Qualla: Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park

Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park: Introduction

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In Guarani mythology, Kaa-Iya means "mountain owners" -- a name that speaks not of peaks but of abundance, of a place where the relationship between people and nature yields riches beyond measure. Spread across southeastern Bolivia near the Paraguayan border, this park covers more than 34,000 square kilometers, an area larger than Belgium. It is Bolivia's biggest national park, and within its boundaries lies the largest remaining tropical dry forest on Earth. Yet few people outside South America have heard of it. Kaa-Iya belongs to the Gran Chaco, a vast lowland region that stretches across four countries, and it protects what may be the last intact piece of an ecosystem that has been shrinking for decades.

Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park: A Landscape That Defies Monotony

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

From the air, the Chaco can look deceptively uniform -- an endless carpet of scrubby woodland stretching to the horizon under a bleached sky. On the ground, the impression dissolves. Altitude ranges from 100 to 839 meters above sea level, and rainfall varies dramatically from 1,4...

Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park: The Jaguar's Stronghold

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Camera trap studies by the Wildlife Conservation Society have estimated more than 1,000 jaguars living within the park, making Kaa-Iya one of the most important refuges on the planet for these big cats. But the jaguar is only the headliner. Pumas, ocelots, and maned wolves share ...

Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park: Peoples of the Dry Forest

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

More than twenty Guarani communities line the western edge of the park along the Bañados de Izozog, villages with names like Guarirenda, Huirapendi, and Isiporenda. Chiquitano communities occupy the northern reaches, and scattered through the remoter zones are groups of Ayoreode ...

Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park: Abundance Under Siege

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The threats to Kaa-Iya read like a catalog of pressures facing wild spaces across South America. Hydrocarbon exploration brings seismic prospecting to the Bañados and petroleum drilling near Ustarez. The Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline cuts through the region. Agricultural frontiers ...