Chasing Waterfalls

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Heading north away from BA and onwards to the Brazil boarder my last few days in Argentina were spent at the Iguazu Falls. Camping a few miles away from the falls meant that we could beat the crowds and arrive nice and early to spend the day in the national park before crossing over to spend some time viewing the falls from the Brazilian side a few days later.

The guide books and travel sites spend a lot of time debating the merits of seeing the falls from each side, everyone has their view on which side is better, you may be viewing the same falls but the layout and perspective allows you to see it differently from each country, so to me there’s no need for a comparison, they are both so very different and each as amazing as the other, to view the falls completely you have to visit both the Brazilian and Argentine sides.

Iguazu Falls is located where the Iguazu River tumbles over the edge of the Parana Plateau. From the top of the falls the water flows through a chasm called ‘Garganta del Diablo’ (The Devils Throat), this chasm is U-shaped, 82 meters high, 150m wide and 700 meters long. Along the entire length of the site there are between 150 and 300 smaller falls (depending on the water level) and at one point you can stand and be surrounded by 260 degrees of waterfalls.

The Argentinian side of Iguazu is simply breath taking, around 80% of the waterfalls are on this side and the park is full of trails and walkways that let you get up close to the action. As you follow the trails around the park you hear the falls before you see them, the roaring of water gradually increases over the forest sounds of animals shuffling and birds singing, one minute the constant crashing of water is a quiet background noise, then as you turn corners and follow the path it slowly increases in volume before long the sounds drowns out everything else, the forest ahead of you clears and the cascading falls show themselves. The water is mesmerizing, you stop and stare, and then stare some more. Water crashes, spray spits and foams up from the pools below. Where the suns shines in the right direction rainbows appear and you realise why people say that this is one of the most spectacular natural wonders on the planet.

Standing meters from the falls lets you appreciate the power of the water, you can feel the zing of the energy it releases, at the very top of the Devil’s Throat the wall of water feels alive, larger than anything I could have imagined, staring into the torrents plummeting down captivates and its difficult to break your gaze and turn away. Up above hundreds of black specks circle in the sky, as they gradually get closer and take the shape of vultures you wonder what carrion below they are hunting, hopefully not us!

After spending the morning viewing the falls from the paths and walkways of the park we took to the water to get up close and personal with the falls. A speed boat takes you as close to the falls as possible whizzing around the river stopping just short of the falls so that you get drenched in the spray and covered by the waves that breach the side of the boat. It’s a touristy ride but well worth doing, you clamber out of the boat sodden but with a smile on your face from the exhilaration of getting so close.



Whilst the Argentine side lets you get so close to the waterfalls that you can practically touch them it’s the Brazilian side that gives you an overview of the whole waterfall. It’s here that you start to appreciate the scale of the place, there are less walkways and you don’t get so close but you do get to see the whole site laid out before you and its then that you appreciate really how big this thing is.

After spending the day at the Argentine side we crossed the border into Brazil and set up camp in a gorgeous little site just outside of Foz. Its hot in Brazil, really hot, and humid – luckily the campsite has a pool and a bar selling ice cold caipirinhas. After a night in the pool side bar, drinking said caipirinha’s (and spending more time in the pool fully clothed that I’d expected to) we left early the next morning with fuzzy heads to see what the Brazillian side of the falls had to offer. The first activity of the day blew away any remnants of a hangover, a helicopter flight over the falls! Over the last few days I’d wavered over doing the flight, the expense, the environmental impact….. but after spending the evening before talking to people that had flown the day before I couldn’t not, they raved about it to an extent that I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t, its not like I’m coming back here anytime soon, unfortunately!

I’ve never flown in a helicopter before, wowzers! It was amazing, sat in the front seat with a full panoramic view window before me we flew low over the forest, the tree tops rushing away under our feet as we headed towards the falls. Seeing the falls from the air you are in awe of the immense size of them, it’s a great big hole in the earth, the forest cracks apart and the water falls in, spray and steam rise up, rainbows glisten, its indescribable and hopefully my pictures will show what I’m struggling to find the words to explain.

For me there’s no way of comparing the two sides, to get a full picture you need to visit both, I’m glad we did it in the order that we did, seeing them up close first made the helicopter experience all the better, being able to point out where we’d been a few days before, see the walkways and viewing points gave perspective. Amazing and truly a natural wonder.

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