For reasons which will become apparent in a later post, I have lagged behind a little with my blog but I’m now attempting to catch up with a post about the Iguazu Falls. They are way too important to skip. I have been to Victoria Falls in Africa and Niagara Fall in North America and so I thought it would just be another waterfall. I was wrong. The falls are on the Iguazu River, which is 1300 kilometres long and divides Brazil and the northern tip of Argentina.

It is possible to view the Falls from both the Brazil and Argentinian sides and as I was to find out they are both quite different. The Falls consist of about 275 different water falls along a 2km stretch of the Iguazu River. So besides the initial part of the falls that drops straight into the river you have the river backing up and then running parallel to the river and creating lots of falls along this stretch of river. These falls are best seen from the Brazilian side.

The amount of water going over the edge averages out to about 1500 cubic metres per second or 10 Olympic swimming pools every second. It can get as high as 80 pools every second in heavy rain. It is one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world. I actually fact checked myself as I thought it was the most powerful waterfall in the world but discovered that this title is held by the Inga Falls on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa. Who’s ever heard of them. Dam. Now I’ll have to put that on my list!

As I was staying in a hotel in Brazil it was very simple to ride out to the falls except that you have to stop about 10kms before you get there and pay money to get on a bus that takes you there. It was about $30AUD and another $18AUD for parking my bike which I found annoying. They load you onto an open top double decker bus and drive you through the jungle with promises of wild animals along the way. Maybe there was but I didn’t see any. They drop you off in a couple of locations along the river and then you can amble along at your own pace until you reach the end and get back on a bus.

I jumped off at the first stop and must admit I was quite impressed at all the waterfalls I could see already. Apparently you can see 80% of the falls from the Brazilian side. *Spoiler. That’s because the 80% are across the river on the Argentinian side and you are looking across the river at them. I took someone’s photo and then they reciprocated. I wandered along for about an hour until I reached the main falls themselves. It’s a bit touristy but fortunately not too overcrowded as I had arrived late in the day.

From here I would say there are two highlights. The first is walking out onto the platform that looks down into the river. It’s located at the base of a set of falls and so there’s no way you can stay dry. I’d heard about this and had brought my waterproof gear and so managed to stay dry. Trying to keep water off the lens of my phone so I could take a few photos was a lot more difficult. But I managed.

The second highlight is a deck outside the tourist shop where you can stand very close to the thundering water. You can feel the power of the water coming over the edge. A pretty unique experience. And also, a wet one.

We were told the park was closing and we had to queue up to catch the elevator to the top. I noticed a guide take two people around a closed barrier and so I followed them. They were checking out another level but there was a path leading back up to the top and so I took that. About halfway up I got caught out by a ranger who said I shouldn’t be there because the park was closed but he kindly directed me to another path that led me up to the bus. Before boarding the bus, I sneaked up the river a bit for a look, but it wasn’t overly exciting. It was wide and had a no fishing sign. I then climbed aboard for my short jungle safari and back to my bike and then back to the hotel. It had been a great afternoon and made me wonder if I even needed to bother going to the Argentinian side. I did.

To catch up with a mate I moved to Argentina for the night. I left Brazil early in the morning and checked in to my Argentinian accommodation but it wasn’t ready, but they let me store all my gear there. It was about 15kms out to the falls and the parking was way cheaper than Brazil. I started out with a few hassles like not having my passport with me to buy the ticket. I managed to talk my way around that one but then both my credit cards wouldn’t work and I couldn’t buy a ticket. But there was an ATM.

It was broken. I eventually found a shop that would let me buy something and pay in Brazilian Reales cash and they would give me the change in Argentinian pesos. So, I bought a coke and a chocolate bar and then went back and found the queue had swelled immensely. I decided to queue-jump to the lady who was originally serving me, and it worked out fine.  

The Argentinian side has a dinky little train that transports you to places along the river and ultimately to the end where you get to see the Devils Cauldron or the Garganta del Diablo. The train dropped me and a few hundred other people off at the walkway leading out to the falls. It’s a bit over a kilometre of steel walkway which was nice but slow moving with a line in each direction. I managed to jump in behind a couple of tall German girls who were rapidly zig zagging their way through the lines and so I managed to get out to the end quite quickly. And I was impressed.

I thought I had seen all there was to see from the Brazilian side the day before but no. The Devils Cauldron is tucked around the corner and is a special treat that only the people on the Argentinian side can see. It’s basically the main part of the falls where the river above drops into the river below. It was immensely powerful. I hung around for a while and enjoyed the experience.

I then had to return on the same walkway to the train terminal. I discovered it was possible to walk alongside the trainline instead of waiting half an hour for it. It was only a couple of Km’s to the previous station and so I walked. I got there fine but then got a bit confused by the map and ended up following a path that led along the base of some of the falls I had seen from the other side yesterday. It was great but not where I had planned to walk. I really dislike maps that are not proportional and instead drawn to look pretty.

I eventually managed to get back to the trail that I had originally planned to walk on, and it was also great with some great views. I ended up back at the station and waiting for the train to take me back to the start. I had a look on google maps and compared it to the park map and it was only a 750m walk through the bush instead of waiting ages for a crowded train. The park map had it looking way further. So walk I did. I ended up walking over 40,000 steps that day and crashed out happily that night in my hotel room. Next day I was off to Paraguay.

KMS 15,085