Another spectacular thing to see in this region, even if its not natural, but human made, is the Itaipú dam, the second biggest dam in the world. Its energy supplies 80% of the paraguaian households and 20% (!!) of the brazilian! It is a huge construction which took 15 years to complete. The planning began in 1973 and by 1982 a huge area around the upper part of the Rio Parana was flooded to create what is now the Itaipù reservoir. Not an unproblematic sacrifice for sure. Apparently because of the dam, a waterfall disappeared, which in terms of the amount of water would have been many times (!) bigger than Iguassu – Our guide said something about 40 times more water 😮 . (If you are interested google for “sete quedas”).

Around the binacional territories, which were donated from either countries (Brazil and Paraguay) to the Itaipù binacional company, there are some reserved areas where every employee that worket at least 20 years on the site could plant its own tree.