Rio Paraguay Trip

A serious adventure awaits...

I recently travelled with a guest from Bahia Negra down the Rio Paraguay for 12 days. It was an extraordinary trip that involved being immersed and isolated within one of the great wildernesses of South America.
At night, as the black palm trees stood silhouetted in front of the burning sky, the screams of  Pumas echoed  in our ears and Caiman drifted around the raft. In the yellow misty mornings we awoke to Jaburus (the worlds biggest stork) stranding over us, while Dorados jumped from the water and through the air.
During the day we glided in a world without humans, just endless waterways, endless fields of swimming plants - with unlimited amount of birds hustling on them - and fish. Perfect fish, of varieties I have never seen, for being caught and cooked.

I am now offering to guide this trip for those who want unique adventure with the chance to experience an unrivalled opportunity to see the wildlife of the Rio Paraguay. Myself, a Paraguayan wild life enthusiast for 15 years, was stunned by the variety.

Our trip involved building a raft in Bahia Negra at 3.5m x 3m. This took one and a half days (everyone said it would take ten days to build the raft, but they do not know a German like me). I bought old dry Karanday palmtrees to made the platform. These woods hardly float, so I fixed 8 empty plastic 20L drums below and finally we put more or less 200 empty 2 L Coca-bottles.
Soon we learned that the raft works very well and is safe, but that it had a problem with the wind which rarely agreed with the direction of the river, and so we were often pushed towards the coast.

So, next time I will be using the Indian boats that can be seen towing in the photographs. They are very handsome and available up to 5 m long. I will put in every boat three 20 L cans to make them unsinkable. It is best to sleep in the boat with a roof for shade, protection and  for the mosquito net. Be confident that the raft constructor knows to do this well. I also have camping equipment, if somebody wants to sleep with the pumas on the coast.

The river speed depends on the flow of the water and the wind, but I have experience of making easily 50 km a day. However, speed is not the priority of the trip. Each day we shall take time to explore, to fish and to pay visits to estanicas (large farms) that are often only contacted from the river.
In the photos is a boy who is 16 years old. He owns 4000 hectares, inherited from his father, but just 100 cattle. When the flood water comes all his land is covered, and also the Jaguar and Puma eat a lot of his calves. If we had had more time he could have shown us Big Swamp Deer (extremely close to extinction) on an island close to his farm.
When I came back to the raft a large animal was moving around on board. I believed it was a Caiman, eating my fish and ran to scare him away, but it was a beautiful green Iguana more than 1.5 metres long.

Obviously this trip is not the soft option. It is hard and unknowable. Huge storms can appear, and we will be exposed and isolated. But that is the point of adventure. It should be wild and a little bit dangerous.

Information and Prices:
Two boats, all equipment and food included.
Time of the Trip on the River: Minimum 10 to maximum 15 days.

Trip including Aeroplane to the start point: $5500 US
Trip including boat or bus to the start point: $4000 US
Each additional person: $1000 US

A minimum of one month's notice and a deposit of $2000 is required.

Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/roblepy/Flosstrip2009RaftTrip2009