The Ibicuy Islands ( es, Islas del Ibicuy, links=no) are a maze of low-level islands in the east of the

Paraná Delta The Paraná Delta ( es, Delta del Paraná) is the delta of the Paraná River in Argentina and it consists of several islands known as the Islas del Paraná. The Paraná flows north–south and becomes an alluvial basin (a flood plain) between t ...

, within

Entre Ríos Province Entre Ríos (, "Between Rivers") is a central province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires (south), Corrientes (north) and Santa Fe (west), and Uruguay in the east. Its capital is Paraná ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. They are located between the Paraná and

Uruguay River The Uruguay River ( es, Río Uruguay, ; pt, Rio Uruguai, ) is a major river in South America. It flows from north to south and forms parts of the boundaries of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of La M ...

s. The islands are part of the

Islas del Ibicuy Department The Islas del Ibicuy Department (in Spanish, ''Departamento Islas del Ibicuy'') is an administrative subdivision (''departamento'') of the province of Entre Ríos, Argentina. It is the ninth largest in the province with 4,500 km2 and the leas ...

and have scattered but important settlements, like their capital

Villa Paranacito Villa Paranacito is a town in the southeast corner of the province of Entre Ríos, Argentina, head town of the Islas del Ibicuy Departament. It is located in the third section of the delta at the heart of the low-lying Ibicuy Islands in the Par ...

. The principal access is by the Ibicuy River, a branch of the Paraná River. ''Ibicuy'' is a

Guaraní Guarani, Guaraní or Guarany may refer to Ethnography * Guaraní people, an indigenous people from South America's interior (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia) * Guaraní language, or Paraguayan Guarani, an official language of Paraguay * ...

word, meaning 'sandy area'. The

were the first inhabitants of the islands. They built embankments of sand and earth as look-outs and flood defences known as ''cerritos'', which can still be seen rising above the dense vegetation which characterises the

river delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more ra ...

. It is thought that the Guaraní arrived in Ibicuy in search of the ''tierra sin mal'', the earthly

paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in parad ...

inhabited by the spirit Ñandey, located in the east close to the sea. The islands were settled in the late 19th century and early 20th century by European planters, originally Italians from Montevideo searching for wood for charcoal production. The majority of settlers were from northern and central Europe and were employed in agriculture and forestry, still the predominant industries. In an effort to demarcate, protect and irrigate their lands, settlers dug new channels and filled others in, changing the topography of the islands. The remoteness of the islands - originally accessible only by boat - made them a hideout for outlaws and criminals from

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

and Montevideo. The marxist Liborio Justo lived there in the 1940s, the harsh environment and the fugitives who inhabited it, inspired his book of short stories, entitled ''Rio Abajo'' ("Down the River"), which was later made into a movie with the same title. Nowadays tourism is one of the main activities of the islands, where typical Delta wildlife such as the

Neotropic cormorant The neotropic cormorant or olivaceous cormorant (''Nannopterum brasilianum'') is a medium-sized cormorant found throughout the American tropics and subtropics, from the middle Rio Grande and the Gulf and Californian coasts of the United States so ...

, capybara and

marsh deer The marsh deer (''Blastocerus dichotomus'') is the largest deer species from South America reaching a length of and a shoulder height of . It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. Formerly found in much of tropical ...

can be seen.

External links

*'' Clarín'', 15 January 2006
Ibicuy, Las islas de la fantasía
Landforms of Entre Ríos Province River islands of Argentina Ibicuy {{island-stub