Iberá National Park

Iberá National Park, formally established by Argentine Congress in December 2018, covers nearly 200,000 hectares of wetland, marsh, savannah, and gallery forest in Corrientes Province. It sits within the much larger Iberá Provincial Reserve, creating a protected complex that represents South America's most ambitious rewilding experiment.

The park's centrepiece achievement is the jaguar reintroduction programme. After the species was extirpated from the region in the 20th century through hunting and habitat loss, the first jaguars were released in 2021. The programme has been so successful that by 2024, more than 35 individuals were living wild in the park, including cubs born to reintroduced mothers — the first jaguars bred in Corrientes for over 70 years. Seeing a jaguar in the wild is not a guaranteed experience, but it is now a realistic one.

Beyond the jaguars, the park harbours extraordinary densities of more easily observable wildlife. Capybara — the world's largest rodent — are so numerous they are almost inconvenient, crossing paths and lounging in water like domesticated animals. Yacare caimans bask on every bank. Giant anteaters and marsh deer are regularly seen from park vehicles. The bird list runs to over 360 species.

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A story
The creation of Iberá National Park in 2018 was the culmination of nearly 20 years of patient land acquisition and rewilding work by the Conservation Land Trust, founded by the American conservationists Doug and Kristine Tompkins. They began buying former cattle ranches in 1999 and eventually donated the assembled properties — totalling 195,000 hectares — to the Argentine state. It was one of the largest private conservation donations in history.