Saltos del Moconá

The Moconá Falls in Misiones Province break the laws of waterfall geography — instead of water falling perpendicular to a river's flow, here a 3-kilometre fracture running parallel to the Uruguay River creates a lateral waterfall where one half of the river falls into the other half, the water cascading sideways at heights up to 15 metres depending on the river level. When the Uruguay River is running high, the falls disappear entirely beneath the flood; when it drops to the right level, they materialise from the surface like a revelation. They are accessible only by boat from the Argentine side and on foot from the Brazilian side.

Saltos del Moconá (Moconá Falls) are a series of longitudinal waterfalls on the Uruguay River, formed where a geological fault running parallel to the river allows the water to drop over a basalt edge for 3 kilometres — the longest longitudinal falls in the world. The falls are located in the Parque Provincial Moconá and Parque Estadual do Turvo (Brazil), forming a bi-national protected area across the river border. The site is considered sacred by the local Guaraní communities who have lived in the Misiones gallery forest for centuries. The river level is the critical variable — falls above 15 metres are inaccessible and dangerous; below 5 metres the spectacle is reduced; the optimal viewing window occurs for approximately 60-80 days per year, making advance checking of river levels essential. A river-level monitoring system is maintained by the provincial park administration.