Iguazu Falls - Brazil side, the Itaipu dam and the bird park

Our friend had recommended to visit Itaipu dam, which is one of the world’s technological wonder and one of the biggest in the world ( after the 3 Gorges one in China ). As far as I recall, it’s not that easy to visit dams, usually they are high security area. At Itaipu you can chose between a few different tours, but only one brings you inside, that’s the one we booked. 

And it’s a surprisingly fascinating visit, especially when you are inside the dam structure and you see the hundreds meter below and the height still above you. The structure itself is really imposing, but inside – you feel so small. We were given a ton of facts and numbers about the dam, but these figures didn’t stay in my head so you would have to google this if you where curious to know more. 

We also got a glimpse of the control room and of the spinning axis that links the turbine to the magnetic part that produces electricity. ( this was a very noisy part of the visit but still fascinating ). Overall, it’s the size and gigantic scale of this construction and marvel of engineering that you have a lot of issue wrapping your head around. It’s impressive.

The tour stops at a few panoramic viewpoints around the dam, and you can admire it from afar – you need a good panorama mode in your phone to be able to get a picture encompassing it in one shot !

This tour took us the entire morning, we were done at exactly 12 ( on the dot ! ) and we still had the Brazilian side of the Iguazu falls to see. We also wanted to visit the bird park, but that was only if we had the time. For convenience we booked an uber to go directly to the national park, we had planned a picnic for today, so that we wouldn’t be losing time transiting through town – It ended up being the best decision.

Once at the park, we got lucky and could jump straight away into the bus that drives you the start of the trail and were dropped off in from of the Belmont hotel. On the Argentinian side, it’s a Grand Melia, which is super modern and huge – on the Brazilian side, the Belmont is a colonial style building with a lot more style. If I was to spend the 900 to 1,000 USD dollar a night to stay by the falls – I would certainly pick the Belmont. 

The Brazilian side of the Iguazu falls offer a wider perspective, because you are a little further away from them. You get a better appreciation for their width. Also their platform that goes at the bottom of the devil’s throat is a lot more awe inspiring that the one from the Argentinian side in my opinion ( where you are on top ). Plus, we got a superb day and there were a lot of rainbows along the falls and walkways. We have gorgeous pictures of today. This side is shorter, there is only one pathway to explore and in about 1h ( taking your sweet time ) you have seen it all. Then you had the buses and transport in/out of the park, and it took 2hours to visit the Brazilian side.

Which one did we prefer ? We liked the Brazilian side better, we felt it was more awe inspiring because you could see a wider angle of the falls. On the Argentinian side, you are much closer – and on top of it ( expect for the lower circuit ) – and I think that you lack the perspective to truly understand the magnificence of it all. Needless to say, Argentinian development of the falls is for mass tourism – there are no restriction on the number of people who can go in, and a lot of smaller attractions are clustered in the park. Whereas in Brazil, because of the bus system to bring you from the entrance of the park to the pathways – it limits the number of visitors. It makes for a less crowded experience and a more enjoyable one too in my opinion. If you only had time for one side – Brazil would be my recommendation.

We are back at the entrance of the park a little before 3pm and walk the 5min to the bird park. Online it said that it closes at 4pm and we are worried that we won’t have time to see it, because 2hours would be the right amount of time. Online was wrong, it closes at 16:30 and we decide to give it a go. 

We would probably have overlooked this bird park too if it wasn’t for these same friends’ recommendation. And again, they were right. There were the most beautiful birds and they propose a visit in walk-in aviaries so you get to see them flying around you, not just behind a cage. The park itself is beautiful, with lots of trees, flowers and water features. Outside of the aviary we saw wild toucans as well, just walking around. It was great. We took our sweet time and we finished the visit right at the closing time.  We only had to cross the road again to catch the public bus (number 120) back to town.

I must say today was packed, and yet we got to visit everything without any hurry – we could enjoy everything. From a marvel of engineering to incredible natural wonder ( and a picnic with a superb view !) and interaction with animals.  What a great day.