Macuco Safari
Foz do Iguacu, Iguazu Falls, Brazil
Long-established and experienced tour operator based in Foz do Iguacu (Brazil) offering a range of boat, white-water rafting and jungle safari tours.
Travel bucket list idea:
Iguacu National Park, Parana, Brazil
|There’s edgier white-water rafting in Latin America, but you won’t find a more spectacular setting than Iguazu. And it’s not just the falls – where the rafting excursion begins. River descents run through the heart of the protected rainforest – so you’ll see parrots and toucans all around, and if you’re very lucky a jaguar, healthy populations of which live in the jungles around the river.
Depending on the water flow, the rapids vary from 1.5 (easy) to 3.5 level (intermediate). They can go up to level IV or even V after very heavy rains in December and January, but tour operators seldom run trips under these conditions.
Numerous agencies in Puerto Iguazu (Argentina) and Foz de Iguacu offer white-water rafting. Macuco are the longest established – with their own transport and an experienced team. Rafting packages include a safari in the rainforest and getting close to the falls on a boat prior to the descent (be prepared to get wet!).
Rafting trips run all year round, seven days a week, except during periods of exceptional high (and dangerous) river levels). The water is fastest between October and March.
Our writer’s recommended tour operators to book with
Foz do Iguacu, Iguazu Falls, Brazil
Long-established and experienced tour operator based in Foz do Iguacu (Brazil) offering a range of boat, white-water rafting and jungle safari tours.
Destination guides including or relevant to this experience
Iguazu Falls, Brazil
Two National Parks – one in Brazil, one in Argentina – created to protect an astonishing 3km-wide waterfalls in a vast area of protected rainforest. One of the world’s great natural wonders.
Round-ups that include this experience
Multiple countries
There are countless rivers with rapids out there that you can ‘raft’, but there are some stand-outs – for the size of their rapids and/or for their exceptional setting. Here are our recommendations.