Iguazú Falls is a line of 275 separate waterfalls, strung along a curving cliff almost three kilometres wide. The Iguazú River reaches the edge of a plateau here and drops over it. At the centre of the horseshoe is the Garganta del Diablo, the Devil's Throat, a U-shaped chasm eighty-two metres deep. Half the river funnels into it and disappears into a permanent cloud of its own spray, which is visible from kilometres away. The name is Guaraní for 'big water'. The river marks the border between Argentina and Brazil, and about four-fifths of the falls are on the Argentine bank. Iguazú falls from a greater height than Niagara and spreads along a wider front than Victoria Falls. The cliff is ancient volcanic rock, and the river has cut its many separate steps by wearing away the softest seams in that rock.
Seeing it takes both sides and, ideally, two days. On the Argentine bank, metal catwalks carry you above and below the cascades, out to the lip of the Devil's Throat and down to the boats that push into the spray until you are soaked through. The Brazilian side keeps its distance and shows the whole line of falls in a single view. Around the water survives a rare block of the Atlantic interior rainforest, loud with birdsong. The park counts more than 450 bird species. Among them are the great dusky swifts, which fly straight through the falling water to reach nests hidden behind it. Coatis, raccoon-like animals, work the trails looking for dropped food. The first European to record the falls was the conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541. Argentina drew a national park around them in 1934, UNESCO added the site to its World Heritage list in 1984, and in 2011 a worldwide public vote named Iguazú one of the New7Wonders of Nature.