Devils throat Iguaçu falls, Brazil
Brazil,  Independent travel,  Outdoor Activities,  Photography,  Travel Blog

From The Coast To The Falls: Heading South

March 28, 2024 /

With the buses leaving at awkward times and featuring difficult connections, we opt instead to do a deal with a local driver in Paraty to take us all the way to our overnight stop at Guarulhos, nearly four hours’ drive away. As we leave the jewel which is Paraty behind and head up into the mountains, we ponder on whether crossing the range will take us out of the rain and back into sunshine.

In reality the exact opposite occurs – the weather deteriorates considerably and by the time we’re on the freeways our driver is battling spray, surface water and worsening visibility. Pools of rainwater dance and splash in the pouring rain in the streets of Guarulhos as we pull up outside our one night stand hotel and bid farewell to our driver who now has another four hours of those conditions ahead of him on his journey home. We wish him well.

A rainy day in Guarulhos, Brazil
Not our best ever view

From our twelfth floor window, Guarulhos looks to be a nondescript, industrial city, and, under the heavy skies and teeming rain, we joke that we may as well be looking out at Sheffield. Only when we see the TV newsreels in the hotel bar does the seriousness of the situation dawn on us: some parts of South East Brazil have suffered 100 millimetres of rainfall in 24 hours, causing tragic landslides and extensive damage to properties in both Rio and São Paulo, the latter just 40 minutes from where we are now.

We are in Guarulhos for a single night simply to position ourselves for a domestic flight in the morning as São Paulo airport is actually here rather than in the main city, and with the weather as a big deterrent we opt to eat at the hotel, which is pretty rare for us. Our 1 hour 40 minute flight reunites us with the sun, which beats down from clear blue skies above our next destination, the town of Foz do Iguaçu.

Coming in to land at Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil
Approaching Iguaçu

Or, more accurately, our hotel near but not quite in the town, much closer to our reason for being here at what is not only the southernmost point of this trip but in fact the farthest south we have ever travelled. So far, anyway. Foz do Iguaçu is the gateway town to an incredible place, one of the “new” seven wonders of the natural world – although finding a definitive list of any of the “seven wonders” of various types is not as straightforward as it should be. 

View of Iguaçu falls from the Brazilian side
Just part of the falls

I digress. This is the home of Iguazu Falls, or at least the Brazilian side of them, one of the most spectacular, incredible natural sights anywhere in the world. First, here’s a few mind blowing statistics:-

There are almost 300 separate cascades in the whole falls system.

At its height in rainy season, over 1.7 million gallons of water PER SECOND tumble over the clifftop.

From end to end, the falls are 2.7 kilometres long.

Iguazu is therefore by some measures the largest waterfall system in the world.

The River Iguazu is over a kilometre wide as it approaches the cataract.

View of Iguaçu falls from the Brazilian side
Iguaçu Falls

Statistics is one thing, being here to see this incredible sight is another thing altogether. OK let’s start with the tourism aspect: according to virtually any book or website you care to read, Iguazu is one of the most visited tourist sites in the world, and, there’s no hiding from it, it is extremely busy. The trail walkways are by necessity rather narrow, too – so visiting Iguazu means wrestling with big crowds and patiently waiting your turn at the viewpoints.

View of Iguaçu falls from the Brazilian side
Iguaçu Falls

But sometimes you just have to cope with these things if you want to see a major sight. The approach reminds us of visiting the Grand Canyon in some respects: it’s a long way inside the national park, there is a large visitor centre at the beginning and there are networks of internal transport to get to the major points. However, unlike Grand Canyon, apart from a handful of short jungle trails, visitors are restricted to prescribed walkways.

View of Iguaçu falls from the Brazilian side
Rainbows form over the Iguaçu Falls

Eighty per cent of the falls lie on the Argentinian side – the river is the border between Brazil and Argentina – so consequently the most expansive views are from this, the Brazilian side. This also explains the two spellings – Iguaçu is Portuguese and Iguazu is Spanish, each derived from words in an indigenous tribal language which translate as “big water”. 

View of Iguaçu falls from the Brazilian side
Just downstream

It’s quite hard to describe in words what an amazing sight these falls are, such is the huge vista of multiple falls varying in size and volume of water, the clouds and rainbows which form and then disappear in the spray, the shapes and whirlpools which evolve in the waters below, the sheer expanse of what we are looking at. Truly, it’s spellbinding.

View of Iguaçu falls from the Brazilian side
Raw power

Following the walkways takes us past the deepest part of the canyon, and thus some of the highest drops – the biggest falls drop more than 80 metres – until eventually we reach the most spectacular section, known as Garganta del Diablo, or The Devil’s Throat, where numerous colossal falls force huge quantities of raging water through a narrow gorge. Roughly half of those 1.7 million gallons per second rage through this chasm which is less than 90 metres wide.

View of Devils throat Iguaçu falls from the Brazilian side
The Devil’s Throat

Standing on the walkway above the water, close to the Devil’s Throat, the roar of the water is thunderous, the spray sometimes as heavy as rainfall, but above all the sheer raw power of what we’re witnessing is what leaves the most lasting impression. “Awesome” is not one of my words….but this place is bloody awesome! So awesome that we visit the falls on two consecutive days and still don’t tire of the incredible sensation of just being here and feeling that raw power.

View of devils throat Iguaçu falls from the Brazilian side
The Devil’s Throat

And then there’s the crazy boat ride, on board a sturdy inflatable speedboat with around thirty passengers, racing through the raging rapids and then the daftest, most fun part of the hour, when the “skipper” takes the boat right under one of the falls, giving all passengers a thorough dousing and pounding at the hands of the falling water. It’s a bit of touristy fun but it is exactly that: fun.

View of Iguaçu falls from the boat tour, Brazil
View of Iguaçu falls from the boat tour, Brazil
View of Iguaçu falls from the boat tour, Brazil
On the crazy boat ride

On each of our two days of exploring the National Park and the amazing falls, it’s too tempting to just relax in the evening after walking all day, use the hotel bar and restaurant, and not venture into the town of Foz do Iguaçu at all – but then, the town is described everywhere as “modern” and “uninteresting” and is 12 kilometres away. We don’t feel that we’ve missed out.

View of Iguaçu falls from the Brazilian side
Iguaçu Falls

In our plans for future trips we harbour ambitions of a much longer trip through South America, including exploring Argentina, so now, next up from Foz de Iguaçu, is a trip across the border, just to get our first feel for that country.

A few days in Argentina is next….and this time, in the town….

In the meantime, witness that raw power in this short video clip…..

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