Iguazu Falls
Wednesday, 26th July 2006 by James Turnbull
The Iguazu Falls are situated on the border of Argentina and Brazil, who both claim the falls as one of their top tourist destinations. In peak flow the water has a massive surface area of 1.3 million square feet, split over about 270 separate falls.
Iguazu Falls are wider in area than the Niagara or Victoria falls and despite being reportedly more spectacular than both have failed to achieve as much fame. When the First Lady Mrs. Roosevelt saw Iguazu Falls she exclaimed "Poor Niagara", yet to be honest I hadn't heard about Iguazu until about 10 minutes ago. Still, I've learned my lesson now and read the Wikipedia page.
Thanks: PZ, Doug Olson, Vinicius Lage, Zara, Román Gorojovsky, Michael Walter & Spamboy
That’s pretty cool. How do you go about finding something like that?
That is pretty, but you used the wrong word on the last sentance.It should be learned not learnt
I was there in last month. It´s fantastic. And the florest around have animals very interessant (and funny).
Unluckily seems that the waterfall are running out of water these days
They carry only 20% of normal flow of water
http://spanish.peopledaily.com.cn/31617/4632501.html
Thats not good news! I was there about 10 months ago and the water levels were very high. The main part of the falls featured here is on the Argentinian side which is by far the best. This youtube gives you a sense of the scale of the devils throat:
Hmmm Josh, “learnt” is the exact same word as “learned.” However, due to the variations between how the American English language and the British English language have evolved, we are more familiar with the past tense being “learned.” And James, you should know better than to listen to someone whose correction includes the misspelling of the word “sentence.” 😉 (I’m just teasing here btw! But it is true that both spellings are correct.)
I visited Iguazu in 1999, and it was an incredibles sight. We also took a boat up the river to get a close look at the falls. The area around the falls is quite beautiful as well. We went on a tour of the forest and saw many interesting animals and such. If you are in the area it is definitely a sight worth seeing.
Wow. Thanks for sharing that. As a bit of a geography buff, I’m so ashamed to admit I’ve never even heard of this amazing place.
The name in Argentina is “Iguazu” and, in Brazil is “Iguaçu” “Abraços” from São Paulo, br
In the Iguazu Falls photos you have a yellow flower that you needed the name of: Allamanda Cathartica or commonly called Golden Trumpet Vine. Highly toxic sap-native of Brazil but grown worldwide by hardwood cultivation. Beautiful waxy petals hybridized in several colors.
It is a pity about the falls being so low at the moment, but they will recover I have no doubt.
They are quite incredible, completely and unambiguously surpassing Niagara. I think only the Victoria falls are more impressive, though they’re much harder to see because it isn’t split into so many chunks and just falls as one ‘cutain’ into that chasm… Anyway – I certainly find those the 2 greatest (the Wiki page you point us ot says how the surface area of Iguazu is over twice that of Niagara, and Victoria Falls over 3 times!).
I read that 1 guy who said that low water ‘it’s revealing a new kind of beauty’. I’m afraid that seems like trying to keep tourists coming… I hope come september taht they are raging again…
I have some closeup shots of the “Devil’s Throat”, both from upfront and up above, on my Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/spamboy/tags/iguacu/. The cacophony of white noise as so much water crashes down is awe-inspiring.
Amazing pictures!
They are amazing. But I find the ‘Vic’ falls even more impressive than Iguazu. Since most people cannot fly to both quicklly, have you checked them out on Google Earth? INCREDIBLE! I looked at Niagara, Iguazu and Victoria all from 4000 feet above the ground (at that height Iguazu and Vic Falls pretty much fill up screen) to get an honest comparison, and it is incredible to see.
I’ve been to the wiki page you mention and even according to it (and other sites I have seen on the web) the area of victoria falls is much larger than Iguazu. i.e. of Victoria’s 1.708km every bit is in flow in high season, whilst of Iguazu’s 2.7km only 1.8km is. That still makes Iguazu slightly wider, but since most of Iguazu are 64m tall (tallest bit just under 82m) and Victoria ranges from 97m to 108m, Victoria’s area of falling water is about 40% larger (1.8 million square feet versus 1.3 million. Niagara about 600 000 – so Iguazu is twice the size of Niagara but Victoria is three times).
Iguazu has an amazing shape – which allows you to go and see the falls leisurely and take it all in in manageable chunks. You can do that with vic falls by flying above them (‘wow’ is the only word). Iguazu is stunningly stunningly beautiful.
I used to live in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I was born there but I left to the US when I was 4, I knew I wasn’t going to go to iguazu falls because it was to far away but I always wanted to go there ’cause I always heard people talking about it.