Iguazu Waterfalls — The Big Water
One of the seven natural wonders and the most specatucular waterfall formation
As my flight descended on Puerto Iguazu, I gazed at the ground below. Never before have I seen the lush green forests, endlessly stretching all the way to the horizon. These subtropical forests on the east coast of South America, also referred to as Atlantic Forests, are extremely rich in biodiversity with 2000 species of plants, 400 species of birds and possibly as many as 80 mammals, including the rare and charismatic Giant Anteater, Harpy Eagle, Ocelot and the Jaguar.
Our industrious tour guide, Antonio, drove us amidst these dense forests to the Brazilian side where Iguazu National Park became Iguacu National Park. Antonio seamlessly switched from Spanish to Portuguese to English as he interacted with us and the Argentinian and Brazilian authorities. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, he told us he is also fluent in Guarani, one of the indigenous languages of South America, in which the term Iguazu finds its origin. Iguazu — The Big Water.
Big it is, indeed. The next day when the tour officially started, I asked Antonio if taking a 10 min chopper ride was worth a 100$ and his answer was an emphatic yes. In a few minutes I understood why. The helicopter followed the upstream trail of river Parana which the Iguazu river flows into, after embarking from the waterfalls. A few seconds later, the jaw-dropping spectacle of 275 waterfalls arranged in the shape of a horseshoe unraveled itself. The waterfalls of varying intensities span a length of 3 kilometers culminating in the Garganta del Diablo. Also known as the Devil’s throat, this group of 14 waterfalls, 80 m high, flow into a narrow gorge almost invisible due to the permanent mist created by the powerful water flow. The large clouds of spray emerging permanently soak the river islands and the surrounding riverine forests, creating an extremely humid microclimate favoring a dense sub-tropical vegetation and a diverse fauna.
The aerial view was just the beginning. The trek along trilha das cataratas was marked with several viewpoints, each giving a unique perspective of the magnanimity of the Iguazu falls. The trail ended in a bridge which took me into the heart of the falls. Surrounded by the enormous milky white water, rising mist, the sweet fragrance of fresh grass and the rainbows, I realized why Iguazu is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
Like every wonder of nature, the beauty of Iguazu has been explained with a myth. According to the Guarani Indian Tribe, a young girl would be chosen to be sacrificed every year to please the serpent god of the Iguazu River, M’Boi. Supposedly, as the time of the sacrifice approached, M’Boi saw a young girl named Naipi, playing by the river and fell madly in love with her. The girl was due to be married in a few weeks to the great warrior, Taruba. The groom-to-be pleaded to the Guarani tribe elders to spare Naipi but the elders, not wanting to offend M’Boi, refused. In a desperate attempt to save his bride, Taruba planned to elope with her in a canoe. Obviously the Serpent God noticed and was filled with rage. He split the earth causing the river to plummet wildly into the chasm taking the vessel with it and causing it to spin uncontrollably. The sheer force sent Taruba flying from the canoe to land onto the bank. Trapped in the falling canoe, Naipi watched helplessly as the bottom of the chasm opened up under her. As she was about to smash into the bottom M’Boi transformed her into a massive rock to stop her escaping him. Taruba was transformed into a palm tree on the other side, forever rooted and unable to unite with his beloved. But their love is eternally visible in the form of a rainbow rising from this palm tree on the Brazilian side to the rock, that is Naipi on the Argentine side
The real story of the formation of the falls is rather prosaic. Around 100 million years ago, a massive volcanic eruption flooded the area with a low velocity, high viscosity basaltic lava, covering a former desert that was present in the region. There were several stages to the lava flow resulting in 3 different kinds of basaltic rock, inter-layering to form the basis of Iguazu Falls. The region has since been subjected to various faults within the earth’s surface due to the collision of the tectonic plates. 20,000 years ago (a rather recent occurrence in geological terms) the Iguazu river originated in the Serra do Mar coastal mountains of the Brazilian state and reached these faults, where the natural breaks and weakness of the bedrock gave rise to the formation of these spectacular waterfalls.
On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law. The concept of nature as heritage was devised and the world’s first national park was born to protect that heritage. In 1897, Brazilian army officer Edmundo de Barros initiated a similar movement to free the Iguazu region from private control and make it accessible to the public in the form of a National Park. It took 40 years for his vision to come true as the Falls form a part of the border between Brazil and Argentina. Once those boundaries were clearly defined, two separate national parks were established, one in each nation. Iguazú National Park in Argentina was established in 1934 consisting of 70% of the falls. Iguaçu National Park of Brazil was established in 1939 with the remaining 30%, albeit a better view and enough hydroelectric power to light up 40% of the country.
The Argentine side of the falls offers more adventure and access. To protect the endangered species from being run over by private vehicles, the national park is explored via a picturesque Rainforest Ecological Train with a refurbished footbridge system over the river. Frankly, this system provides a much more comfortable condition for contemplation of the wonderful landscapes, by taking you extremely close to the brink of the falls.
The last day of my trip on this side was filled with many novel experiences. I stood on top of Salto Bossetti watching gravity turn the otherwise placid Iguazu river into a ragey waterfall. The water of the mighty Devil’s throat sprinkled on me from a distance of only 50m. And when the boat took me under the San Martin falls showering me with nature’s bounty, it infused me with its energy, weeding out the everyday drudgery from my fraught mind and leaving it in a state of blissful peace.
Video Link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/uw2nrYFLRaApZcNP7
