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| Iguazu Falls |
Named
one of the New 7
Wonders of Nature in 2011, Iguazu
Falls is the largest waterfalls system in the world. Located
on the border of the Brazilian state of Parana and the Argentina province of
Misiones, its name
means “big water.” That’s easy to
see as Iguazu Falls is made up
of 275
waterfalls or cataracts spanning 2.7 kilometers.
It
is located on the Iguazu
River within one of the few remaining inland rainforests in South America,
the Atlantic rainforest,
preserved as national parks by both Brazil and Argentina. The parks were named UNESCO World Heritage
Sites in 1984 and 1986, respectively .
The
Argentinean side, which features over two-thirds of the falls, offers visitors
the opportunity to walk up close on a series of rustic-looking
boardwalks, while the Brazilian side offers more panoramic views.
The
tallest of the waterfalls is called Devil’s
Throat and drops over 80 meters into a permanent cloud of mist. Shaped like a horseshoe, it is the largest
water curtain in the whole system and includes 14 waterfalls.
To
put that into perspective,
Iguazu Falls is nearly twice as tall as Niagara
Falls and rivaled only by Zambia and Zimbabwe’s Victoria
Falls, which are taller at 108 meters.
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| Iguazu Falls boardwalks |
On
average, 1,500 cubic meters of water flow every second. In the rainy season between November and
March, as much as 13,000 cubic meters of water flow every second – enough to
fill five Olympic size swimming pools.
One of the highlights of touring the falls is the unforgettable “baptism”
during a boat ride to the falls.
One
legend
says that a deity planned to marry a beautiful woman who fled with her mortal
lover in a canoe on the Iguazu River. In
a rage, the deity sliced the river, creating the waterfalls and condemning the
lovers to an eternal fall.
Iguazu
Falls has been featured in
many films including Moonraker (1979), Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), and Captain America: Civil War (2016).
