Birdwatching in the Paraguayan Chaco

The Chaco is not just a place, it is a feeling of vastness and quiet wonder. The second largest ecosystem in South America after the Amazon, it stretches across dry forests, shimmering lagoons and endless skies, home to more than 500 bird species. Around 30 exist nowhere else on earth, 18 of them found only in Paraguay.

For serious birders, the famous "Big Six" of the Dry Chaco are the headline act: Tinamou, Red-legged Seriema, Black-bodied Woodpecker, Chaco Owl and Spotted-winged Falcon. On the saltwater lagoons of the Central Chaco, migratory ducks and flamingos add colour to a landscape that already has plenty of its own.

Travel here is slow and immersive. Mornings begin with distant owl calls, days unfold at the pace of the thorny scrub, and the light shifts the landscape with every passing hour. Few destinations on this continent still offer this kind of raw, remote and genuinely undisturbed nature experience.

For travel agencies looking to offer something beyond the obvious, the Chaco delivers exactly that.