Iguacu Falls, Brazil

Our next and final stop in Brazil was Iguacu Falls (Iguacu in Portuguese, Iguazu in Spanish). Iguacu Falls, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, marks the boundary between Brazil and Argentina with the falls predominantly falling in Argentina. The falls and surrounding area exceeded expectations and it was definitely worth the effort and cost (flights were pretty hefty) to get there. We have never seen such a spectacularly dramatic sight! The falls themselves are some 2.7km wide made up of over 275 different drops, the highest being the ‘Devils Throat’ at 80m making them the largest waterfall system in the world. They dwarf Niagara Falls in every aspect apart from the volume of water that passes through. We arrived early to beat the crowds that would descend on the site to make their way along the 1.2km ‘Trilha das Cataratas’ (waterfall trail) which afforded spectacular views of the waterfall. We cheated a little and began the walk at the end, the crescendo which is the Devils Throat, before it became too crowded. Only a handful of other people did the same so we had it to ourselves for a while. The viewing point is a truly immersive experience affording a view of the ferocity of the waterfall whilst getting soaked to the skin from the spray! Fortunately it was a beautifully sunny day and we were able to dry off as we wandered along the rest of the trail.

Before leaving we decided to take a speedboat ride up the Iguacu River to get a closer look at the falls from river level, this turned out to be an even more immersive experience. After a bumpy trip negotiating the rapids the boat draws super close to a part of the waterfall to the point that you feel you’ve taken a dunking right below it, in reality you get dunked into the spray rebounding from the falls several times! Suffice to say we were well and truly soaked at the end of the trip, poor Bert had fallen asleep in the boat (a party trick of his is to be able to fall asleep in any situation) and was rudely awoken by the dunking!

The falls are surrounded by a National Park with significant flora and fauna to be found in the jungle including tapirs, giant anteaters, howler monkeys, ocelots, jaguars and cayman (we didn’t spot any). The following day we decided to head to a bird sanctuary to see some of the native wildlife that can be found in the jungle. When we left the hotel it was bright and sunny with barely a cloud in the sky, however in the 10 minutes that it took to travel to the sanctuary a storm came through, the sky turned black, the wind picked up and monsoon type rain began to fall. On arrival at the sanctuary they were closing up as it was unsafe, not knowing how long we’d have to wait we headed back to our hotel witnessing the devastation along the way. The roads had become flooded, signs had been uprooted and there was debris everywhere from the trees. Our hotel had an indoor kids club so we spent the remainder of the day between there and the swimming pool (once the storm blew over).Read more