Upon arrival to the hotel, we noticed the sound of an abrupt and enormous drop-off of water breaking the Parana plateau. What amazed us is that such astonishing set of waterfalls originated after a massive volcanic eruption that might have happened some 135 million years ago and due to the presence of a softer layer of sandstone, the water penetrated and undercut the harder basalt deposition and therefore the falls were born. We enjoyed viewing some of the 275+ mind-blowing tumbling waterfalls that today continue to erode the underlying rock, thus retreating the falls upstream.
With such nature wonder in front of the hotel entrance, we met in the first afternoon for a short introductory walk which ended in the lookout area of the falls. As soon as we started walking the paved road a pair of Black-fronted Piping-Guans were found feeding on fruits of a locally named cinnamon-tree along with Chestnut-eared Aracari, Toco Toucans and Plush-crested Jay. Meanwhile in the sky, a massive number of Great Dusky Swifts were swirling around to later scoop into the falls to spend the night. Seeing these swifts like kamikazes approaching to the waterfalls (given the speed to which they reached the wall) was fascinating. Wonderful birdlife, impressive waterfalls and the intriguing Atlantic Rainforest were in front to our eyes. Welcome to one of the greatest wonders of the world, the Iguacu Falls!
BRAZIL: IGUAÇU FALLS
September 1 – 5, 2024
Compiled by David Ascanio
eBird Trip Report:
https://ebird.org/tripreport/272545
