Lençois Maranhenses

Lençóis Maranhenses, desert near São Luís - photo by TERRA BRAZIL (www.terra-brazil.com)

By Terra Group

Jewels in the Brazilian crown, those infinite sand dunes scattered with crystal clear water lagoons, at some 6 miles from São Luís, are located in the National Park of Lençóis-Marahenses ("sheet of the Maranhão" in Portuguese).

These sheets consist of a desert about 63 mile long and 32 mile wide, alongside the Atlantic to the North, and surrounded by tropical forests to the South. Seen from the sky, the scenery is of a rare beauty: the dunes are molded by the wind and the trapped tropical rains have created immense pools of fresh, green and blue waters.

Superb, and unique, this place will intensely move you. Just think about it… crossing a desert of sand, similar to the Sahara, and swimming in unlikely natural pools…and all this in Brazil!

A walk in the heart of this wilderness will move you in a way you have never felt before.

Under an unmerciful sun and in an environment that reminds you of the Sahara, taking a swim at every possible moment and discovering unlikely villages your perseverance will be wholeheartedly rewarded.

It is superb and completely unique and should be classified among the Top 10 places to explore in South American on the same level as Iguaçu Falls, the Salar de Uyuni, the Argentinean Perito Moreno or even Machu Picchu in Peru.