IGUAZU FALLS

'Iguaçu Falls' (Iguaçu Falls; Portuguese: ''Cataratas do Iguaçu'' IPA ; Spanish: ''Cataratas del Iguazú'' IPA ) are waterfalls of the Iguazu River located on the border of the Brazilian state of Paraná and the Argentine province of Misiones, around the coordinates . They divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu.
The name ''Iguazu'' comes from the Guarani or Tupi words ''y'' (water) and ''guasú'' (big). Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful aborigine named ''Naipí'', who fled with her mortal lover ''Tarobá'' in a canoe. In rage, the god sliced the river creating the waterfalls, condemning the lovers to an eternal fall. The first European to find the falls was the Spanish Conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541, after whom one of the falls in the Argentine side is named. The falls were rediscovered by Boselli at the end of the nineteenth century, and one of the Argentinian falls is named after him.

Contents

Geography

Access

Comparisons to other famous falls

Iguazu Falls in fiction

Iguaçu Falls in music

External links

Geography

The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along 2.7 kilometres (1.67 miles) of the Iguazu River. Some of the individual falls are up to 82 metres (269 feet) in height, though the majority are about 64 metres (210 feet). The ''Garganta del Diablo'' or Devil's Throat (''Garganta do Diabo'' in Portuguese), a U-shaped 150-metre-wide and 700-metre-long (490 by 2300 feet) cliff, is the most impressive of all, and marks the border between Argentina and Brazil. Most of the falls are within Argentine territory. About 900 metres of the 2.7-kilometre length does not have water flowing over it. The edge of the basalt cap recedes only 3 mm per year.
The water of the lower Iguazu collects in a canyon that drains into the Rio Parana.

Access

The falls are easily reached from the two main towns on either side of the falls: Foz do Iguaçu in the Brazilian state of Paraná, and Puerto Iguazú in the Argentine province of Misiones as well as from Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) on the other side of the Parana river from Foz do Iguaçu . The falls are shared by the Iguazú National Park (Argentina) and Iguaçu National Park (Brazil). These parks were designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1984 and 1986, respectively.
On the Brazilian side there is a long walkway along the canyon with an extension to the lower base of the “Garganta del Diablo”. The Argentian access is facilitated by a train (“Tren a las Cataratas”) (in early August 2007 the name for the free train operated in the National Park is "Tren ecologico de la selva") that brings visitors to different walkways. The “Paseo Garganta del Diablo” is a one kilometer long way to bring the visitor directly over the falls of the “Garganta del Diablo”. Other walkways allow access to the elongated stretch of falls on the Argentinian side and to the ferry that connects to the San Martin island.
The fall area provides opportunities for water sports and rock climbing.

Comparisons to other famous falls

Upon seeing Iguaçu, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed "Poor Niagara!" Vastly larger than North America's Niagara Falls, Iguaçu is rivalled only by Southern Africa's Victoria Falls which separates Zambia and Zimbabwe (this is excluding extremely large rapid-like falls such as the Boyoma Falls). Whilst Iguazu is wider because it is split into about 270 discrete falls and large islands, Victoria is the largest curtain of water in the world, at over a mile wide and over 350 feet (108 meters) in height (in low flow Victoria is split into five by islands; in high flow it can be uninterrupted).



The water falling over Iguazu in peak flow has a surface area of about 400,000 square metres (1.3 million square feet) whilst Victoria in peak flow has a surface area of over 550,000 square metres (1.8 million square feet). By comparison, Niagara has a surface area of under 183,000 square metres (600,000 square feet). Victoria's annual peak flow is also greater than Iguazu's annual peak—9.1 million litres per second versus 6.5 million—though in times of extreme flood the two have recorded very similar maximum water discharge (well in excess of 12 million litres per second). Niagara's annual peak flow is about 2.8 million litres per second, although an all-time peak of 6.8 million has been recorded. Iguazu and Victoria fluctuate more greatly in their flow rate. Mist rises between 30 and 150 metres (100 and 500 feet) from Iguazu's Garganta do Diabo, and over 300 metres (1,000 feet) above Victoria (sometimes over 600 metres).
Iguazu, however, affords better views and walkways and its shape allows for spectacular vistas. At one point a person can stand and be surrounded by 260 degrees of waterfalls. The ''Garganta do Diabo'' has water pouring into it from three sides, which makes for an exceptional sight. Likewise, because Iguazu is split into many relatively small falls, one can view these a portion at a time. Victoria does not allow this, as it is essentially one waterfall that falls into a canyon and is too immense to appreciate at once (except from the air). Iguazu and Victoria are generally regarded as the world's most spectacular waterfalls, with people divided as to which is the more impressive.
As of July 24, 2006 a severe drought in South America had caused the river feeding the falls to become parched, reducing the amount of water flowing over the falls to 300,000 litres (80,000 gallons) per second, down from the normal flow of 1,300,000 to 1,500,000 litres (350,000 to 400,000 gallons) per second. By early December, the flow was spectacular again, according to visiting tourists.

Iguazu Falls in fiction

Some movies the Falls were featured in:

★ ''Shock Corridor''(1963) (16mm color footage of the falls appear for a stylized effect in this black and white film)

★ ''Moonraker'' (1979), 007 film

★ ''The Mission'' (1986)

★ ''Happy Together'' (1997), by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai

★ ''Mr. Magoo'' (1997)

★ ''Miami Vice'' (2006)

★ ''Godzilla 3D to the MAX'' (2007)
In addition to movies, Iguazu Falls has been featured in other media:

★ ''One Life to Live's Tina Lord Roberts went over the Iguazu Falls in 1987, presumably to her death; she later turned up alive, in time to crash her husband's wedding to another woman.

★ At the end of ''Smallville's season 6 premiere a ghostly creature, known on the series as a phantom, is seen speeding across Iguaçu Falls. The falls are wrongly placed in Patagonia in the subtitles.

★ The Falls also appear prominently in the 2005 Honda "The Impossible Dream" TV advertisement.

Iguaçu Falls in music

★ Tortoise's 1998 album TNT contains a track named "The suspension bridge at Iguazu Falls".

★ "Iguazu" is the title of an instrumental song by Gustavo Santaolalla that was featured in the film, ''The Insider'', starring Russell Crowe, the first episode of season 1 of 24, and in the HBO TV series Deadwood. Most recently, it features in the movie Babel, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, a film by the Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, for whom Santaolalla has worked before. The song is based mainly on a repetitive fast-picking pattern played on a charango or a similar guitar-like string instrument from Argentina. Beside these soundtracks, it can be found on Santaolalla's album Ronroco published on Nonesuch in 1998.

External links

★ Iguassu Falls Photos, Travel

★ World Heritage Site

★ Iguazu trip report

★ 28 photos of Iguazu

★ 360° Panoramic video of Iguazu Falls - requires Quicktime

★ Cataratas Tourist information

★ Photos of Iguazu Falls

★ View on Google Maps - includes a short video.

★ More facts, maps and pictures

★ Iguazu falls information

★ Travelogue and pictures of Iguazu

★ Iguazu, Argentina side

★ World Shots. Argentina. Iguasu Waterfalls. - Collection of photographs (English, Russian, Hebrew)