With just one month to go to the start of the first Olympic Games in South America, organizers are racing to the finishing line to deliver the Olympics, and athletes are fine-tuning preparations for the unique experience they will remember all their lives.

Meanwhile the Rio 2016 torch is approaching the Opening Ceremony. The places visited include the magnificent waterfalls of Iguaçu, near the triple frontier of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

Here, at one of the continent’s most visited natural landmarks, tourists from across the region said they hoped the Games would raise the global profile of South America and showcase its culture and hospitality through the world’s greatest stage.

In the indigenous language of the region, Iguaçu simply means ‘great water’, a diminutive name for what must be one of the most awe-inspiring waterfalls in the world; in total a series of about 275 cascades, up to 82 metres (269 feet) high, crash over a plateau that stretches out for 2.7 km (1.7 miles). In the rainy season, the volume of water here can dwarf that of waterfalls such as Niagara.

As well as the spectacular sight of the waterfalls, the surrounding subtropical rainforest is home to fauna such as tapirs, giant anteaters, howler monkeys, ocelots and caiman alligators, as well as some 400 species of birds, such as the elusive harpy eagle.

The falls straddle the border of Argentina and Brazil, just upriver from the triple frontier with Paraguay, and have been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1984, making them one of the most visited in the world.

Indeed, in Brazil, Iguaçu is the second most visited national park in the country, second only to the national park of Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro, where Christ the Redeemer is located. In 2015, 1.6 million tourists visited the national park of Iguaçu, of which 730,000 were foreigners, over half of whom came from other countries in South America – and not only from neighbouring Argentina and Paraguay.