Posted on 28.11.2012, 18.02.2013, 15.11.2013, and 18.07.2014
"It is said that many years ago, there was a big and monstrous serpent which lived in the Iguazú river and its name was Boi. Once per year, the guaranies had to sacrifice a beautiful maid as an offer to Boi, by throwing her to the river. All the tribes, including the ones which lived far away, were invited for this ceremony. One year, a young boy whose name was Tarobá, became leader of the tribe. When Tarobá knew the beautiful maid Naipí was the chosen girl for the sacrifice, rebelled to elderly members of the tribe and tried in vain to convince them of not offering her. In order to save Naipí, he decided to kidnap her the night before the sacrifice."
"So he put her on a canoe and escaped by the river. But Boi knew about this; she became furious and her anger was so deep that she vent over her back, split the river forming the falls catching Naipí and Tarobá. Boi turned Tarobá into trees, that we can observe from the upper circuit, and the long hair of the beautiful Naipí into the falls. Then Boi submerged in the Devil's Throat and from this place she watches Naipí and Tarobá never come together again... however, on sunny days the rainbow surpasses Boi's power and join them..."
Taller than Niagara Falls, twice as wide with 275 cascades spread in a horsehoe shape over 2.7 kilometres of the Iguazu River, Iguazú Falls (named also Iguassu Falls or Iguaçu Falls; in Portuguese Cataratas do Iguaçu, and in Spanish Cataratas del Iguazú, from the Guarani words for Big Water) is actually the result of a volcanic eruption which left yet another large crack in the earth. Lying on the Argentina - Brazil border, in the place where the Iguazu River tumbles over the edge of the Paraná Plateau, 23 kilometres upriver from the Iguazu's confluence with the Paraná River, it was discovered by the Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541 (do you remember the fascinating movie The Mission?). In March 1944, when she saw it, Eleanor Roosevelt exclaimed "Poor Niagara!" It seems to be only a legend, because Eleanor Roosevelt never saw this waterfall (read here), but it is as beautiful as that from the beginning of my post.
The waterfall is shared by the Iguazú National Park (Argentina) and Iguaçu National Park (Brazil), the two parks being designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1984 and 1987, respectively, because "conserve one of the largest and most spectacular waterfalls in the world comprised of a system of numerous cascades and rapids and almost three kilometres wide within the setting of a lush and diverse sub-tropical broadleaf forest. The permanent spray from the cataracts forms impressive clouds that soak the forested islands and river banks resulting in a visually stunning and constantly changing interface between land and water."
The two parks also "forms the largest single protected remnant of the Paranaense subtropical rainforest, which belongs to the Interior Atlantic Forest. The rich biodiversity includes over 2000 species of plants, 400 species of birds and possibly as many as 80 mammals, as well as countless invertebrate species." In 2011 it was announced as one of the seven winners of the New Seven Wonders of Nature.
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