New Continents - Part 8

 

There was a lot of wildlife to see in the area surrounding the falls, we must have seen at least half a dozen different species of lizard but there were also wonderfully colourful birds, reptiles of all kinds, insects and even monkeys, we were told by our guide that there was a programme going on in the park to protect and nurture a group of Jaguar although despite looking hopefully we didn't see any. I snapped this little fella (above) on the Brazilian side but pretty much everywhere you looked you could find something interesting.

On the Argentinian side of the falls the walks were split into lower, middle and upper and the granddaddy of them all "Mirante da Garganta do Diablo" or the "Devils Throat" is accessible via a little tourist train and a 2km walkway. We did all of them and each had a different set of spectacles to see. On the lower trail you were mainly alongside the falls or adjacent to the bottom of them (thankfully not under them!) and mainly in the jungle itself, the main attraction here was the wildlife, so many species of birds, insects and plants too many to count! Anyway see the photo below for one of the more common mammals that we saw, a possum like critter that seemed completely oblivious to our presence..

The middle trail featured mainly the smaller cascades and you could get alongside and above some of these, great views and an impressive 3-4km walk. The upper trail was the big one, it led to the biggest cascade of all and after a one kilometer walk across the main upper river itself you came to a viewing platform that allowed a spectacular view into the "throat" of the devil, I snapped this little video sequence of what it was like although you can't see too much detail because of all the spray however you can see several of the little swallow birds that fly around in front of the fall and the ever present rainbow that seems to frame the whole thing, an amazing experience.

After the natural spectacle that is Iguazu we could have quite happily ended the holiday there but there was more. The next day we headed back to the airport and jumped on a plane back to the city, a final four day farewell to the continent and a chance to sample the delights of the capital city, Buenos Aires bound we packed our cases once more..