Iguaçu (lado brasileño)

Declared in 1939, it protects the Brazilian side of the Iguaçu Falls, a system of 275 separate cataracts stretching for almost 3 km along the border between Brazil and Argentina, with a maximum drop of 80 metres at the Devil's Throat. Local Guaraní legend has it that the falls were formed when a serpent god, jealous of a forbidden love between a young woman called Naipí and a warrior, split the river into a chasm to keep them apart for ever. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986 alongside its Argentine counterpart, the Brazilian park offers the widest panoramas of the falls as a whole, while the Argentine side allows a closer and more immersive approach to the individual cataracts.