Mbaracayú Reserve

By Kelley Coyner

Flying into Mbaracayú can feel like one is landing on a remote island. But, rather than surrounded by water, this nature reserve is enclosed by the trees of the Interior Atlantic Forest. Once spanning much of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, this forest formerly covered 300 million acres. Today only seven percent remains; the largest portion (3.2 million acres) of which is in Paraguay. About 150,000 acres are within the Mbaracayú Reserve, overseen by the Moisés Bertoni Foundation based in Paraguay’s capital city, Asunción.

From the air, visitors are able to marvel at the size of the forest—an area only slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut—and bear witness to the tremendous threats to it. When established in the 1980s, the reserve blended into the rest of the forest. More recently, with land grabs for legal and illegal crops triggering deforestation and illegal logging, Mbaracayú’s boundaries are now clear from the air. Jagged patches signal the presence of marijuana crops; roads in from Brazil provide easy access for illegal loggers, and the evenly spaced, well manicured fields of soy beans reveal the intense pressure to convert the forest into profitable farmland.

After touching down on a small dirt runaway, visitors are greeted by the beauty of both the forest and the grasslands. Known as cerrado, the grasslands spring from the deep red clay soil found in the area. The understory of the lowland forest is home to an incredible array of ferns that can reach the height of small trees.

The habitats of Mbaracayú are some of the most important in South America for the conservation of bird species threatened by extinction. According to The Nature Conservancy, it is one of only two sites in the world known to contain a population of the critically endangered White-Winged Nightjar Caprimulgus candicans. Other threatened species there include the Black-Fronted Piping-Guan, Pipile jacutinga, Vinaceous Amazon, Amazona vinacea and the Helmeted Woodpecker, Dryocopus galeatus. While these birds may be difficult to spot even within the reserve, your chances are better of seeing a Harpy Eagle or hearing a Bell Bird’s distinct cry. Some describe it as three dissonant notes that sound like a clanging anvil.

As darkness falls on Mbaracayú, much that was hidden during the daytime emerges. The elusive nocturnal jaguar makes its home here: the reserve establishes a vital corridor for this majestic cat, which needs large, pristine areas in which to hunt. Far away from the cities, the night sky is a dazzling array of stars and planets, and although you’re unlikely to actually spot a jaguar, you’re at least almost guaranteed a good view of the Southern Cross. You’ll also see the eternal cloudiness of the Milky Way and some shooting stars if you’re patient. As the jungle insects sing you softly to sleep, you’ll be thankful that you visited this emerald island amid a sea of greenery.