FOZ DO IGUAZU - Bird Park & Itaipu Dam

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We woke early on the 10th March, Nickie's last day of her holiday, to visit the Bird Park next to the falls. We'd heard good things about it and it did not disappoint.

The enclosures were enormous and there were several we could walk through. There were flamingoes, toucans, macaws (of all different colours including scarlet), parrots and lots of other exotic birds. Additionally there were some reptiles, butterflies and marmosets. The park was stocked full of wonderful creatures, all of which could be found in Brazil.

One of the walk through enclosures had some very cheeky toucans. One of the toucans went through a ladies pockets and nibbled on her shirt, while others jumped about us looking very curious about what we were doing. They were very sociable.

In the cage with the Macaws (on the outside of which there was a warning about "enter at your own risk") we got to see them up close. Then later we were all allowed to have a Blue Macaw sit on our arm.

Never before have we been allowed to have such contact with these exotic birds - quite a treat (for us but maybe not the birds...)

After the Bird Park we left Nickie to go off to the Itaipu Dam.

A bit of a trek to get there on public buses, but eventually we arrived and joined a bus tour of the Dam.

It is the biggest hydroelectric dam in the world in terms of energy output. I think China has one bigger, but it doesn't create as much electricity. A joint venture between Brazil and Paraguay - it was only completed 100% in 2007 and the energy is split between the two countries. In fact the tour bus took us over to Paraguay very briefly.

We were fortunate enough to see the floodgates open on the Dam, releasing millions of litres of excess water every second. It was an impressive dump of water that, when it hit the river below, jumped up into the air creating a sort of massive fountain.

We were not allowed on the internal tour of the plant due to Amy's age, but we were content with just seeing it from the exterior.

One last night at the hostel and they did another delicious spread for dinner - beef fillet in madeira sauce. Heavenly.

We spent the last part of the evening packing and offloading some of our items onto Nickie to take home for us. We needed the lighter packs for the last of our trip which will mean a lot of travelling around.

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Photos

Another Toucan shot
They are just such posers!

The Floodgates are Open!
Itaipu Dam

Comments

[Heather]

Really loved the pictures. I went to Iguazu and didn't get any toucans! Anyhow your photos reminded me of my time there. My blog is looking for photos to post. If you have time check us out at: www.dirty-hippies.blogspot.com Continued fun on your trip! Eric and Heather