Probably our last big highlight on this trip with our campervan Ben and on the South American continent are the Iguazú Falls. We’ve already heard a lot about it and most visitors like the natural water spectacle. Accordingly, we want to catch a glimpse of it and find out whether we like the Iguazú Falls.

One river – two banks

First, we have to decide which side of the river we want to visit. The Iguazú Falls are located in a triangle of three countries. The banks right next to the waterfalls belong to Argentina on one side and Brazil on the other. Paraguay is quite close, but nevertheless too far away to get a view on the Iguazú Falls. As the title suggests, we treat ourselves to the slightly more expensive entrance fee on the Argentinian side and spend a day walking around the countless waterfalls in the associated national park.

Garganta del Diablo – Devil’s Throat

Right at the start, we want to visit the unofficial main attraction of the Iguazú waterfalls. The Devil’s Throat is the largest and most impressive waterfall within the Iguazú Falls. To beat the many tour buses of visitors, we set off on foot on the 2.5 km walk immediately after the ticket check. Such a walk would of course be too long for the visitors from all over the world. Therefore, there is a small train that transports the mass of visitors to the Devil’s Throat and back. To our advantage. The first train doesn’t leave until a good moment after the park opens, so after our walk we arrive at the front viewing platform before the masses of visitors.

It’s really impressive to see the huge masses of water cascading over the cliff some 150 meters below. The rock is washed out in a U-shape and so we are on the viewing platform right in the middle of the waterfall, so to speak. The water cascades to the left, right and front. And a lot of spray rises from the depths, like drizzle. Although we have been standing above the surface of the water throughout, we are soaking wet after the rather brief moment of amazement. Never mind, the Iguazú Falls provide an experience for all the senses.

Round trips to other waterfalls

The entire region where the Iguazú River plunges over the cliff edges into the depths is lined with many other individual waterfalls. Of course, we refrain from mentioning every single waterfall by name. Nevertheless, we first hike on the upper circular trail, then on the lower circular trail to many waterfalls of the Iguazú River. The upper trail leads past other waterfalls at the top of the falls. This is not quite as spectacular after the Devil’s Throat. Anyway, the view over the area is uniquely beautiful. We often feel like we’ve been transported to a movie: Jurassic Park sends its regards. However, if you don’t have that much time, you can save yourself the upper hiking trail. The lower trail is once again quite impressive. On the Argentinian side, we can only begin to experience the actual height and enormous size of the mountain on this path.

In the end, we spent longer than expected in Iguazú National Park. From the time the doors opened at 08:00 in the morning until the beginning of the afternoon, we were in the park for 6 hours and actually spent almost the whole time looking at the waterfalls and walking around. The tip from other travelers to go straight into the park at 08:00 am paid off for us and we can pass it on without hesitation. As we are only in Iguazú this one time for the time being, we cross the border into Brazil on the same day. We think we can get even more impressions if we also see the Iguazú Falls from Brazil. We will probably write a second blog post about the Iguazú Falls, just from the other side of the river.