We caught the local bus, called El Practico, out to the Guiraoga Centre. The words Guira oga mean bird house in the Guarani (local native) language. The centre rescues injured, abandoned and confiscated birds and animals, treats and rehabilitates them, and if possible, releases them back into the wild. The ones that can´t be released, or were former pets, live there, and are part of the education program. After paying our admission, we waited with a few others for the tour to start; hearing an engine, we all turned expectantly and saw an old green tractor round the corner, pulling a flat bed wagon with bench seats on top. Up we climbed, and were towed along a winding dirt track deep into the jungle, to the start of the trail.
Our guide was very good, and gave every explanation in both Spanish and English. We saw tons of birds, including parrots, macaws and toucans, as well as various kinds of eagles, plus falcons and hawks. They also had capybaras, small deer, coatimundi, turtles and monkeys. All of them had interesting stories of how they came to be there. B´s favourite was the orange billed toucan, who obligingly sat on a branch about two feet from the side of the enclosure; my favourite was the young brown monkey, who entertained us by scampering up trees and hanging by his tail.
Photo by leaneske (Flickr Creative Commons)
