Bucket List ✅

Today, and our excursion to Iguazu Falls, is the main reason I booked this trip. I am so very grateful that the forecast for today is for sun and warm weather so we can enjoy our day and hopefully get some good pictures.  

Gabrielle was our guide for today, and on route to the Park he gave us some information about this region. He spoke with pride about the beautiful jungle around us, and the falls and the fact that the government has protected 80% of the jungle in this area. This area apparently holds 60% of the biodiversity of Argentina in the way of animals, bird life and plants so it’s really important. 

Iguazu National Park is in the farthest northern tip of Argentina at the border with Brazil, created in 1934 to protect the falls and the surrounding subtropical jungle. Across the Iguazu River from the Argentinian Iguazu National Park is the Brazilian one of the same name and both are designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites.  

There are apparently threatened species of jaguar in the park, although thankfully we didn’t see one! Many other threatened species reside here as well including the jaguarundi, tapir, ocelot, and anteater. There is also a member of the raccoon family, a Coati, that is not at all endangered but rather is a huge pest, particularly in eating areas where they have built big screened in eating areas to keep the animals from ransacking people’s back packs and literally taking food from their hands.  

We started our day as we have with most of our tours, zig zagging from hotel to hotel picking up passengers along the way. Once at the park Gabrielle explained what the day would look like and off we went.  There are three loops in the park where metal-grated walkways take visitors along an upper loop of the river bank, lower loop of the river bank, and one to the Devil’s Gorge at the beginning of the falls.  We would see all by the end of the day. The map below gives you a good perspective of how big the park is and how much of an area the waterfalls cover.

There is a small train that takes passengers from one end of the park to the other and we took it to the end of the line to get to the walkway to Devil’s Gorge.

The walkway took us over top of the delta of the Iguazu River which the guide told us is only knee to hip deep at this point in the wide delta. This is where the falls start and continue down the river on both sides for 2700 metres, 2100 on the Argentinian side. 

At the end of the walkway is a “balcony” where we stood to look down into a huge hole into which hundreds of litres of water flows known as the Devil’s Throat.  And it’s just one of the approximately 275 falls!  It drops 82 meters or 269 feet and is the largest drop in the park. 

We have been told that currently the flow rate is 3 million litres per second over the total of all the falls on both sides whereas normally it’s closer to 850,000 – 1.5 million litres per second. Yes litres per second.

The sound at Devil’s Throat is deafening and you can’t see too far down toward the river bed below because of so much spray. We got the odd blast of spray as we walked around the balcony taking pictures but it felt good as it was a hot and humid day. You can imagine the jockeying for position along the railing at the best photo spots!  Iguazu Falls gets over 1 million visitors a year with most visiting both the Argentinian side as well as the Brazil side.  

We made our way back to the beginning of the walkway and took the train back to the beginning of the upper walkway which follows the bank on the Argentine side where the majority of the falls are located. Since we were looking down on the falls on the Argentinian side, sometimes we could only see where the water went over the edge and not see where it was going, but because the walkways wound around the various features and the river winds as well, we could see many falls right down to the river bed as well. My toes picture is taken along this walkway. At the end of this walkway was the San Martin Falls, in tribute to the hero of the Argentinian liberator, whose tomb we had seen in the Cathedral of Buenos Aires. 

By now we were starving but good news, it was time for lunch. It felt really good to sit as we’d already hiked over our 10,000 steps. 

After lunch, some people who had opted to take the boat into the gorge left our group and headed out for their adventure. It was much like a combination of the “maid of the mist” at Niagara Falls, and the fast boat that whips along the river down stream from the falls. It was 2 hours out of the day, and having done both those experiences at Niagara Falls I opted not to do it today. 

The rest of us carried on to trek along the lower walkway where at the beginning we saw the Iquazu River at the completion of all the falls. It was relatively narrow across but now instead of only knee deep it got very deep. Sorry can only remember I was surprised by how deep it was.

Further along we were able to see the power boat and its passengers far below making their way as close to the falls as they could safely.

Along this walkway we saw a toucan in the trees and a couple of lizards. All along the walkways, roads and train tracks as we travelled throughout the park, we saw hundreds of butterflies mostly on the small size. There were yellow ones, called Lemon Butterflies, which flitted along in groups of 5 – 6, occasionally dozens were around a puddle of water on the road. Others seemed to want to ride along with the visitors and Nanci got this shot of one on my shoulder. 

It sounds like a lot of repetition going up and down this 2700 metre stretch of the river but a more beautiful sight or potential picture was around every corner. Before touring the park today, the guide told us that we’d see the falls closer up but that tomorrow when we see the Brazil side we would see move of a panoramic view of the falls on the Argentinian side. 

I wasn’t sure what to expect from today, and I can’t overstate how amazing these falls are. They are not like Niagara Falls where one large curtain of water, is impressive to say the least and rivals the total flow at Iguazu at approximately 2.8 million litres per second, but the sheer number of falls, and also the ability to be in such close proximity to them is quite the experience. I left very happy and very tired.  Over 16,000 steps today. 

On the way back to the hotel we had one stop at a restauant/bar for a complimentary wine and small charcuterie of locally produced cheese, meat and olives. I was so tired that I didn’t really appreciate it and it was an early night once back to the hotel, after packing because we leave this hotel in the morning.