It is truly amazing the power and effect of millions, probably trillions, of gallons of water rushing over a cliff! Sensory overload was the affect on Dianne and I as we toured Iguazu Falls in Misiones Province, Argentina, on the border with Brazil. (At one point we realized that much of the day we spent looking at Brazil, which was the land we viewed across the river as we walked the cliffs of the falls and the catwalks constructed on the sides of those cliffs and over the rushing water. We did not get into Brazil, but we did view the Brazilian jungle!) Iguazu Falls are truly one of the natural wonders of the world. The power of the water is phenomenal! The visual spectacle continually takes your breath away! The sound of the water rushing over the edge of the cliffs and pounding into the rocks below is deafening. It becomes your constant background noise and you do not even notice it after awhile, until you are standing directly over a rushing cataract, or at the base of a particularly grand fall, and suddenly it surrounds you physically. Or, you are walking in the jungle, several kilometers away, and it slowly creeps back into your awareness that the sound you are hearing is the falls off in the distance. There was so much to absorb that our senses just could not take it all in.
Besides the waterfalls there is so much life surrounding you: numerous birds and myriad of flowers. We heard far more birds than we saw(we even heard a "Chili" type parrot calling off in the distance), and we saw a lot! The flowers sometimes stood out and at other times blended into the landscape. At one point I was about to stop and take a photo of a small purple flower when Dianne called me over to look at some yellow iris-type flowers. When I went back to take the purple flower I saw very close to it some yellow orchids that I had not noticed the first time. As though they had instantly sprung up in that place, though I realize they had been there all along. There was just so much to absorb! We saw coaties on the path, pulling fruit off a palm tree, one even cleaning up the lunch remains someone had left on the table outside the small cafe. There were a small band of cai monkeys, lots of lizards of several variety, capybaras (a small hairy rat-like critter). Oh, and the butterflies - mariposas - were everywhere: large and small, white and black and blue and orange and scarlet, bark colored, black with red and yellow markings, too many to catalogue!
Our two days began with an afternoon trip to the Park. We first visited the information center which had a very nice interpretive display on the rain forest. After grabbing a nice lunch at the local cafe we caught the "Green Train" for the ride out to the Garganta del Diablo, "The Devil's Throat." There is a rather lengthy walk across 12 branches of the river on a metal catwalk to the edge of this huge horseshoe shaped falls. As you approach you see the mist rising above the tree line and begin to hear the roar of the falls. Once there you are standing on the edge of this cliff watching billions of gallons of water rush over the side, some of it directly beneath you. One of the guidebooks said "it must come closest to the experience that ancient sailors feared" of reaching the edge of the earth where the water rushed over into oblivion. There is so much water concentrated in one spot that there is a constant mist rising up from the base of the falls. This obscures the view of what is going on down there, but instead it presents a constant, gorgeous rainbow for viewing. Every so often the mist rises up high enough and the breeze shifted so that the viewing platform was drenched with a brief rain shower. We spent somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour just staring at the falls. Everywhere you looked there was a different aspect presented, so that you had the grand scope and then hundreds of smaller snapshots presented for your viewing pleasure.
Our second day was spent walking through the jungles, viewing the rest of the falls (of which there are many), first from the Upper Circuit which takes you on metal catwalks again over the tops of the falls and right along the edge where the water plunges over the side. After lunch we walked the Lower Circuit which descends via metal stairways and catwalks down to the river with numerous viewing platforms presenting a variety of views of the falls from a lower perspective. And every time they came into view the picture was more spectacular than the one before. (I know I am gushing and overwhelmingly using superlatives, but trust me, there is no way to do justice to the grandeur, the glory, the beauty, the awesome experience presented by Iguazu Falls.)
At the base of the lower circuit (right before the final descent to the river bank) there is a viewing platform that approaches the base of one of the medium sized cataracts (which when you see the picture will give you an idea of how immense are some of the other cataracts!) If you are brave enough, or foolish enough, to walk out on this platform, you will be soaked to the skin (Dianne and I had our rain jackets to put on), but you will also experience the immense power of the falling water. It creates a constant spray which soaks you. There is a constant breeze blowing from, I assume, the air being displaced by the force of the falling water. It feels like a pretty stiff wind blowing. The deafening sound, like a train rushing by, totally surrounds you. And there is a constant rainbow present. It is an amazingly awesome experience!
I first posted this from an Internet shop in Puerto Iguazu while we were waiting for our afternoon flight to Buenos Aires. I have added some pictures to the post and now finally have added links to Kodak Gallery albums with many more photos for you to enjoy. I shot over 700 photos at the falls and it has taken some time to organize them so I could share a portion of them!!! Don't worry, I did not upload all 700 to the albums. There are quite a few, but you won't want to miss seeing more pictures of the falls, the butterflies, the birds, the animals, the flowers. So much! I promise you will be amazed!
