Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park

Kaa-Iya covers around thirty-four thousand square kilometres of dry Chaco thorn forest in southeastern Bolivia, the largest protected area in the country and one of the largest blocks of intact Chaco anywhere, and it was created in 1995 at the initiative of the Izoceño-Guaraní, whose organisation co-manages it, making it among the first parks in South America established by indigenous initiative. The name means the lords of the wild in Guaraní. Camera-trap work has recorded jaguars at high density along with pumas, giant armadillos, peccaries including the Chacoan peccary described from fossils before living animals were found, and guanaco. There is essentially no visitor infrastructure: the road to Puerto Suárez crosses the northern edge, and anything more requires permits and expedition arrangements.

What you actually see

• Dry Chaco thorn forest - the habitat the park exists to protect.
• Jaguar country - one of the densest recorded populations, rarely seen.
• Chacoan peccary - the species known from fossils before living ones were found.
• Salt flats and lagoons - the seasonal water features of the interior.

When to go

May to September, the dry season, when tracks are passable; summer heat in the Chaco exceeds forty degrees and the wet months close the roads. Water is scarce in the dry season, which concentrates wildlife but complicates travel.

Honest expectations

There is no tourist infrastructure at all: no lodges, no marked trails, no water. Visits require permits, an operator, a capable vehicle and self-sufficiency. Jaguars are effectively never seen. Heat, thorns and lack of water are the practical realities.

Nearby

Charagua lies west; the road to Puerto Suárez crosses the north.