| Created by federal decree nr. 1035
of January 10, 1939, the Park comprises a total
area of 185,262.5 and a length of about 420km,
300km of which are natural borders by bodies of
water and the Brazilian and Argentinean sides
together comprise around 225 thousand hectares. |
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On November 17, 1986, during the UNESCO conference
held in Paris, the Iguaçú National
Park was listed as Natural Heritage of Humanity
and is one of the largest forest preservation
areas in South America.
The Iguaçú National Park owes
its name to the fact it includes an important
area of the Iguaçú river, approximately
50km of the length of the river and the world
famous Iguaçú Falls.
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It is the most important park of the Prata Basin and,
since it is a haven to a significant genetic asset of
animal and vegetal species, it was the first park in
Brazil to receive a Management Plan.
The Iguaçú National Park is spectacular
as well as pioneering. The first proposal for a Brazilian
national park aimed at providing a pristine environment
to "future generations", just as "it
had been created by God" and endowed with "all
possible preservation, from the beautiful to the sublime,
from the picturesque to the awesome" and "an
unmatched flora" located in the "magnificent
Iguaçú waterfalls". These were the
words used by Andre Rebouças, an engineer, in
his book "Provinces of Paraná, Railways
to Mato Grosso and Bolivia", which started up the
campaign aimed at preserving the Iguaçú
Falls way back in 1876, when Yellowstone, the first
national park on the planet, was four years old.
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In Brazil the Park has boundaries with the
following municipalities: Foz do Iguaçu,
Medianeira, Matelândia, Céu Azul,
São Miguel do Iguaçu, Santa Terezinha
de Itaipu, Santa Tereza do Oeste, Capitão
Leônidas Marque, Capanema and Serranópolis.
Click
on the map to zoom in…
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As foreseen by Rebouças, the park's basic
goal is the preservation of the highly relevant ecologically
and scenic natural ecosystems, thus enabling scientific
research and the development of environmental education
and interpretation activities, recreation in natural
surroundings and the ecological tourism.
The Park is located in the westernmost region of
the state of Paraná, in the Iguaçú
river basin, 17km from downtown Foz do Iguaçú.
It borders Argentina, where the Iguazu National Park,
which was implemented in 1934, is located. The border
between the two countries and their national parks
is made by the Iguaçú river, whose source
is near the Serra (mountain range) do Mar near Curitiba
and runs for 18 km throughout the state of Paraná.
The river estuary is located 18km downriver from the
Falls, where it flows into the Paraná river.
This meeting of rivers forms the triple Brazil, Argentina
and Paraguay border.
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The area of the park open for visitation
and where the concession areas of Cataratas do
Iguaçú S/A are located, accounts
for approximately 0.3% of the total area of the
park.
The most spectacular sightseeing of the park
is the Iguaçú Falls, which form
a 2,700m wide semi-circle, while the waterfalls
filled visitors with awe as they watch the water
foam that plunges down from a height of 72m.
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The number of waterfalls ranges from 150 and 300 depending
on the Iguaçú river flow. Besides the
exuberant waterfalls, there are other attractions
such as rich fauna, the Poço Preto (the Black
Well), the Macuco Waterfall, the Visitors Center,
the Santos Dumont Statue, a homage paid by VASP (an
airline company) to the "Father of Aviation",
who lent all his prestige and efforts in turning the
falls area into a National Park.
www.ibama.gov.br/parna_iguacu
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The Iguaçu National Park 
