(Puerto Iguazú) The Igazu Falls on the border between Argentina and Brazil, considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world, were to reopen in full on Wednesday on the Argentinian side, after a partial closure as a safety measure, due to heavy rains and exceptional water flow.
Posted yesterday at 9:29
The administration of the National Parks of Argentina had closed Friday “for security reasons” the circuit leading to the most spectacular fall of the park, called the “Devil’s Throat” because of the “extraordinary rise” of the waters of the Rio Iguazu who feeds it.
The waters licked the steel walkways leading to the edge of the fall, 80 meters, and the usual flow of 1500 to 2000 m3 per second had approached 12,000 m3a consequence of intense and repeated rains in northeastern Argentina and southern Brazil.
Boat tours, which approach the bottom of some falls, had also been suspended. But other circuits in the park, leading to many other falls – the park has 275, remained open to visitors in this low season.
The Iguazu Falls, considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world by the New7Wonders Foundation, welcome around 1.5 million visitors a year.
After several days of inspection and work, the administration of the Parks indicated on Tuesday that “the footbridges and the watchtower of the emblematic” Gorge du Diable will be reopened to the public on Wednesday morning.
“A very small section of the damaged footbridge had to be repaired,” Park guard Rodrigo Castillo told AFP. In 2014, a higher flood than this year washed away part of the footbridges, which have since been rebuilt.
Conversely in 2020, Iguazu Park had experienced a historic drought, with a flow rate lowered to some 500 m3 per second, which had temporarily dried up several falls
The Iguazu National Park, together with its Brazilian counterpart the Iguaçu National Park – both classified as World Heritage by UNESCO – is home to 275 waterfalls (80% of them on the Argentinian side) on an arc of 2700 meters in the rainforest, 1300 km north of Buenos Aires.