Eighty kilometres upriver from the falls, the Misiones forest is still the forest: a private reserve of 560 hectares on the upper Iguazú, with Yacutinga Lodge, built from salvaged stone and fallen timber into the slope of the land. This short stay looks at the jungle from two sides, as an ecosystem to be read with a guide, and as the place where Guaraní communities and the pioneers of the twentieth century made their lives.
Day 1 · Into the far northeast
Highlight · The last half hour by 4x4 down to the shore of the Iguazú river.
Drive · 1 h 30, then 30 min by 4x4
An hour and a half by road from Puerto Iguazú through the Urugua-í provincial park, then half an hour by 4x4 down to the shore of the Iguazú river and the lodge.
Night · Comandante Andresito
Day 2 · The forest by water and by night
Highlight · A night walk in silence, listening to the forest wake up under the Milky Way.
Early, almost three hours by kayak along the San Francisco stream, a corridor of gallery forest where animals come to the muddy banks and their tracks are everywhere. In the afternoon, an interpretive walk among old-growth trees, medicinal plants, orchids, bromeliads, butterflies and birds. After dinner, a night walk in silence, to listen to the forest wake up under the Milky Way.
Night · Comandante Andresito
Day 3 · Guaraní and pioneers
Highlight · The Guaraní community of Kagui Pora and its life in the forest, its myths and legends.
A day with the people of the jungle. The Guaraní community of Kagui Pora shares its life in the forest, its traditions, myths and legends. Then Andresito, a colony founded in the late twentieth century by settlers who cleared the jungle by hand, and its yerba mate plantations and cooperative, where the leaf of the forest becomes the national ritual.
Night · Comandante Andresito
Day 4 · Back to Iguazú
Highlight · A morning with the lodge's orchid rescue programme before the road back.
A free morning, with the chance to take part in the lodge's orchid rescue programme, before the road back to Puerto Iguazú, arriving around midday.
