>> TRAVEL IGUAZU FALLS - Argentina

They were seen for the first time in the year 1541. Back then, they were given the name of Santa María Falls, but later the Indian name, "Iguazú", which "Big Water" in the Guaraní language, prevailed.

They are located within the Iguazú National Park, 18 km. away from Puerto Iguazú; they were declared National Estate of Mankind by the UNESCO in 1984. Following the course of the Iguazú River you can find the falls 22km before it flows into the Paraná River. In the upper part of the falls the river runs forming meanders of varying wide, and it has small islands. As from San Agustín island the river becomes wider, 1,500 meters in its widest part, and forms a big "U", that contains the great fault of the land that origins the falls. In its great curve, several obstacles, islets, and long islands divide the river in several parts. When they reach the ravine, each of them forms a fall, that all together form the great fan of the Iguazú Falls, formed by 275 falls of different heights (as from 70 meters) and volumes of water, some of them of immense beauty.

Its main falls are: Dos Hermanas, Mitre, Belgrano, Rivadavia, Tres Mosqueteros, San Martín and Bozzetti.

The National Park preserves the lush subtropical vegetation that surrounds the falls. Two thousand different species of plants: giant trees, ferns, lianas, orchids; and 400 different birds: parrots, hummingbirds, toucans, Yaguaretés, tapirs, capybaras, gato onza (ounce cats), ant bears, and pumas.