MIGHTY: Tourists look at the Iguazu Falls from a catwalk on the Brazilian side, across the border from Argentina, in Foz do Iguacu. MIGHTY: Tourists look at the Iguazu Falls from a catwalk on the Brazilian side, across the border from Argentina, in Foz do Iguacu.
Rio - The Iguazu Falls in Brazil, a World Heritage Site, is wider than the Victoria Falls and higher than Niagara. These frothing, all-powerful cascading jets of water take on an extra dimension when you realise they used to be a holy place.
When discovered in 1541 by a Spaniard called Don Alvar Nunes, they were named the Falls of St Maria. Today, the Iguacu Falls are up there with Rio’s Christ of the Redeemer when it comes to Brazil’s top tourist attractions.
Our expectations are high when we arrive after midnight following a flight from Sao Paulo where we had spent a happy 24 hours at the Fasano Hotel, dangerously close to the city’s numero uno shopping street, Rua Oscar Freire.
Stepping out of our taxi, we can hear the cascading water, a roar like 1 000 air conditioners going at full tilt.
There is only one hotel with direct access to the falls; it’s expensive, but utterly wonderful.
Our first proper view of the falls is a two-minute walk from the hotel, where we meet a man who wants to take our photograph on a wire platform that juts out from the cliff. One print will cost £5 (about R75) and we can’t resist.
We head north along the river towards Devil’s Throat, where the drop is massive, the sound dramatic, the spray unavoidable.
There’s a walkway that follows the ridge, at the end of which you look down and experience what’s been described as “an ocean falling into the abyss”. But, all the talk is of the boat rides that take you to the foot of the falls. I’ve done my homework. The last deaths – two – on the Argentinian side were in 2005, while four were killed on the Brazilian side in 1997 when two boats collided. This is enough to keep my wife on dry land as I squeeze into a rubber craft and look into the eyes of the driver.
It turns out to be an exhilarating encounter of violent power and audacious beauty. –
Daily Mail