We spent 3 fantastic days and probably the most awesome waterfalls in the world – Iguazu Falls. They are in the North-east of Argentina and span the Rio Iguazu which marks the border between Argentina and Brazil. There are national parks on both sides where the rainforest has been conserved. Since 1930 most of the rainforest in this part of South America has disappeared entirely. The park on the Argentine side is smaller than the Brazilian side but has larger areas that are accessible visitors. Also on the Brazil side there are more extra activities that you need to pay extra for on top of the £15 park entrance fee and less that is included. Therefore, we spent 2 days on the Argentine side and 1 on the Brazilian side. We were also staying in Puerto Iguazu in Argentina so the Argentine park was much easier to get to.
The first day we walked all the short trails of which there are 3. The trails are made up of metal and wooden walkways through the jungle and across the rivers. Even though it was incredibly busy there were enough viewing platforms to get a good look at the falls from many angles and take lots of pictures. We walked the lower circuit which gives plenty of awesome views from a distance of most parts of the falls. Then we did the upper circuit which goes across the top of part of the falls. This one gets you much closer so you can feel the power. The final trail is joined to the others by a narrow gauge railway and the walk goes out across an immensely wide part of the river to Devil's Throat. The most powerful and impressive of the areas. The walkway goes right to the edge of one side of the 'throat' so you can look down into it. The mist and spray from the waterfall rises much higher than the falls itself and you get quite wet standing on the edge.
On all trails the rainforest wildlife is obviously evident. We were surrounded by butterflies all the time. There were also lots of coaties that are as tame as grey squirrels in the UK and there are plenty of signs warning you not to feed them. They are sooooo cute though! We also saw lizards, jays and even toucans up in the trees. One of the most unusual creatures was a stick insect on the path railing – I've never seen one in the wild before!
On our second day in the Argentine park we did the Maducu trail which is a much longer path through the rainforest down to a small waterfall and a pool you can swim in. The walk was 3.5km each way and was on a dirt track so much more relaxing than the metal walkways of the other trails. Every so often along this trail we would see large spiders in their webs just above our heads. The spiders were beautifully coloured and the webs spanned several metres.
I swam in the pool and stood under the waterfall. It was too powerful to stand directly underneath and the rocks were the slipperiest I have ever seen so I made do with standing slightly behind.
On our third day we crossed the border to Brazil for a different point of view. We had to get stamped out of Argentina and into Brazil and vice versa on the return. This filled a whole page of my passport – I'm starting to worry that I will run out of pages before we return home! As I said above the Brazilian park is largest in area but has less that you can visit. They have a road linking all the areas and buses travelling up and down the length of it (10km) every few minutes. The walkways here are wood and concrete and we thought the views from this side were actually more impressive than from Argentina. You get to see the Devil's Throat from below it and it truly is incredible. The awesome power of the river flowing away from it is also very impressive. There are rainbows in the mist everywhere and you have to be really careful with your camera to not get it soaking wet. I bet a few cameras have been thoroughly ruined here.
Overall, it was an amazing 3 days and I wouldn't hesitate to visit again if I'm ever in the area.
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