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The Swiss-Argentine owners attend to you in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese with the typical cordiality of the country. Our name and family run business ensures you personal attention.
More: 1976 is the year when we both, Regi Wetli and Mauricio Lacona, were born. Regi in a small village nearby Zürich , Switzerland , and Mauricio in a small village in the heart of Misiones , Argentina . While Regi lived a rather quiet life around Zürich, Mauricio moved to several places, such as Iguazú and Buenos Aires . In 1994, spending one year in Australia, Regi breathes the air of living abroad for the first time and gets infected by the traveller's virus that also brings her to South America and Argentina in 1997. One year later, Mauricio fulfilled his dream of getting to know Switzerland and headed off via Asia to Europe . Not knowing much German and even less Swiss German, he landed in the Alpine region in which “Ret roman” is spoken, where he managed to make himself understood in Italian. That's where they met, in a mountain valley of 1.500 inhabitants in the middle of piles of snow more than 2 meters high.
That was the beginning of a long journey bringing them to many fascinating places, first as tourists, later on as tour guides and nowadays as lodge and travel agency owners promoting the Ibera marshes and North East Argentina .
In 2003, they fell in love with the virgin wildlife and rich culture of the Ibera Marshes in the Province of Corrientes . They decided to build Irupé Lodge at the lakeside in the middle of the natural reserve and opened the doors of their guest house with 4 rooms in 2004. Since then, with the helping hand of the locals, the lodge has been steadily growing and at present it has 9 rooms, panoramic restaurant, swimming pool, a wooden bridge which connects the lodge with the lake and 15,000 square meters of natural park at the lake shore.
They have been extremely lucky to count with a loyal and well trained local staff. Thanks to the nice people of Colonia Carlos Pellegrini and Mercedes, and thanks to the pride they take in their natural heritage, Esteros del Ibera , you as a guest will experience the mystique of this unique spot and its overwhelmingly rich culture.
Besides offering excursions and socio-cultural programs to show the guests the Ibera , they have also fulfilled their dream of running an own travel agency . Irupé Wildlife Tours is the incoming travel specialist of North East Argentina based in Posadas , Misiones .
In 2007, Regi and Mauricio's first daughter Nayeli Ayelén was born and in 2008, Braulio Carmelo, their son.
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The concept at Irupé Lodge is to be respectful to nature as we are all part of it. We cannot make irreversible what mankind has destroyed but we must make an effort to protect the many beauties that are still to be found on planet Earth.
More: At Irupé Lodge, ecology and environment are the everyday guidelines and the owner's and guides' personal challenges. Our specialized local wildlife guides bring you face to face with savage animals without disturbing them, moving the safari boats with long bamboo sticks and only using silent and non polluting motors to cross the lake. To establish a high standard and a unique experience, we keep the excursion groups very small; usually between 2 and 6 persons, 8 persons at the max.
At the lodge we provide biodegradable amenities and practise rubbish separation. Half of our park along the lake shore is a natural wetland fed by rain water. It offers a paradise to birds and animals that can be watched while enjoying the pool, hammocks, benches or simply an open air breakfast. This little paradise grants an unforgettable experience for all our guest's senses.
We base our services respecting local culture while incorporating traditional local cuisine at an international level of preparation and presentation. Fruits and vegetables come from neighbour's gardens where production is absolutely biological. Our dishes are homemade and prepared with fresh and balanced ingredients.
In 2005, Irupé Lodge also started a socio-cultural project of integration of the farmer families into tourism which in the meantime has become one of our most popular excursions (see days with gauchos). We want to conserve the cultural roots of this region and give our guest the opportunity to get to know and interact with locals and their customs – as a spontaneous and respecting act. At this point, Irupé Lodge has already become an important transmitter between cultures and this is our pride and satisfaction. We also support the local schools of Colonia Carlos Pellegrini and Paraje Uguay.
Our guests from Argentina and from all around the world – as visitors of the Ibera marshes and Irupé Lodge – are the main support of our projects and environmental effort . And you can be part of this dream of realisation of sustainable tourism!
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