Iguazu: Waterfalls and Wildlife

After a lovely few days amidst the dramatic scenery of Calafate, I headed north east to the border between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, where the stunning Iguazu falls can be found. I arrived early evening at the Hotel Los Troncos, in the small town of Puerto Iguazu, and was immediately met with a warm welcome. The hotel was beautiful; fairly basic but charming and made almost entirely out of wood. I had my welcome drink - my first caipirinha of the trip.

The following morning I got up as early as I could drag myself out of bed, and took the 30 minute bus ride to the National Park where the waterfalls can be found. I began exploring the 15 km of trails in the Iguazu national park with the lower trail, which brings you down the hill side to view the Adam, Eve and Bossetti waterfalls from below. The views of the falls were absolutely stunning, surrounding the Rio Iguazu there are waterfalls cascading down almost every cliff, with thick forest peeping out in between.

At the bottom of the lower trail I took the opportunity for two boat rides. The first, known quite aptly as the 'shower' takes you up close to the waterfalls, and includes a seriously intense dip into the waterfalls themselves, in which it is impossible not to get absolutely drenched. Mostly this was incredibly fun and exhilarating, although for the most intense dunking I found it quite difficult to breath! After my shower, it took me nearly 3 hours to dry out completely, although my wet clothes provided some welcome relief from the heat.

The second boat trip was much shorter and less intense, and took me across the river to the San Martin Island which sits in between the falls. Here I took a short hike up the island to view the falls from another angle. Hundreds of vultures circle the island constantly, and I was lucky enough to see one perched on a tree quite close to the trail. The paths nearest the falls are constantly showered with a light mist of water from the neighbouring waterfalls, and the paths were quite slippy. At one point I lost my balance and spent a few seconds fumbling to regain my balance. Luckily I managed to stay upright! 

Heading back up the trail I stopped at the cafe for some lunch, where the tourists are constantly badgered by a small relative of the racoon, known in Argentina as the Couti. They were adorably inquisitive and friendly, coming right up to you and even climbing onto the tables to try and steal some food. The adults are about the size of a medium-sized dog, accompanied by lots of babies. Many of the other tourists seemed to find them a nuisance but I thought they were very cute.

In the afternoon I continued up to the upper trail, where you can see the falls from above. This tested my vertigo a little in places, but the views were spectacular. Finally, I caught the train up to the main attraction - the Garganta del Diablo, or devils throat. Here 1500m3 of water per second flows over a horse-shoe shaped cliff and plummets 150m to the river below. The water is so powerful here that it is impossible to see the base of the falls because they are obscured by a contant mist. This trail is quoted as taking 2 hours, however the walk itself takes just 10 minutes; you need at least an hour to come to terms with what you're seeing.

My day ended with a quiet dingy ride back down the river to view wildlife and appreciate the river at a slower pace. This was lovely, and during the ride we saw Caimen, Turtles and a Toucan.

The Iguazu national park was opened in 1934, and covers 67,000 hectares of sub-tropical forest, housing a miriad of different wildlife, including Puma, Armadillos, Birds of Prey and many more. The national park on the Brazilian side adds an extra 185,000 hectares of forest under protection. This might sound impressive, but it covers just 7% of the original size of these forests, and conservationists are still working to determine how severe an effect this level of deforestation has had.

On my second day in Iguassu, I headed over to the Brazilian side. They say that while Argentina got the waterfalls (80% of the Iguazu falls are on this side of the border), Brazil got the view. Only on this side of the border can you really appreciate the scale of the falls.

The short trail culminates in a view of the devils throat from a greater distance, and a close up view of the Brazilian 20%.

Viewing the falls, from both sides, is mesmerising. In contrast to the beautiful, but static scenery I have seen so far on my trip, the waterfalls are in constant motion, and it is easy to become entranced watching the motion of the water.

The Brazilian side of the waterfalls has a much less extensive set of trails, and takes only a few hours to view in its entirety. So that afternoon I was transferred to my hotel and had the afternoon free. I decided to visit the Bird Park, which was conveniently only a few minutes walk from the hotel. Here they have 5 acres of land housing numerous aviaries set amongst the forest, some of which you can walk in. The best of these was the first walk-in aviary, where they had about 30 Toucans, who are comically friendly and curious, and hop about on the trees and railings close to the path, begging to have their photo taken. I made friends with one in particular, who posed for a photo, let me stroke him, and only after about 10 minutes together did he tire of my presence and start trying to eat my top.