybycui

Day 12 – YBYCUI NATIONAL PARK TO ASUNCION. We will spend a day in this very interesting National Park. Overnight in Asuncion.

Day 13 – HUMID CHACO. We will cross the Paraguay River and begin our drive west towards the region of Loma Plata, known for its history as a settlement of Russian Mennonites fleeing the Soviet Union in the 1930s. This is also the gateway to the Gran Chaco. We will bird our way through the humid Chaco on our way to the west. Overnight in Loma Plata.

Day 14 – LAGUNA CAPITAN AND CHACO LODGE PRIVATE RESERVE. Our birding of the Dry Chaco begins today. We will visit some saline lakes as well as Chaco woodlands and will make sure to try some mammal-watching at night. Overnight in Loma Plata.

Day 15 – FORTIN TOLEDO, PARQUE NACIONAL TENIENTE ENCISO. We will have a full day to bird and visit a breeding facility for the Chaco Peccary today. Overnight in Proyecto Tagua – Fortin Toledo.

Day 16 – TENIENTE ENCISO NATIONAL PARK. A final full day of birding in the Dry Chaco. Overnight in Teniente Enciso National Park. Early in the morning, if we have not found most of our Chaco specialties by now, Teniente Enciso National Park will hopefully make up the difference as this is a key place for the rarer Chaco birds. Overnight in Teniente Enciso National Park.

Day 17 – TENIENTE ENCISO NATIONAL PARK, RETURN TO NEULAND. This gives us a chance to move at a more leisurely pace and hopefully find the last of the Chaco specialties. Overnight in Neuland.

Day 18 – NEULAND. Early in the morning we will go to the Selva Serena Reserve to have another chance to see the specialties of the chaco . Overnight in Neuland.

Day 19 – RETURN TO ASUNCIÓN. We will have a day to make our way back towards the southeast and we will make sure to stop and enjoy some birding and scenery as we head to Asunción for our final dinner together. Overnight in Asunción.

Day 20 – END OF YOUR TOUR EXPERIENCE. Final departure.

During this tour we will visit 4 sites that have very important projects of Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development:
- The Mbaracayu Forest Reserve: This Reserve managed by the Moises Bertoni Foundation, conserves 64,000 hectares of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most biodiverse forests in the world. In the place there is also an Agricultural and Ecotourism School for women that is doing a really exceptional job for the empowerment of rural women and environmental education in the buffer areas of the reserve
- Procosara: Visiting Estancia Nueva Gambach we collaborate with this NGO that is doing an impressive job to conserve the San Rafael National Park and its incredible Biodiversity.
- Guyra Reta Natural Reserve: Here the Guyra Paraguay Association conserves more than 15,000 hectares of a very important natural grassland and an important remnant of the Inner Atlantic Forest of an inesurable biological value, with our visit we help the conservation of this very valuable site.
-We also visited The Taguá Project. This project began in November 1985 through an agreement between The Zoological Society of San Diego (USA), the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Py) and the Peace Corps of the United States of America; with the intention of starting a research project and captive breeding of the Taguá (Catagonus wagneri) due to the alarming decline of the then very little known and newly discovered species. Recently, the Taguá Project ceased to be a project to become the Chaco Center for Conservation and Research (CCCI), a non-profit association established in 2010 with the aim of continuing and expanding captive breeding, conservation, health and sustainable development of Paraguay with emphasis on the Chaco region.

We have turned our social responsibility towards environmental education and we offer free environmental talks about the species of animals that inhabit Paraguay in order to generate environmental awareness and to communicate and raise awareness about the environmental problems of our country in schools, colleges, universities, companies, state offices, NGOs and civil associations. We organize our logistics decreasing our plastic consumption and our CO2 footprint as much as possible.

We work and cooperated with different organizations, governmental, NGOs, private owners, companies as well as committed people in sustainable development and conservation. We visit and work with people and places that have our same philosophy of conservation of nature.

We are convinced that Science and all the data that it generates must be of public access and on each trip we find very interesting records. For this reason we share all the information that we generate on our trips on the website www.pybio.org and collaborate with several scientific web pages and share our information with NGOs, the public sector and people and institutions in general to which our photographs and audio recordings can be used. We also support citizen science projects such as the Ebird platform: https://ebird.org/home. We promote with our customers, friends and our entire society the use of eBird so that we can all contribute to the concept of "Citizen Science". For this we upload our lists to this important database and if you take a tour with us we can share it with pleasure to your account of Ebird or the Email that you indicate to us.

*Our years of field experience, having shared field trips with hundreds of professionals and clients who have already traveled around the world, in addition to having read all the existing scientific rigor materials about the use of playback to date, the photography of nature and recording fauna in general etc, has helped us to form our own ethics, which we would like to share with you: We offer an authentic experience and as naturally as possible to observe wildlife in their habitat, we minimize the use of playback, powerful artificial lights, flash and other gadgets to attract and photograph the fauna in general and if necessary we limit the time of use to what is strictly required so that both the experience of the observer and the animal observed, are pleasant and beneficial for both. Therefore, we do not touch, grab or manipulate animals in our tours because of the enormous stress that this generates in them (have you ever thought about what you would feel if a "giant animal" took you in their hands?), we do not dazzle them or use flash because it can be dangerous for the animal and we maintain prudent distance from nests and mating sites, etc.

* With our study travel project we have already taken more 8,000 young people to travel throughout Paraguay where the pedagogical transversal axis of them are Ecology and Environmental Education, this has allowed us to bring first level education to a huge amount of young people.

* We have given free environmental talks about birds, mammals, reptiles and plants of Paraguay in more than 20 schools in Paraguay.

* We help the sustainable tourism development of some of the main Ecotourism sites in Paraguay with training, technical advice and leading our tourists to generate genuine economic income.

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Paraguay | Paraguay Birding & Nature Tours | Birds and Fauna of Paraguay, Wildlife in the Heart of South America.

Paraguay | Paraguay Birding & Nature Tours | Birds and Fauna of Paraguay, Wildlife in the Heart of South America.

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