The Iguazú Falls are an incredible sight - so incredible, in fact, that I dedicated two entire days to them. I met some people who said they were done with the falls after about four hours. Not nearly enough time, in my opinion. The two days allowed me to see almost everything (I skipped the expensive boat trips), and have enough time everywhere to really appreciate the beauty of it.
That being said, it could have been even more beautiful if all the other tourists kept to the park rules. The rules say only two things: don't feed or touch animals, and don't litter. So what do the goddamn tourists do? First thing I see in the park, someone carelessly throws a candy wrapper out of the train. Next thing I see is people feeding animals, just for the sake of a picture. I really hate how they never even stop to think about the consequences of their behavior.
One of these consequences is illustrated by a funny but really rather sad thing that happened to me several times. I had a packet of nuts with me for lunch and snacks. Whenever I sat down to eat a few of them, a couple of birds would fly to nearby branches and sit there, waiting, sometimes impatiently cocking their heads, apparently expecting to be fed. The funny part of the story is that birds sitting still on low branches attracts photographers. So each time I sat down to eat, I was quickly surrounded by cameras all pointing slightly above and behind me. The sad part is that in the birds' experience, hanging around tourists yields a better chance of getting fed than hunting... And in that way, the stupid tourists alter the birds' behaviors which can have all kinds of unknown and potentially destructive effects on the ecosystem. Unfortunately, the same goes for many other animals in the park, like fish and coatis.
I'm somewhat sad to report that I took advantage of the animals' proximity. While of course not feeding them, I took quite a few pictures:
This lizard is not being fed by humans. It had just found a delicious insect to devour ;-)
These are coatis - so cute! ;-)
There are also tons of different butterflies. The bigger ones are very hard to capture in a picture - they don't ever seem to sit down. But I managed to get a few smaller ones:
There are lots and lots of insects in the forest surrounding the falls. For the most part, they are too well-hidden to see them, but the sound (our should I say noise) they make is all too obvious. Some sound like lawn sprinklers. Some have perfected that sound you hear at the dentist's just before... well, you know. Others sound just like a circular saw - and are just as loud too.
Calling out from the abundance of green in the jungle, there are also some beautiful flowers:
But now, back to the real attraction, Iguazú falls. This is me in front a viewpoint of the Garganta del Diablo - the devil's throat:
Some of the smaller falls:
This is Salto Chico:
As you may notice, there is no waterfall to be seen right now. This is due to the fact that the amount of water coming down the falls varies. Some time in the seventies, there was huge flood that destroyed most of the walkways. A few years later, and again in 2006, the falls nearly dried up. Let's just hope that they won't dry up permanently!
While pretty impressive, this is by far not the biggest of the falls:
Up close:
This - the devil's throat - is the biggest one (close-ups further down):
The fine spray of water in the air creates wonderful rainbows when the sun is right:
This is me in front of the (I think) second-biggest fall, San Martin:
The Brazilian side of the falls, and part of the river downstream:
Now, this finally is the devil's throat up close:
And with a rainbow:
The might with which the water plunges down more than 80 meters here is incredible. Just standing on the viewing platform, you get soaked from the spray. The falls definitely deserve their title as a world natural heritage site.
That being said, it could have been even more beautiful if all the other tourists kept to the park rules. The rules say only two things: don't feed or touch animals, and don't litter. So what do the goddamn tourists do? First thing I see in the park, someone carelessly throws a candy wrapper out of the train. Next thing I see is people feeding animals, just for the sake of a picture. I really hate how they never even stop to think about the consequences of their behavior.
One of these consequences is illustrated by a funny but really rather sad thing that happened to me several times. I had a packet of nuts with me for lunch and snacks. Whenever I sat down to eat a few of them, a couple of birds would fly to nearby branches and sit there, waiting, sometimes impatiently cocking their heads, apparently expecting to be fed. The funny part of the story is that birds sitting still on low branches attracts photographers. So each time I sat down to eat, I was quickly surrounded by cameras all pointing slightly above and behind me. The sad part is that in the birds' experience, hanging around tourists yields a better chance of getting fed than hunting... And in that way, the stupid tourists alter the birds' behaviors which can have all kinds of unknown and potentially destructive effects on the ecosystem. Unfortunately, the same goes for many other animals in the park, like fish and coatis.
I'm somewhat sad to report that I took advantage of the animals' proximity. While of course not feeding them, I took quite a few pictures:
This lizard is not being fed by humans. It had just found a delicious insect to devour ;-)
These are coatis - so cute! ;-)
There are also tons of different butterflies. The bigger ones are very hard to capture in a picture - they don't ever seem to sit down. But I managed to get a few smaller ones:
There are lots and lots of insects in the forest surrounding the falls. For the most part, they are too well-hidden to see them, but the sound (our should I say noise) they make is all too obvious. Some sound like lawn sprinklers. Some have perfected that sound you hear at the dentist's just before... well, you know. Others sound just like a circular saw - and are just as loud too.
Calling out from the abundance of green in the jungle, there are also some beautiful flowers:
But now, back to the real attraction, Iguazú falls. This is me in front a viewpoint of the Garganta del Diablo - the devil's throat:
Some of the smaller falls:
This is Salto Chico:
As you may notice, there is no waterfall to be seen right now. This is due to the fact that the amount of water coming down the falls varies. Some time in the seventies, there was huge flood that destroyed most of the walkways. A few years later, and again in 2006, the falls nearly dried up. Let's just hope that they won't dry up permanently!
While pretty impressive, this is by far not the biggest of the falls:
Up close:
This - the devil's throat - is the biggest one (close-ups further down):
The fine spray of water in the air creates wonderful rainbows when the sun is right:
This is me in front of the (I think) second-biggest fall, San Martin:
The Brazilian side of the falls, and part of the river downstream:
Now, this finally is the devil's throat up close:
And with a rainbow:
The might with which the water plunges down more than 80 meters here is incredible. Just standing on the viewing platform, you get soaked from the spray. The falls definitely deserve their title as a world natural heritage site.
