Argentina

FROM THE STREETS OF BUENOS AIRES TO THE PEAKS OF PATAGONIA, THIS VAST COUNTRY OFFERS ALMOST EVERY TYPE OF EXPERIENCE, WHETHER YOU WANT TO HIKE IN A NATIONAL PARK, SAMPLE LOCAL WINE, GO WHALE-WATCHING OR STAY ON A RANCH

- SARAH MARSHALL & SHAFIK MEGHJI

NATURAL WONDERS Force of life

Visitors to Iguazú Falls often overlook the wild Misiones region surrounding it — but one lodge working with the area’s Indigenous Guarani people is hoping to change that. Words: Sarah Marshall

Thumping with a million mini heartbeats, the jungle never sleeps. Insects hum, monkeys squeal and birds trill to create a rapturous symphony. But in the humid equatorial rainforests, almost everyone needs a rest by midday.

Drifting silently along the terracotta waters of the Yacu-I River, I allow the current to carry me downstream. It’s one of hundreds of rivers, streams and creeks eventually making their way to the mighty Iguazú Falls, just over 60 miles away from where I’m kayaking. In 2022, almost three million people visited the falls — a UNESCO World Heritage site that straddles a border with Brazil at the northeastern tip of Argentina and is divided between both countries. Many tourists fly in as part of a broader South America circuit and stay here for only a few days, missing out on the beauty of the Misiones province that lies beyond it on the Argentinian side.