In Puerto Iguazu, the travelers can use the services of the ecological train, a means of communication that will take them to the Garganta Station to experience floating for three kilometers through the Upper Iguazu Delta. A trip in the little ecological train is an attractive and different way to get to know the delights of the Park. It carries an average of 150 passengers for seven kilometers to the walkways of the incomparable Devil's Throat in a journey of 20 minutes.

The rail-track runs alongside part of the River Iguazu, and little by little enters the green Misiones foliage, where local birds, accustomed to the train's passing, can be seen showing off their brilliant colors.

On arrival at Garganta Station, the staff of Iguazu Jungle Explorer give a brief safety talk that includes details about the experience the traveler is about to have.

Wearing life jackets, the travelers board the rubber boat and are taken to the Upper Delta of the River Iguazu. The current is calmer there, because the basalt in the bed of the river is more resistant to water erosion and so the Iguazu spreads out, making little islets that are true refuges for the local fauna.

When the passengers begin floating they are soon in communion with the environment. This kind of excursion gives a direct and very special contact with nature, in an atmosphere of amazing silence, broken only by the sounds of the insects, amphibians and birds.

Hints and information

• To avoid insect bites it is advisable to wear ankle socks, and to use neutral, unscented soaps and shampoos, as well as the classic repellent.
• The use of sunscreens and hats is also recommended.
• Approximate duration: 30 minutes.
• Departures: every 20 minutes, as from 9 a.m., from the Devil's Throat Station.

RAINFOREST SAFARI
Tourist opportunities in the Iguazu National Park are diverse and varied. Leaving the wonderful environment of the Falls for a while, it is possible to make a rainforest safari. This consists of a 20-kilometer trip through the Yacaratiá Grande trail, which is closed to private vehicles to avoid disturbing the environment.

The traveler advances gradually into the virgin red soil, that harbors more than 2,000 species of vegetation that occupy practically all the space between the earth and the tops of the taller trees, linked to each other by a web of climbing plants, lianas and epiphytes.The wilderness route leads through primary Paranarainforest, with its plants and trees of enormous size struggling to reach the rays of the sun. Palm trees, yacaratías, Misiones cedars, palos rosa, araucarias and arborescent ferns seem to multiply everywhere.

The visitor can see from close up what he or she has seen only in books and documentaries: ants of all types and sizes, butterflies, paradise birds, and, if lucky, even one of the most beautiful of the big cats on the planet, the jaguar, and other felines such as the yaguareté and the puma (mountain lion or cougar). They will also see the human-shy but fierce yacaré alligators, as well as the land-dwelling mammals that live in the region: tapirs, deer, wild boar, etc., and will smell the characteristic odor left by a herd of wild boar to mark their territory.

One feature of the area is the spectacular wealth of bird-life. There are more than 500 species among which are the colorful humming-birds, fruit-eaters, parrots, toucans and trogons, and multicolored butterflies that fly and settle high up on the tree-trunks.

Hints and information

• To avoid insect bites it is advisable to wear ankle socks, and to use neutral, unscented soaps and shampoos, as well as the indispensable repellent.
• The use of sunscreens and hats is also recommended.
• The journey along the path takes abut two hours, in specially prepared 4WD vehicles, open-topped in order to take photos and to film in greater comfort.
• Regular departures daily.