Ibera Wetlands and Iguazu Falls tour, Argentina

Planet

Our environmental impact in our offices is low, so we focus more on the value chain. Anyway, in the office, we do waste separation and always try to reduce and reuse whenever possible.

Selection of our suppliers:

In order to ensure sustainability and consistency with our work philosophy, we always look for sustainable tourism providers that meet any of the following requirements:
- Be distinguished by quality and/or sustainability programs/seals
- Be recognized locally for their good environmental and social practices.
- We prioritize local ventures and, if possible, attended by their owners.
- In the case of accommodation, we work with hotels certified for their environmental management whenever we can.
- We also encourage our allies to improve and continue implementing environmentally responsible practices, especially those related to water, energy, and waste.
- In the more traditional destinations, we seek to offer a different travel experience, with small group excursions, certified local guides, and alternative proposals that complement the most tourist sites.

Responsible practices with the environment
- Walking and public transport tours
- Visit natural areas where we work on environmental awareness and the importance of biodiversity.
- We contribute monthly with the Argentine Wildlife Foundation (a member of WFF)
- We deliver a recycled leather envelope to our customers to carry their documentation. The Vacavaliente company is a certified B company that buys the remains of leather from tanneries (preventing them from being waste) and transforms them into design products through reuse techniques.
- As part of our paperless policy, we stopped printing long-road books and change them for digital brochures for our clients.

At Mater, we always search for alternative activities to those usually chosen by large groups of tourists so that you can have more intimate and authentic experiences, without missing out on the most emblematic places in Argentina.

On this trip, you’ll get to explore the richness of the Argentine Northeast. You’ll discover the Iguazú Falls, a true symbol of our country and a natural wonder acknowledged by UNESCO, and you’ll also have the opportunity to visit the Iberá Marshlands.

In Iguazú we offer a respectful visit while raising awareness about the importance of preserving this natural area in such a tourist place. Visits will be done in small groups and you’ll be accompanied by a guide that specializes in flora and fauna.

You will also discover Iberá Marshlands, a natural paradise located in the North of Argentina. In this area wild

animals are protected and can be seen in their natural habitat. You will learn about the amazing work the Rewilding Foundation does in Rincón del Socorro, how they implement strategies of conservation and remediation that benefit the fauna and flora, the cultural values, and the inhabitants of the area.

People

Thanks to the visit of responsible tourists, we collaborate with the local development of the destination. For example, Colonia Carlos Pellegrini (portal of access to the marshlands) is a small town where tourism generates work and income. We find important that responsible tourism generates awareness in the new generations, who instead of migrating from the countryside to the city can stay in their town since they find in tourism a possibility of personal development.

Guides of Iberá, who were previously hunters or simply did not protect their surroundings and today, through tourism they became local guides that sensitize visitors to the importance of the natural heritage where they are immersed. Guides are, for the most part, young people who were trained in the town and today they work telling their story and that of the place where they were born.

Local guides give recommendations on the protection of the natural, cultural and intangible heritage of the culture. Some of the accommodations are in family houses (private rooms), which allows an even deeper exchange. This can be seen as an opportunity of really interesting cultural exchange, while we support the local development.

On this tour we visit lots of "off the beaten track". Some of the accommodations are in local houses (private rooms), which allows an even deeper exchange. This can be seen as an opportunity of really interesting cultural exchange, while we support the local development.

In our trips, we hire local certified guides who know their environments best. We include visits to local communities and estancias. These are off the road places, where the tourists do not frequently go and so our support is crucial to them. We support them not only by hiring their services, but also by creating cultural exchange, having lunch for example, or buying them provisions.

We also recommend our travelers to visit social projects, for example, some of our clients have visited a soup-kitchen located in a rural area that also offers training to the children: organic farming, local food preparation, harvest, farm, etc.

Some of the accommodation is in family houses (private rooms), which allows a more meaningful cultural exchange, while we support the local development.

We collaborate with the local development of that region through tourism revenues. In addition, we raise awareness about the importance of cultural and natural heritage as different sites are visited, including some protected by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites.

It is important to mention that in the rural community tourism programs, in addition to the genuine income generated for the families, there are other positive impacts such as the enhancement of their cultural and natural heritage, the revalue of their customs and identity and something extremely important: young people do not migrate from the countryside to the city, as they find in tourism an opportunity to stay in their places and work.