ESTANCIA RICON DEL SOCORRO

"If I had a farm in Africa...." But it is Argentina, so beautiful and full of life. Wildlife every where: grasses, flowers, bees, cayman alligators, capybaras, marsh deer, howler monkeys and tons of wild parrots. We rode horses through the wetlands, took a boat through Laguna Ibera, and we hopped on bikes to check out the landscape at sunset.

Rincón del Socorro is another conservation project of Doug and Kris Tompkins. The Estancia is a 12,000-hectare (29,700 acres) former cattle ranch on the edge of the Iberá wetlands in Northeastern Argentina that has been made into a nature reserve. It and other large properties are connected to the 13,000 square kilometer Ibera Natural Reserve, the second largest wetland in the world.

I realized when visiting this and other of Doug and Kris' projects that conservation and preservation of biodiversity is so important, but what struck me to my core is Beauty.

Beauty in wildness
Beauty in free animals
Beauty in restoration
Beauty in the sounds of nature
Beauty in architecture of place
Beauty in clean air and clean water

As I travel this crazy earth, beauty grounds me.

Marci