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Cataratas del Iguazú, Misiones Province, Argentina
GPS: -25.693079217868, -54.434771713475
The Iguazú Falls are made up of an impressive 275 waterfalls. They are shared between the Argentinian province of Misiones (80%) and the Brazilian federal state of Paraná (20%), on the borders of Paraguay. These waterfalls are among the largest on the planet. They are part of an ecosystem of exceptional natural wealth, nestled in the heart of a humid subtropical forest (one of the last fractions of the Atlantic Forest or Mata Atlântica). The natural site of Iguazú Falls is administratively divided into two contiguous national parks: the Iguazú National Park (Parque Nacional Iguazú) created in 1934 on the Argentine side, and the Iguaçu National Park (Parque Nacional do Iguaçu), founded in 1939, on the Brazilian side.
The Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca discovered the Iguazú Falls in 1541. At that time, this region was inhabited by an Amerindian community locally called Mbyá, belonging to the Guaraní indigenous people. This territory quickly passed under the authority of the Catholic kings of Spain and its inhabitants were the object of a massive evangelization on the part of the religious order of the Society of Jesus at the beginning of the 17th century (this process is known under the name of the Jesuit Missions of the Guaranís). In the 20th century, the Iguazú Falls gradually opened up to tourism activity. Various bridges and observation platforms on both sides of the Argentina–Brazil border offer spectacular points of view. The most famous of them masterfully overlooks the Devil’s Throat, the largest waterfall on the site (700 metres in length and 80 metres in height) which creates a permanent mist cloud. Tirelessly, the Iguazú Falls form an impressive linear stretch of 3 kilometres of waterfalls at the confluence point of the Iguazú River and the Paraná River. The volume and power of its waters constitute a visual and acoustic wonder.
Visiting routes, hiking trails, boat trips, sports and outdoor recreation allow you to get as close as possible to the multiple waterfalls cascading from the jungle. In this place of natural wonder, you will experience lush vegetation composed of approximately 2,000 species of plants. In total, more than 500 different varieties of birds and wild mammals coexist around the exhilarating Iguazú Falls.