Iguacu: Brasil

Once in Brasil we headed straight to Camping International which to our surprise had a number of large American style RV’s in residence. This was a much better place to stay than anything we had found in Argentina and even had a swimming pool.

In the morning we headed off to the Brasilian side of the falls which is much smaller than the Argentinian side and took us only 2 hours to visit all the attractions. It is also much cheaper which was appreciated.

The entrance to the national park is some way from the boardwalks and this necessitates a short bus ride which is included in the ticket price. Then there is a boardwalk which hugs the cliff with small viewing platforms every few hundred metres.

The viewing platforms are very small and can easily be overwhelmed so it is important to try to get inbetween the large tour groups to get them as empty as possible. However there were not too many people on this side and certainly much less than on the Argentinian side.

The best bit of the Brasilian side of the falls comes at the end of the cliff side boardwalk where a long lone boardwalk heads out across the river in the shadow of a long waterfall into the mouth of the Canyon of the Garganta del Diablo. Here the spray and thundering of the waterfalls is awe inspiring and the view up the canyon is beautiful.

After enjoying the Brasilian side of the falls we visited Parque das Aves which is just outside the entrance to the National Park. This is a bird park with lots of stunning parrots, toucans and other local birds.

There are a number of walkthrough cages here that allow you to get up close and personal with the birds. Sarah got very close to one parrot that landed on her head and started to peck at the clip in her hair. Fortunately one of the park workers saw this and rushed to her aid.

The Brasil side of Iguacu gives much more of a panoramic view of the falls despite being smaller. The final boardwalk into the middle of the canyon is also very spectacular and puts you in the middle of the fury of the falls. All this coupled with the lower number of visitors made this side my favourite. However this is not to take away from the Argentinian side which is magnificent in its own way – just with a lot more people.