The Iquacu Falls

It probably sounds a bit pretentious to say we took a holiday away from the boat, but that’s exactly what we did.

This furlough took us down to Brazil’s southwest region where the Iguaçu Falls meet at the borders of Argentina, Paraguay & Brazil. What a magnificent sight they are! A panorama of hundreds of waterfalls cascading down through the sub tropical rain forest! In fact, the system consists of some 275 falls along 2.7 kilometers of the Iguazu River. The Devil's Throat, a U-shaped, 82m high, 150m wide and 700-m long cataract, is the most impressive of all, and marks the border between Argentina and Brazil. Two thirds of the falls are within Argentine territory. They are quite unspoiled by man which makes them all the more dramatic.

We spent an entire day hiking on the Argentinean side, and took a dinghy ride up the rapids right up to (and under) one of the falls. We were thoroughly soaked but what a great view and terrific fun. Niagara & Victoria Falls are spectacular in their own way, but these..............!!!

We then spent another day back on the Brazilian side which gives a totally different, but equally as beautiful aspect. I guess this would be a valid excuse for using the word "awesome". It certainly was a worthwhile trip and gave us a little more insight into this huge country.

Nearby is a bird park which was outstanding and, although we are not advocates of keeping birds in cages, this was exceptional. Some of the huge walk-through cages allowed up to get up close and personal and we fell in love with the curious toucans and ever-so-noisy macaws. We thought we'd only need a couple of hours but, when it was closing time, we'd not even progressed half way through and decided to return the following day. Most impressive.

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