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| 'The Devils Throat' from the Brazilian side |
Although tired after our
overnight bus to the town of Puerto Iguazu which lies 20km north of the merger of the Brazilian,
Argentinian and Paraguayan borders we arrived excited to see one of the great
natural wonders of the world. The Iguazu Falls are the largest system of
waterfalls in the world, even the name originates from two local tribal names
meaning ‘big’ and ‘water’ although this turned out to be an understatement of
epic proportions. The falls are formed
where the Iguazu River cascades over the 2.7 kilometre lip of the Parana Plateau
which divides the river into between 150 - 300 waterfalls depending on the
season. Although the river starts in
Brazil the majority of the falls are in Argentina but the national park which
protects the surrounding forest lies across both countries. It was declared as one of the 7 modern
natural wonders of the world in 2011 and a designated UNESCO site and we
spent a day on each side of the border taking in the breath taking views.
Starting on the Argentinian side
we were slightly apprehensive before we set off fearing that we were about to
enter a Chinese style theme park rather than a protected nature reserve. Although hardly a place to ‘be at one’ with
nature the crowds were quickly forgotten when we set off from the small train
that takes you from the entrance to the section of the falls known as ‘The
Devils Throat’. Set in a u-bend where
the water plunges 350 feet the platform at the top of the drop gave us a chance to experience the full force of
nature where the mist can rise nearly 500 feet from the unbridled power of the
water. Standing at the top of the chasm
and peering into the abyss we were soaked to the skin and in total awe of the
sight as the noise of the falls was totally overwhelming.
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| View along the upper trail from Argentina |
The rest of the Argentinian
section of the park consisted of a few trails, many of which were on metal
platforms in the water that ran along the top and bottom of the widest section
of the falls. Every view seemed to
improve on the last meaning slow progress was made as I got a bit carried away
with our camera. Fortunately for me it
was seemingly impossible to take a bad photograph as rainbows kept appearing in
the spray and birds of prey circled through the rivers valley below. It was only when we crossed the river to the Brazilian
side the following day however that we could fully appreciate the incredible
beauty of the area. We were treated to
panoramic views of the entire series of waterfalls giving us a far better
perspective on the scale and ferocity of the falls.
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| Dwarfed by one of the smaller waterfalls |
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| A coati |
As well as Iguazu Fall the
national park surrounding the area protects more than 200 species of plants and
numerous endangered species including the jaguar and ocelot although
unsurprisingly we didn’t manage to catch a glimpse of one with the throngs of
other tourists. We did however see
numerous coati who terrorised anybody (including Hannah) who happened to be eating
near them as well as a few cappuccino monkeys and hundreds of bright butterflies.
We had to go to an animal shelter just outside of Puerto Iguazu to see some of
the forests more elusive inhabitants that had been rescued from trafficking and
accidents. There was an amazing menagerie
full of toucans, macaws and parrots as well as various species of monkeys and an
ocelot waiting to be released. We left
the area overwhelmed by what we had seen as we headed north to the source of
the Iguazu River near the city of Curitiba deeper inside Brazil.
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