Iguazu waterfalls – not to be missed

Before I saw Iguazu, I knew its waterfalls were considered to be among the most impressive in the world, but none of the images I’d seen before prepared me for the scale and beauty of the place. That’s why I made the above video and put it on Youtube. It’ll give you an idea of why visiting the falls is such an amazing experience.

At the falls, the Iguazu river drops 80 metres. That’s a drop 30 metres greater than the one at Niagara falls, except at Iguazu, the drop is in two distinct steps. The Iguazu falls are also twice as wide as Niagara  – spread over 2.7 kilometres compared to Niagara’s 1.2 kms, so instead of a few big cascades, Iguazu has hundreds of them. Depending on the season, there can be anywhere between 150 – 350 separate cascades.

This makes for a spectacularly beautiful sight, in multiple directions. Surprisingly, apart from vision, it’s not sound that dominates your senses but smell – the freshness of so much clean air fully charged with negative ions from all of that falling water.

The Iguazu falls are on the border between Brazil and Argentina. (This video was shot from the Brazilian side).  Getting to Iguazu by road from either from Brazil’s Rio de Janerio or Argentina’s Buenos Aires can mean a journey of several days. Fortunately, there are airports on both the Argentine and Brazilian sides.

Tip: If you plan on getting close to waterfalls I highly recommend you come prepared with a waterproof camera or housing. (Most of the “wet” footage in this video was shot with a waterproof GoPro 5 – long since superceded).

PS: This footage was shot pre-COVID-19