Iguassu—Those Fabulous Falls!

By “Awake!” correspondent in Brazil

THE tourist bus enters the National Park, travels several minutes through dense tropical rain forest, and screeches to a halt in a clearing. From the depths of the canyon a mighty roar booms up to us. Then we see the masses of water plunging 66 m (217 ft.) onto the rocks below—the first of a series of 300 thundering falls comprising the famous Iguassu Falls in South America.

Picture the setting and the array of colors: the blue sky, the dazzling white of tumbling waters, the dark-brown basalt rocks of the cliffs, and all of this framed by the luxuriant green of the immense rain forest stretching out toward the horizon.

A descending pathway on the Brazilian side takes us deeper and deeper into the gorge. Notice the way some of the shrubs and grass patches cling to small ridges on the cliffs right next to the turbulent waters. And look at the bright sunlight illuminating the white spray that billows up from the bottom of the gorge. Suddenly, we see rainbows all along the northern rim, on the Argentinian side.

Closer and closer we get to the main part of this intricate system of major and minor cascades—the famous Garganta do Diabo (“Devil’s Throat”). There are several surrounding cataracts, all of which are in the latter part of the horseshoe-shaped canyon. They receive most of the water coming down the Iguassu River, which is nearly four km (2.5 mi.) wide at this point.

Back up the pathway to the street, we walk on a few hundred meters and see for the first time the source of all these abundant waters, the “Great Water,” or Iguassu in the language of the Guarani Indians. From here we may take a “Devil’s Throat Tour,” described this way in a tourist folder: “Subject to favorable weather conditions, this tour is a canoe ride to the edge of the biggest waterfall—Devil’s Throat—which is 300 feet high!”

The next morning we go to the Argentinian side and start a two-and-a-half-km (1.6-mi.) hike along the edge of the precipice. While from the Brazilian side we got the panoramic, overall view, here on the Argentinian side we can admire each drop individually. For most of the way we are crossing over from one island to the next by means of concrete walkways.

Something we had not noticed so much the day before are butterflies of all sizes and colors. One variety is hovering over shallow water in huge yellow clouds. Noisy flocks of colorful parrots pass by in sweeping flight. Brown swallows do not seem to tire of darting into clouds of spray that shoot up from the precipice like jets, only to reappear a few seconds later.

Our guide tells us that the forest still teems with jaguars, wildcats, monkeys and snakes. But do not worry. All the tourist usually sees are little gray lizards on the rocks!

By now we stand face to face with the roaring waters of the “Devil’s Throat,” much closer than on the previous day, so close that we can feel the vacuum created by the waters plunging all around us. An average of 2,000 cubic m (70,632 cubic ft.) of water fall here each second! What a mighty demonstration of dynamic energy in Jehovah God’s creation!

In 1940 the Brazilian government reserved 205,000 ha (506,500 acres) of jungle next to the falls as a national park. A few years earlier a similar arrangement had been made on the Argentinian side. Today modern roads and airports connect this resort area of breathtaking beauty with the rest of the world.

If you ever come to South America, do not fail to come to see the amazing Iguassu Falls!