Lots of amazing animals being saved.
Like many other countries, Argentina has a problem with
animals injured not only by vehicles on the increasingly busy roads, but also
from predators (some human) who kill their parents, and other unfortunate
situations. And the problems are increasing due to loss of habitat for the
animals as us humans take over their land.
But occasionally we are fortunate enough to find wonderful places like
QuiraOga here in Iguazu – A
private business that is focussed on rescuing
injured animals, helping them recover, and then (hopefully) returning them to
the wild. We had found an amazing
sanctuary in Honduras that was very similar, and was also extremely active in
breeding and then setting free native macaws, so they could fly amongst the Inca
ruins just as they did hundreds of years ago. Here the macaws are not so lucky – Destruction
of their native habitat means that the ones here can never be returned to the
wild in Argentina – There are no trees suitable for them remaining in the wild
! But for other injured animals, the
outlook is more rosy.
QuiraOga is just outside Iguazu, and when Ash and I set
off there at 9 am this morning we thought we were just going to a wildlife
park. But when we got there and started
talking to people at the gate, we realised that is was so much more than that –
A private concern, totally dependent upon entrance fees, gift shop sales, and
donations for their survival, and working closely with police and other road
authorities to try to receive early reports of injured animals so that they had
a reasonable chance of survival. So the
whole Refuge is much more focussed on eventual rehabilitation of the animals to
the wild than a regular animal park would be, and interaction with humans is
limited, for obvious reasons.
You have to go with a guide, so Ash and I waited for half
an hour and I had the first decent coffee I have tasted since Columbia ! Then
we climb into the back of a fairly rudimentary trailer, towed by a tractor, and
head 15 minutes into the jungle. After a
very informative video in the visitor’s centre, we set off on a 1 hour walk
around the enclosures. As a side, there
are many wonderful animal paintings around the park, and they are done by a
well known local wildlife artist and I thought they were excellent. He donates
them to the Refuge and their sales form a large part of their income.
Walking through the rainforest one of the first things we
see are enormous spiders, with their webs strung above our heads. Our guide tells us that the webs are so
strong that the thread is actually harvested and used in the hospital area for
internal sutures on some of the animals !
Then the first enclosure is for one of my favourite birds – Toucans ! And they have so many different varieties in
there – Regular orange billed ones, small green ones, white billed ones, black
billed ones, and even a zebra striped billed one ! But all of them have one thing in common –
the most magnificent, brightly coloured plumage. I so enjoy toucans.
We saw ugly vultures, and red throated yacutingas; cappucine
and howler monkeys; wild Argentinian cats and
a jaguar cub; Armadillos and caimans; and a black and white anteater
that looked like he had a short sleeved sweater on, and had an injured foot so
needed to be given medicine daily. They
have some hawks / falcons there, some of which are trained in falconry in order
to keep their hunting skills at a peak, and there are owls and wild pigs and
capybaras.
All too soon our walk came to an end, and we boarded our
tractor trailer for the ride back to the entrance. Our guide was excellent, and we left their
feeling that at least the animals in this region have a fighting chance. Whether awareness of all the problems has
come too late for some (like the macaws) is yet to be decided, but at least
awareness is growing. Very impressed.
As we drove back into town, I took Ash with me to visit
the corner of town where 3 countries meet – Argentina, Paraguay, and
Brasil. The Iguazu and Parana rivers
actually separate the 3, but there is a column in each country, painted in that
countries colours, with all three being visible from any one. InterestIng, and like a similar situation in
Switzerland (Basle ? Berne ? I can’t remember)
where 3 countries meet in town, must be one of very few places in the world
where this occurs.
That done, a quick trip to the panaderia for some bread
rolls for lunch, and it was back to the camp site. And only just in time – Big black clouds
rolled across the river from Paraguay towards our camp site, and we had a short
blast of heavy wind and rain ! It then
rained off and on all afternoon, while I slowly sorted out a few things before
I set off tomorrow morning to Brasil. I
will cross just up the road at the other end of Iguasu town, and will then try
to find a place where I can use my visa card to obtain some Brasilian
money. If I can’t, then I have a problem
– But I will deal with that tomorrow.
I then have a 1200 km drive across Brasil to the coast,
half way between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, to stay with some friends from
our journey in Ubatuba. It is on the
coast and I am looking forward to it as everyone says it is beautiful. And it will be great to see Mauro, Giovanna,
and Pedro and Leticia again – We last saw them up near Cartagena in Columbia.
But first I need to try and find someone who will give me
some money !! A manyana !
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