Besides the waterfalls there is so much life surrounding you: numerous birds and myriad of flowers. We heard far more birds than we saw(we even heard a "Chili" type parrot calling off in the distance), and we saw a lot! The flowers sometimes stood out and at other times blended into the landscape. At one point I was about to stop and take a photo of a small purple flower when Dianne called me over to look at some yellow iris-type flowers. When I went back to take the purple flower I saw very close to it some yellow orchids that I had not noticed the first time. As though they had instantly sprung up in that place, though I realize they had been there all along. There was just so much to absorb! We saw coaties on the path, pulling fruit off a palm tree, one even cleaning up the lunch remains someone had left on the table outside the small cafe. There were a small band of cai monkeys, lots of lizards of several variety, capybaras (a small hairy rat-like critter). Oh, and the butterflies - mariposas - were everywhere: large and small, white and black and blue and orange and scarlet, bark colored, black with red and yellow markings, too many to catalogue!
Our two days began with an afternoon trip to the Park. We first visited the information center which had a very nice interpretive display on the rain forest. After grabbing a nice lunch at the local cafe we caught the "Green Train" for the ride out to the Garganta del Diablo, "The Devil's Throat." There is a rather lengthy walk across 12 branches of the river on a metal catwalk to the edge of this huge horseshoe shaped falls. As you approach you see the mist rising above the tree line and begin to hear the roar of the falls. Once there you are standing on the edge of this cliff watching billions of gallons of water rush over the side, some of it directly beneath you. One of the guidebooks said "it must come closest to the experience that ancient sailors feared" of reaching the edge of the earth where the water rushed over into oblivion. There is so much water concentrated in one spot that there is a constant mist rising up from the base of the falls. This obscures the view of what is going on down there, but instead it presents a constant, gorgeous rainbow for viewing. Every so often the mist rises up high enough and the breeze shifted so that the viewing platform was drenched with a brief rain shower. We spent somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour just staring at the falls. Everywhere you looked there was a different aspect presented, so that you had the grand scope and then hundreds of smaller snapshots presented for your viewing pleasure.
Our second day was spent walking through the jungles, viewing the rest of the falls (of which there are many), first from the Upper Circuit which takes you on metal catwalks again over the tops of the falls and right along the edge where the water plunges over the side. After lunch we walked the Lower Circuit which descends via metal stairways and catwalks down to the river with numerous viewing platforms presenting a variety of views of the falls from a lower perspective. And every time they came into view the picture was more spectacular than the one before. (I know I am gushing and overwhelmingly using superlatives, but trust me, there is no way to do justice to the grandeur, the glory, the beauty, the awesome experience presented by Iguazu Falls.)
At the base of the lower circuit (right before the final descent to the river bank) there is a viewing platform that approaches the base of one of the medium sized cataracts (which when you see the picture will give you an idea of how immense are some of the other cataracts!) If you are brave enough, or foolish enough, to walk out on this platform, you will be soaked to the skin (Dianne and I had our rain jackets to put on), but you will also experience the immense power of the falling water. It creates a constant spray which soaks you. There is a constant breeze blowing from, I assume, the air being displaced by the force of the falling water. It feels like a pretty stiff wind blowing. The deafening sound, like a train rushing by, totally surrounds you. And there is a constant rainbow present. It is an amazingly awesome experience!
I first posted this from an Internet shop in Puerto Iguazu while we were waiting for our afternoon flight to Buenos Aires. I have added some pictures to the post and now finally have added links to Kodak Gallery albums with many more photos for you to enjoy. I shot over 700 photos at the falls and it has taken some time to organize them so I could share a portion of them!!! Don't worry, I did not upload all 700 to the albums. There are quite a few, but you won't want to miss seeing more pictures of the falls, the butterflies, the birds, the animals, the flowers. So much! I promise you will be amazed!
This link takes you to pictures of the falls themselves: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.bdtpijt2&x=0&y=-ppfui6&localeid=en_US
This link takes you to pictures of the wildlife: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.72stird2&x=0&y=-1c509w&localeid=en_US
This link takes you to pictures of the flowers: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.5gl04rye&x=0&y=4zns0m&localeid=en_US
This link takes you to pictures of the butterflies: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.ai7j9ocm&x=0&y=q1ipkx&localeid=en_US
Finally, this link takes you to pictures of the birds: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.8ppldzs6&x=0&y=kvy7da&localeid=en_US
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