Iguazú - spectacular waterfalls

After a few days in the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires, Reto and I (Carole) made our way to the northeastern corner of Argentina. At the border with Brazil are the world-famous Cataratas de Iguazú (Iguazú Falls). The 20 large and 255 smaller waterfalls plunge up to 82 meters in depth over a length of 2.7 km. On both sides of the border there is a national park belonging to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, with many paths and observation terraces offering the best views of the waterfalls.

First, we visited the Argentine side. Most of the falls are on this side, so we could admire them up close. The roar of the cascading water is truly impressive. The highlight was the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat), numerous waterfalls in a 150m wide and 700m long U-shaped gorge. Within seconds on the observation terrace in the middle of the spectacle, we were completely soaked from head to toe with spray. It is incredible how much water plunges from the seemingly calm surface above into the wild abyss below.

The next day, we visited the Brazilian side. Here, we were not in the midst of the action, but we had an excellent panoramic view. It was impressive to see the extent of the waterfalls over such a large area. They are surrounded by a beautifully green, tropical landscape with numerous species of animals. The coatis, in particular, are very aggressive and hunt for food from humans.