Iguazu Falls
| Iguazu Falls | |
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View of Iguazu Falls
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| Location | Misiones Province. Paraná (state). |
| Coordinates | 25°41′12″S 54°26′41″WCoordinates: 25°41′12″S 54°26′41″W |
| Type | Cataract |
| Total height | 60–82 metres (197–269 ft)[1] |
| Number of drops | 275[1] |
| Longest drop | 82 metres (269 ft) |
| Total width | 2.7 kilometres (1.7 mi) |
| Watercourse | Iguazu River |
| Average flow rate |
1,756 m3/s (62,010 cu ft/s) |
The name "Iguazu" comes from the Guarani or Tupi words "y" , meaning "water", and "ûasú ", meaning "big". Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful woman named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In rage, the god sliced the river, creating the waterfalls and 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.
On November 11 of 2011, Iguazu Falls was announced as one of the seven winners of the New Seven Wonders of Nature by the New Seven Wonders of the World Foundation.
Tourism
Access
The first proposal for a Brazilian national park aimed at providing a pristine environment to "future generations", just as "it had been created by God" and endowed with "all possible preservation, from the beautiful to the sublime, from the picturesque to the awesome" and "an unmatched flora" located in the "magnificent Iguaçú waterfalls". These were the words used by Andre Rebouças, an engineer, in his book "Provinces of Paraná, Railways to Mato Grosso and Bolivia", which started up the campaign aimed at preserving the Iguaçu Falls in 1876, when Yellowstone National Park, the first national park in the world, was four years old.
On the Brazilian side, there is a walkway along the canyon with an extension to the lower base of the Devil's Throat. Helicopter rides offering aerial views of the falls have been available. However, Argentina has prohibited such helicopter tours because of the environmental impact on the flora and fauna of the falls.[5] From Foz do Iguaçu airport, the park can be reached by taxi or bus to entrance of the park. There is an entrance fee to the park on both sides. Free frequent buses have been provided to various points within the park. The town of Foz do Iguaçu is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) away, and the airport is in between the park and the town.
The Argentine access, across the forest, is by a Rainforest Ecological Train very similar to the one in Disney's Animal Kingdom.[citation needed] The train brings visitors to the entrance of Devil's Throat, as well as the upper and lower trails. The Paseo Garganta del Diablo is a 1-kilometre-long (0.6 mi) trail that brings the visitor directly over the falls of the Devil's Throat, the highest and deepest of the falls. Other walkways allow access to the elongated stretch of falls across the forest on the Argentine side and to the boats that connect to San Martin Island. Also on the Argentinian side, there have been inflatable boat services that take visitors right under the falls.
The Brazilian transportation system aims at allowing the increase in the number of visitors, while reducing the environmental impact, through the increase in the average number of passengers per vehicle inside the park.[citation needed] The new transportation system has 72-passenger, panoramic-view, double-deck buses. The upper deck is open, which enables visitors a broad view of the flora and fauna during the trip to the Falls. The buses' combustion systems are in compliance with the CONAMA (phase IV) and EURO (phase II) emissions and noise requirements. The reduction in the number of vehicles, of noise levels and speed, is enabling tourists to observe increasing numbers of wild animals along the route.[citation needed] Each bus has had an exclusive paint scheme, representing some of the most common wild animals found in the Iguaçú National Park, including the spotted jaguars, butterflies, raccoons, prego monkeys, coral snakes, toucans, parrots and yellow breasted caimans.
Comparisons to other famous falls
With the flooding of the Guaíra Falls in 1982, Iguazu currently has the second-greatest average annual flow of any waterfall in the world, after Niagara, with an average rate of 1,746 m3/s (61,660 cu ft). Its maximum recorded flow was 12,800 m3/s (452,000 cu ft/s). By comparison, the average flow of Niagara Falls is 2,400 m3/s (85,000 cu ft), with a maximum recorded flow of 8,300 m3/s (293,000 cu ft/s). The average flow at Victoria Falls is 1,088 m3/s (38,420 cu ft/s), with a maximum recorded flow of 7,100 m3/s (250,000 cu ft/s).
Mist rises between 30 and 150 metres (100 and 490 ft) from Iguazu's Devil's Throat, and over 300 m (984 ft) above Victoria. However, Iguazu 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 Devil's Throat in Argentina has water pouring into it from three sides. 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 all at once (except from the air).
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