In search of the Emperor Penguin & so much more...: Iguazu Falls

22^nd to 25^th January 2011
(there’ll be 2 separate blogs for our Iguazu visit… first the Argentinean side then then the Brazilian side.

The latitude of Iguazu Falls is 25°41′43″S but even though this is similar to the latitude of Alice Springs (23°40'S) the weather is more like Darwin in the Summer – very hot and steamy tropical weather. The temperature forecast each day was around 31°C and storms.

We flew from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu in Northern Argentina and stayed there for 3 nights having pre-booked a Peregrine Adventures tour (Iguazu Extention + 1 extra night). Having arrived early afternoon, we checked into Hotel Saint George (another room upgrade here). We then visited Güirá Oga – an animal and bird refuge – the only wildlife refuge in Argentina looking after native wildlife with a goal to reintroducing them to the wild. The tour began with a ride on a farm tractor (with open seating trailer towed behind) to their interpretive centre. We took a walk through the jungle-like park where they had enclosures for the animals; our guide explained all about the animals along the way; their habitat, why they were in the park and whether they would be able to be reintroduced to the their natural habitat – it took 2 hours and was a great introduction to the natural habitat of the region.

A capiburra - an oversized guinea pig

A caiman lurking in the park environs

Our visit to Iguazu Falls was in 2 sections… the Argentinean side and the Brazilian side. Iguazu means “Big Water” in the Guarani language (one of the local indigenous languages and one of the 2 official languages of Paraguay). Australians must have a Visa for Brazil if crossing the border and we had previously obtained these to ensure we could visit both sides… and glad we did.

Argentinean Side (Parque Nacional Iguazu)

First, our itinerary indicated that the maximum group size would be 15 so when we were collected from our hotel we were surprised that we were included with a group of 44. Nothing but enjoy the day could be done although we both feel that the group size impacted on our enjoyment of the tour - we’d been so used to small group tours which is our preference for photography reasons too.

Never mind, our guide, Maria, was great and very informative (speaking both English & Spanish to cater for almost everyone).

On this day the weather was overcast with occasional filtered sunlight and bursts of rainfall… too bad if you didn’t like getting wet… if it wasn’t the spray from the falls it was the water from the sky.

During the day we did all the main touristy things… along with the 5,000 to 7,000 people that the Argentinean side has per day!!! All that aside we took the “Tren ecologico de la Selva” (Green train of the jungle) from Cataratas station to “Gaganta del Diablo” (Devil’s Throat) for our first walk and view of a section of the falls. There was a continuous flow of people along the path going to & from the viewing platform – everyone wanting a photo of themselves from the same place – not much room to move or take a moment to truly enjoy the intensity of the falls. The volume of water being thrown over the cliff was incredible – apparently 6 Olympic size swimming pools could be filled each second.

We also walked the Lower & Upper circuits to get varying views of the falls… not sure if there are names for all of the waterfalls - there is said to be anything up to 275 waterfalls of Iguazu, all depending on the water level at the time (including the Brazilian side).

Again from contributions to our wedding wishing well, our main adventure of the day was to take the “Gran Aventura” (Grand Adventure) boat & jungle tour. Protecting our cameras in dry-sacks we boarded a semi-rigid boat that took us along the river to view the falls – the mist being sprayed on us was incredible and the roaring sound was intense. But wait for it… we went under the falls, yep, under… having an Iguazu shower left us soaking wet and refreshed from the heat of the day. Magnificent!! Getting off the boat we took a ride on the back of a truck through the jungle during which the guide explained aspects of the local environment and wildlife – lots of tropical butterflies, birds, orb spiders and a lizard crossing the road were among the wildlife we got to see on this occasion.

After a long day that started at 7.30am we returned to our hotel at about 5.30pm all hot and sticky (& most likely stinky) we were pleased to have air-conditioning in our room and a cooling swim in the pool.