Situated in Iguazú National Park, 20 kilometres from Puerto Iguazú in the north of Misone province, the Iguazú Falls are on the borders of Brazil and Argentina. In Guarani language, the term Iguazú means great waters. Iguazú was discovered in 1541 by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and established in 1984 as Natural World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is the second largest waterfall in the world after Victoria Falls in Zambia.
Iguazú’s source is in Paraná state in Brazil, and after crossing 1,200 kilometres on a plateau, it reaches a fault forming a crack in the interleaved layers of sandstone and basalt where the river runs.
This river runs through a smooth geography until it reaches a series of faults, and falls suddenly into an 82-metre canyon, the Devil’s Throat, where the water produces a thundering sound then flows into the Parana River.
A legend says that a big snake called Boi lived in the river. To calm its ferocity, aborigines sacrificed a woman every year as an offering. However, a brave Guarani aborigine kidnapped the woman and saved her from the traditional rite escaping through the river. Boi burst in anger, bent its body and split the river forming the cataracts separating the man and the woman.