Talking about deserts in Brazil, a country which contains 30 percent of the world’s fresh water and has the biggest tropical jungle on the planet, sounds wrong, but it isn’t. The Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in Maranhão State is the reason why. An expanse of some 300 kilometers of white dunes and lagoons that could well be considered one of the most fascinating places in the world.
Surrounded by large mangroves, home to clams, crabs and birds (in fact, the region is one of the best for birdwatching), the dunes stretch from the coast for more than fifty kilometers inland, forming a sheet of perfectly white sand from which derives its name: Lençóis Maranhenses.
But the high rainfall in this country is what makes this nature park so interesting to visit. The large amount of rain, it has an annual record over 300 times that of the Sahara Desert, forms large lagoons in the sand dunes, which fill with wildlife for several months. Fish, tortoises and clams populate these lakes, only to disappear as if they had never existed during the dry season. How is it possible, then, that life is generated so easily? The explanation is fairly simple. It never left. The eggs of the species living there survive in the sand dunes while they are dry, and break open to make way for life when the water returns to fill them.
Visiting this desert could seem complicated, but it is not, since those living in the small surrounding villages are used to tourists and warmly welcome anyone who wishes to visit. In Barreirinhas, for example, there are hostels, restaurants offering typical regional dishes, and craft businesses. The locals, who for years – almost until the area was declared a National Park – were isolated from the modern world, live a simple life and follow their old customs, such as fishing in the rainy season and working at the edges of the park in the dry season.
A desert in Brazil. You will never forget it.
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