Getaway to Campana: walks along the river, the first car in the country and flavors “from the garden to the table”

The Argentine car guide, a coastal walk on the banks of the Paraná de las Palmas river and the Ciervo de los Pantanos National Park, created on the base of the Otamendi Natural Reserve All this and much more is concentrated in Campana, a port and commercial city just 75 km from Buenos Aires.

In the northeast of the province of Buenos Aires , the place usually attracts corporate tourism, but it has also grown as destination for weekend getaways thanks to its hotels with large wooded gardens and swimming pools, gastronomic proposals and the waterfront facing the Campanense Delta. Located at the meeting point of the Pampas and Paraná Delta and Islands ecoregions, the Ciervo de los Pantanos National Park preserves rolling pampa grasslands on its highest terrain, which ends abruptly in a ravine natural. Downward, there is a flooded plain made up of floodable grasslands, channels, lagoons and marshes. And finally, the Paraná de las Palmas river borders the low fields, depositing sediments.

El río y la costanera de Campana. Foto Turismo de Campana

The river and the waterfront of Campana. Tourism Photo of Campana

The emblem of the place

With huge grasshoppers, fox soda pops and grasslands dominating the landscape, the National Park was created in 2018 and occupies an area of 5,200 hectares. There the weasels overas and wild cats find refuge during the day, while the guinea pigs and ferrets make tunnels between the pastures, and in the area of the lagoons ducks, coots, hawks and federals live. Forests of felling, accompanied by elders, ombúes and blackheads, boy toured by thrushes, pepiteros and the blue tacuarita. In the waters there are species such as tarariras, catfish and mojarras, and in the floodplains are found most of the threatened species that the area protects, from the straight-billed pajonalera and the dwarf espartillero among the birds, to the deer of the swamps, between mammals and the emblem of the place.“With long, slender legs for walking on swampy soils, the swamp deer is the largest South American deer. It is solitary, but it can also be seen in pairs or small groups,” they explain. from the National Parks Administration.And they highlight: “The deer prefers flooded estuaries and grasslands to live and feeds on shoots and leaves of trees and shrubs.” The entrance to the Park is free, and it is open to the public every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. There is an Interpretation Center, a picnic area and various trails.

The origin

The city of Campana was founded in 1885 by the brothers Luis and Eduardo Costa, collaborators of the Miter government. Previously, those lands belonged to Álvarez Campana, so the name is due to the fact that this place was called Rincón de Campana.“In 1876 the Argentine Central Railway arrived, which contributed to the economic boom. The city’s primary element is the Paraná de las Palmas River and it is dedicated to agriculture and livestock”, explains the Undersecretary of Tourism, Islands and Sustainable Development of Bell.And it stands out: “So, an English-owned refrigerator opens here and, through the port, frozen meat begins to be exported to other countries. Employees and bosses of British origin live in its surroundings, giving origin to the Neighborhood English, with its specific architectural style in the buildings that have survived to this day, declaring them a historical monument”. Construction begins on the Municipal Palace, the Normal School and several warehouses that supply the workers of the railway, the meat processing plant and the port.

The boats to go to the islands of the Campana Delta. Tourism Photo of Campana

Over the decades, a paper mill was installed, the child ports enabled to transport crude oil, and the refinery (West Indian Oil Company, ESSO and, now, Axion Energy) and the Tenaris Siderca plant, among others, were added.In order to learn about the history of the Railroad in this Buenos Aires district and thanks to the management and support of private collectors and ex-railroad members, the Railway Museum has been operating since 1994 in the Cargo Office on the Paseo Costanero, which belonged to the Argentine Central Railway. The car guide

The story goes back to 1884, when the Spanish immigrant Manuel Iglesias (1870-1955) arrived in Argentina and acquired his first knowledge of mechanics in the railway workshops.