By Natalia Kidd and Carlos Meneses |
Puerto Iguazú (Argentina), (EFE).- The darkness of the night, the murmur of the water and the mysterious sounds of the jungle. The Iguazú Falls, on the border between Argentina and Brazil, offer the possibility of delving into its bowels under the light of the full moon and living a unique sensory experience.
Declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco and recognized as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the Iguazú Falls impress the thousands of tourists who visit them every day.
But an even more ineffable experience arises when the sun sets and the night gives way to the stars, the perfect hour in which 60% of the animal species that live in this Paraná jungle refuge that is the Iguazú National Park are activated. , the most visited in Argentina.
In that parenthesis between when the sun hides and the moon has not yet risen, the darkness forces you to gradually adapt your eyesight and exercise your other senses.
Beautiful moon
On the way to the Garganta del Diablo, the mightiest of the waterfalls of the Iguazú River, the murmur of the torrent is heard, the song of some bird. The mist begins to caress her face. It smells like sweet in the atmosphere. But little is seen. Until there, on the horizon, lined with palm trees and the waters of the Iguazú, the full moon begins to rise, an unparalleled spectacle.
The full moon in this month of July has appeared singularly large and with reddish tones. And the environment becomes magical. The waters rush painted silver. And beyond, a rainbow is drawn. Yes: in the Falls there are lunar rainbows.
“At night you live a lot of other experiences in the jungle that during the day, due to the bias of the view, we do not see,” Luis Rojas, a park ranger at the Iguazú National Park, tells EFE, who invites you to fill yourself with “energy”. with which the jungle vibrates from twilight.
Because the full moon transforms the fauna and flora in a crucial way. The sap of the trees flows more intensely towards the crowns due to the force of attraction, while for many animals it represents a real danger.
“Nightlife is nocturnal because it needs to hide,” says Rojas. The prey are more cautious, as they are more exposed to the intense glare of the satellite and are forced to take shelter to avoid a tragic end: being hunted by their predators.
Foul odors and ghostly wails
The night in the Paraná jungle also reveals imperceptible odors during the day due to the dominance of sight over the other senses.
In the midst of darkness, a stench suddenly invades one of the dirt roads that wind through the Iguazú National Park. It’s a fetid scent. His origin, a harvestman, and he feels threatened.
This type of arachnid, a kind of long-legged bug, gives off a strong smell of sulfur to repel anyone who wants to attack it.
But there are other aromas in the jungle: the fruits, the leaves of some plants when rubbed against them, and even the corpses of animals release other odors at night, according to Rojas.
This mixture of olfactory stimuli is mixed with the cracking of the leaves, the chorus of cicadas and even the dying lament of the urutaú, a nocturnal bird that blends in completely with the environment. It camouflages itself as if it were a tree branch.
“Her song is very ghostly, she sings like a woman who is crying or lamenting,” describes the park ranger.
the elves of the jungle
In addition to the rich biodiversity, Guarani mythology tells that within the Paraná or missionary jungle “there are many goblins”, among them Yasy Yateré, “the son of the moon”, an albino boy with blond hair, who becomes a bird.
The bird linked to this legend is real and there are two types: the small yasy yateré and the large one.
All this “within the magic of the goblins, the guardians of the animals”, indicates Rojas who dares to imitate the song of Yasy Yateré with a melodious whistle. He assures that, even today, it is heard in areas of grasslands and scrublands during twilight.