Iguazu Falls

From the Pantanal, we flew to our other major destination, Iguazu Falls. We spent the first day visiting the falls from the Brazil side, and the second day on the Argentina side. In general, best views of the falls are on the Brazil side, and the falls are experienced more intimately on the Argentina side.

Photos cannot do justice to the falls. It has to be experienced, an incomparable experience at that. In September water is considered to be at 40-50% of top volume, forming countless individual falls, very scenic. It's a good thing we didn't visit Iguazu until now. All waterfalls we are likely to encounter will seem underwhelming.

The free bus from the entrance to the falls.




We stepped off the bus at the Cataract Hotel stop and 30 meters later ....


The walkway continues for about 1 km and the views keep getting better. And we can see the boardwalks on the Argentina side that we will be walking tomorrow.




Rainbow.


More waterfalls upstream.


There are several viewing platforms.


After an hour or so we reached the walkway out towards the so-called "Devil's Throat".




The experience on the walkway is great. Everyone is having fun. There was a bit of spray, but we stayed dry. The 360 view is amazing.










We took the elevator back up to the main path and ate our picnic lunch. More amazing views.








We rode the free bus back to the park entrance, picked up our bags from the hotel, rode bus #120 to the border, crossed into Argentina, and took another bus to the Puerto Argentina Bus Terminal. From there it was a short walk to our apartment. Whew!




Then we had to change money to get some Argentinian pesos to buy groceries.




The next morning, we took a bus from the terminal to the Argentinian Iguazu Falls.


There's a mini train to take you directly to the beginning of the boardwalk to the Devil's Throat. We did two less exciting walks before catching the train.


The boardwalks are literally right over the tops of the falls.






Can you spot Sun-Ling (with the hat)?




From one of the longer boardwalks we spotted a toucan.




On another loop we spotted nesting Great Dusky Swifts on the rocks next to a raging waterfall.


After lunch we rode the train to the Devil's Throat Station and walked out.










And finally made our way back to Puerto Iguazu bus station.

Brazil: Pantanal Part Two - The Boat Tour

John says: The Pantanal Boat Tour from Porto Jofre exceeded our expectations and deserves its own post. We pushed off from the dock at 7:15 am, a few minutes late as there was a problem with the pilot's lunch - ;-) - and did not return until sunset at 5:30 pm.

Sun-Ling adds: While about a couple thousands of jaguars live in the Pantanal, all the jaguar tourism is centered around Porto Jofre, in the Cuiaba River and its tributaries - there are 50 some jaguars that star in the enterprise. They may be habituated, if jaguars can ever be. Nevertheless, seeing jaguars is very exciting business. We were super excited to see our first jaguar on the road to Porto Jofre. It turned out to be a very fortuitous occasion. The jaguar is not one of the usual suspects. It was the first reported sighting for that jaguar. In fact our guide Dani got to name the jaguar and have her added to the next edition of the Jaguar Field Guide. Of course, individual Jaguars are identified by the pattern between the eyes and the top of the nose.

And we're off (first below). The lodge next to ours had a dock made from old tires (2nd below). See the video (3rd) from our guide Dani (@ddanirc) of our boat speeding upriver. Woohoo!






A group of boats filled with camera-toting tourists means "wildlife spotted". In this case, a group of giant river otters who are fishing together.






And minutes later we came across the first jaguar of the day, hanging out in a tree, not oblivious to the people in the boats, just not caring.








Ringed Kingfisher (1st below) and Amazon Kingfisher (2nd).




Jabiru Stork, Nest and Chicks. Check out the enormous crop of the "fishing" Jabiru in the video first below.






Jaguar #2; not so many boats at this spot.




More Giant Otters spotted.




Is there a more beautiful bird than the Rufous-tailed Jacamar?


The tiny white-winged swallow shimmering in the sunlight. Thanks @ddanirc for the photo!


In one of the narrower channels of the river (1st below), we pulled right alongside a Wattled Jacana (2nd below) and watched it walk on top of the water plants.






The elusive jaguar #3, reported to be nursing one of her 2 cubs, was hard to spot in the bushes


Mid-afternoon, the caimans came out to sun themselves with mouths open, ready to swallow prey.


More giant otters. These two were more interested in napping than in us.More video of the napping giant otters.


The giant otters in the short video below were NOT resting.


Our guide Dani spotted a jaguar #4 walking in the water. No other boats were around. Nice. We watched this jaguar swim a bit, then come out of the water to the bank, and climb onto some tree roots to rest.












On another small tributary we watched a Capybara Family Outing along the river (video third below).






More relaxing cruising.




Full speed ahead back to the lodge at sunset.


My Birthday Cake - Thanks Dani!


On the way back to Cuiaba we saw a Yellow Anaconda crossing the road, and followed it into the bushes. Not to mention a stray water buffalo, local cowboys, and a beautiful big sky.