Presenting the Chaco

After a couple of weeks of not updating I feel finally like writing again.

First of all we start with the great news of the day: On monday I am travelling for the first time to the Dry Chaco! 

Personally I have never been there but to go is one of the aims of my being in Paraguay.

In dry, scientific, numeral terms the Chaco can be described as following:

'A hot, dry plain of around 100 million ha, which extends in Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. It comprises a range of habitats from dry thorn forests and cactus stands to palm savannahs that are flooded in the wet season. The Gran Chaco has high levels of biodiversity, containing around 3,400 plant species, 500 birds, 150 mammals and 220 reptiles and amphibians.'  

These are the basics, and the internet will provide you with more data if you are interested enough to look for it. But there is more and I am hearing via via from people that have been there or work in that region.

There are indigenous tribes in the Chaco, different groups which live more or less in contact with the white man. Some of them, like a group of Ayoreos, decided to keep living in isolation, in the natural reserve ' Defensores del Chaco' but their situation is getting difficult due to the reducing area and resources of their land. 

Which brings us to the next issue: Deforestation. The Chaco has the second largest deforestation rate in the world (after the Amazon). Great areas are cleared principally to make space for cattle (Ganado) which will produce meat and milk to be consumed in Paraguay or exported. The meat produced in the chaco is said to be of very good quality.

Of course this is also endangering the entire ecosystem, along with the native people many unique species are seeing their habitat shrinking and are becoming endangered. 

So I guess these are good reasons to visit this area before much of its richness is gone.