In what could arguably be the worlds most dramatic series of waterfalls, the majestic Iguazu Falls straddle the border between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay at the south eastern tip of the immense Amazonian jungle.The statistics are staggering with 275 falls plunging over a multi-level, semi-circular volcanic rock precipice 80m high and 3km wide, pushing out up to 450,000 cubic feet per second in the rainy season, which despite decent weather was exactly what initially greeted us when first arriving (ie. a serious tropical downpour for the first full day).
The falls can be seen from both the Argentinian and Brazilian sides, which we managed to visit despite a hairy crossing into Brazil without a VISA ;) Although Brazil offered the best overall panoramic views, revealing a raging water level so high it had not been seen in 2 yrs, Argentina offered the more "up close and personal" jungle experience, complete with trails offering almost guaranteed sightings of toucans, parrots, bandicoot-looking ´coatis´ and hundreds of strikingly coloured butterflies.
The thunderous rush of water tumbling from the Rio Iguazu could be heard well before seeing the falls themselves, with a fine spray of rain falling upon us in waves with the breeze. Once closer this huge volume of rising mist turned almost horizontal, making "money shot" snapping a serious challenge with our fragile digital SLR cameras; but as you can see we scored a few.
With such abundance of bio-diversity living under the jungle canopy (ie. over 450 species of birds and a host of mammals including five species of giant cat) and co-co-existing with such raw destructive power, its easy to see why the Iguazu Falls National Park earned a ´UNESCO World Heritage Site´ title in 1984.
