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For centuries, Iguazu Falls has attracted explorers, scientists, political figures, artists and international celebrities. Some came in search of new routes, others travelled to study the rainforest, and a few played an important role in protecting the area or promoting it around the world.
The following personalities are among the most famous travellers associated with Iguazu Falls.
Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca is generally recognized as the first European to document the waterfalls.
In 1541 or 1542—historical sources differ slightly on the precise year—Cabeza de Vaca was travelling toward Asunción when his expedition encountered the immense system of cascades already known to the Indigenous inhabitants of the region.
He named them Saltos de Santa María, although the Indigenous name eventually prevailed. Iguazú comes from Guaraní words commonly translated as “Great Water” or “Big Water.”
Cabeza de Vaca did not “discover” Iguazu in the modern sense, since Guaraní communities had inhabited and travelled through the region for generations. Nevertheless, his written account introduced the waterfalls to European geographic records.
Victoria Aguirre was a wealthy Argentine traveller and benefactor who participated in one of the first organized tourist expeditions to Iguazu Falls in 1901.
The journey was extremely difficult. There were no modern roads, comfortable hotels or established visitor circuits. Although the expedition experienced logistical problems, Aguirre immediately recognized the destination’s extraordinary potential.
She later donated funds to improve access between the river port and the waterfalls. Her financial support contributed to the construction of an early road and helped begin the transformation of Iguazu from an isolated natural site into an accessible tourist destination.
One of Puerto Iguazu’s principal avenues bears her name in recognition of her contribution.
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Carlos Thays, the influential French-Argentine landscape architect responsible for many of Buenos Aires’ most famous parks, visited Iguazu at the beginning of the twentieth century.
In 1902, the Argentine government commissioned him to survey the waterfall area and develop proposals for tourism and conservation.
Thays understood that Iguazu required more than roads and hotels. He believed the surrounding rainforest needed to be protected as part of the visitor experience. His reports and recommendations became important early steps toward the eventual creation of Iguazú National Park in 1934.
His visit represents a turning point in Iguazu’s history: the moment when organized tourism and environmental conservation began to be considered together.
Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont visited Iguazu Falls in 1916. At the time, much of the land surrounding the Brazilian side was privately owned, and access to the waterfalls was restricted.
Deeply impressed by the landscape, Santos-Dumont travelled to Curitiba and spoke with the governor of Paraná about protecting the area and making it publicly accessible.
Shortly afterwards, the state government expropriated land around the falls for public use. This was an important early step in the conservation process that eventually led to the creation of Iguaçu National Park in 1939.
Santos-Dumont is consequently remembered as one of the Brazilian park’s most important historical supporters. A statue in his honour stands near the waterfalls today. His 1916 visit has also been studied as a significant episode in Brazilian conservation history.
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One of the most repeated stories about Iguazu involves Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady of the United States.
According to popular tradition, she was so impressed by the scale of Iguazu Falls that she exclaimed:
“Poor Niagara!”
The phrase has become internationally famous and is frequently used to compare Iguazu with Niagara Falls.
However, the story should be treated as an anecdote rather than a fully documented quotation. Different accounts give different dates for Roosevelt’s supposed visit, and a clear contemporary primary source for the exact words is difficult to locate.
Whether she actually used that precise expression or not, the story reflects the reaction of many North American travellers when they encounter Iguazu’s enormous width, hundreds of individual cascades and rainforest setting.
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Iguazu Falls reached an enormous international audience through the 1986 film The Mission, starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons.
The production used Iguazu and its surrounding rainforest as one of its principal natural settings. The waterfalls were not merely a background: they became a central visual element in the film’s story about Jesuit missions, Indigenous communities and colonial conflict in South America.
Members of the international cast and production team spent considerable time in the region during filming. Scenes showing the waterfalls helped introduce Iguazu to millions of viewers who had never previously heard of the destination.
The movie won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, further strengthening the global visibility of Iguazu Falls.
Iguazu appeared again in a major Hollywood production in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, released in 2008.
The waterfalls were incorporated into one of the film’s most spectacular action sequences. Although cinema frequently combines footage, studio effects and geographically unrelated locations, Iguazu’s unmistakable landscape is clearly visible.
The appearance connected the destination with one of the world’s most famous adventure-film franchises and presented it to a new generation of international travellers.
Iguazu Falls also inspired the fictional landscape of Wakanda in Marvel Studios’ Black Panther.
Aerial images of the waterfalls were used in scenes representing Warrior Falls, the ceremonial site where important events take place in the movie. Additional elements and digital effects transformed the real landscape into part of the fictional African kingdom.
The film’s worldwide success once again placed Iguazu before an enormous global audience. Many viewers later searched for the real location behind the spectacular waterfall sequences.
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Not every famous visitor came to Iguazu as an ordinary tourist. Cabeza de Vaca arrived as an explorer, Carlos Thays as a government-appointed landscape specialist, and Santos-Dumont became an advocate for conservation. Film actors and production teams later brought the landscape to cinemas around the world.
Their visits illustrate different stages in the history of Iguazu:
Today, travellers follow modern walkways and reach the waterfalls within a few hours of Buenos Aires, São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro. The experience is far easier than it was for Iguazu’s earliest visitors, but the reaction remains remarkably similar: surprise at the scale, sound and power of the “Great Water.”
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