Iguaçu falls - a genuine wonder of the natural world

I'll explain my bucket list inclusion of Iguaçu. I like a waterfall. Back in the early 80's I loved northern Thailand with its trekking and its neck crushing fresh water cascades. There, I saw waterfalls up to 15 meters tall.

Of course, I had seen films of Naiagra Falls, with its crashing drop and tales of people shooting the rapids in a barrel. I also remember watching Attenborough travel up the Zambezi from Victoria Falls, back when I was a child.

These were my childhood 'must see' waterfalls. I haven't made it to either. So when my son went travelling in South America and came back talking about Iguaçu I resolved that it deserves a bucket list slot. I hadn't been aware that both Victoria and Naiagra falls are dwarfed by this giant. To be honest, I hadn't been aware it existed. I certainly wasn't aware that it was the biggest falls in the world.

I really really want to be impressed by waterfalls.

Fun facts (especially for the urologists amongst you):

Max Flow rate:

Iguaçu 45,700 m3/sec

Victoria. 12,600 m3/sec

Naiagra 8,200 m3/sec

Width:

Iguaçu 3.0 km

Victoria. 1.8 km

Naiagra. 1.2 km

Height:

Iguaçu 90m

Victoria. 100m

Naiagra. 50m

Pretty impressive facts ? Iguaçu is absolutely mind blowingly huge. And although inevitably I show some pictures here, the reason it has to be on your actual bucket list is that the scale is simply not capturable to anything other than the human eye and brain. So the only way to comprehend this spectacle is to see it for yourself.

Additionally, it's the border between Brazil and Argentina, so viewing it properly involves looking at it from the Brazilian side and walking above it on the Argentine side.

Best bit, from the Brazilian side you can get a boat ride up to the falls, even venturing through the outer spray. You can't get a ride through the falls or behind it because 45,700 m3/sec would kill you on impact. So there is awe, luxury travel, adventure and jeopardy involved in properly seeing this wonder.

I'm a doctor, so I'm duty bound to remind you of things you probably already know, in a patronising style. I do it for a living. These falls are known in Portuguese as Cataratas. Cataratas, or Cataract in English is a term used for both the rapid white falling wall of water, and for the eye condition characterised by progressive whitening of the lens of the eye. It comes from the Greek katarrhaktēs. Kata meaning down, and the rest meaning rushing. Historically, physicians believed the clouding of the lens was caused by an opaque fluid "pouring down" like a waterfall into the eye, or because the white appearance of an advanced cataract resembled the white of a waterfall.  It's like the BBC here at NHSOTR!

My blogs are definitely not genuine travel blogs, because I rarely tell you anything worth knowing, but this one contains one fact worth remembering. If you want to see the biggest and most powerful demonstration of the ferocious power of nature, anywhere in the world, get yourself to Iguaçu.