Westerly of the river Paraguay lies the territory Chaco. It covers 61% of the country, althoutgh there live only 3% of the Paraguayan population.
Chaco is a mighty and fascinating land with large, untouched areas. It is streched from Asunscion to the Bolivian borders and changes its height from 50 meters above sea level in Asuncion to 450 meters at the borders to Bolivia. Secondly after the Amazonas Chaco has one of the largest forrest on the South American continent. In 24 milion hectar land live only about 100,000 people, which means a density of population of only one person per square kilometer.

Chaco is divided in three zones:

The lower Chaco (Chaco bajo) is westerly of Asuncion. You can find there mainly palm-trees; most of lower Chaco is continuously flooded. The econmical main activity is cattle-breeding on huge Estancien.

The middle Chaco (Chaco Medio) has its location near Filadelfia, which is about 470 km away from Asuncion. In this hilly country grow a mixture of hard wood and cactus. Other characteristic plants for this area are the so called bottle trees (Palo Borracho) and the Quebraco, from which you gain tannic acid.

The high Chaco (Chaco Alto) is in the north-west of that region. It consists of dense and low growing woods, an impenetrable barrier of pricks and fire resistant thorns. Here still live pumas, tapirs and boars. Further north disapears more and more vegetation. However, the geographical and climatical conditions of Chaco promotes the variety of fauna and flora and has created a special ecology.

Chaco, with its more than 600 classified birds, has become a favourite region for eco-tourism as well as for ornithologists. Until the 30s of the last century there had lived only some Indian trips in this area, e. g. Pampidos, Nivacle, Lengua, Toba and Sanapana. They lived on fishing and hunting . Then some Mennoniten colonists had come down from Canada or Russia (baptists with German origin) and built villages and farms. There are still about 10,000 Mennonits in the Paraguayen Chaco, living still on cattle-breeding and farming. They have their own banks, schools and hospitals and speak only little Spanish, but a German dialect (with Flemish and Dutch influences).

Travellers can also find accomondations in these colonians and Estanciens. There are also some accomondations available in modern hotels.

Walks on forrest paths (Picadas Chaquenas), navigation on the Rio Paraguay to Pantanal are only e few possibilities to discover the wild nature of Chaco