Mocona, Saltos del

One of the most unique of the planet's large-river waterfalls, Saltos de Mocona drops about 35 feet over the side of a 6000-foot long trough carved lengthwise into a basaltic formation along the Rio Uruguay. As the river bends around a sharp curve, the majority of the water flows along the top of the trough and falls over its side upon straightening. The result is a waterfall which averages almost 6700 feet in width. Visitors can stand opposite the mid-point of the falls and literally see waterfall for almost 180 degrees of view. The falls straddle the border of Argentina and Brazil, and though the most frequented viewpoints are on the Brazilian side of the river, the majority of the waterfall appears to occur within Argentina.The falls go by two names - Saltos del Mocona in Spanish, and Saltos de Yucumã in Portuguese. Both names seem to be commonly accepted, but the prevalence and usage appears to be largely divided along the geopolitical barriers. Because the majority of the waterfall occurs within Argentina, we've chosen to list it using the Spanish name.