Travel Guide Parque Nacional Teniente Agripino Enciso

This national park, created in 1980, is one of the most accessible of the northern Chaco seco. It is located northwest of Mariscal Estigarribia, at Km 700, about twenty kilometers from the intersection of Patria, where you can take a lunch or a gas break (and from where the road to Bolivia starts). Covering an area of 40,000 hectares and rectangular in shape, it is made up of xerophytic vegetation adapted to drought. Its impenetrable thorn forests are the habitat of the tapir, the puma, the jaguar and the taguá, the animal symbol of the park. The taguá is a species of peccary (boar-like pachyderm), "discovered" in the Chaco in the mid-1970s. The species was considered by scientists to be long extinct and had only been studied in fossil form in the 1930s. Only the natives of the Chaco knew of its presence and called it taguá, a name that has become a common name for this animal, which is in the process of (re)extinction... The park has some historic sites from the Chaco War (trenches, etc.). The Sendero Trenchera is a 2 km interpretive trail that can be done alone (marked), but to go further into the park, it is best to make arrangements with the park rangers (tip). The park has a reception centre, which is quite comfortable for the area, made of bricks, with air conditioning, bathrooms and kitchen. Accommodation is free of charge, but visitors must bring sheets or duvet, and of course water and cooking facilities. To book, contact MADES in Asunción a few days in advance (www.mades.gov.py).