my moments discovery
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Added together, pristine nature plus Unesco world heritage equals a zone that is still a “pure” Brazilian destination. We're talking about an area on the same latitude as Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's very remote. So remote that it offers a virgin natural environment. In order to better localise where we are, think Maranhão, one of the most north-eastern of Brazil's 26 federal states. The capital city of Sao Luis, with its ocean tides that run a differential of almost 18 metres, generally has a hot and humid climate typical of the tropics, although its dry season starts in August and continues through December. The city centre, with its buildings decorated 54 M Y MO MEN T S
with majolica and azulejos tiles, is protected by Unesco. Starting from here, our road trip takes us over 130 miles of dirt roads running through an ever-changing landscape, in the direction of the National Park Lençois de Maranhenses. First, it's all high forest before becoming scrub brush, where sand is increasingly present until at last it dominates the land. The people's houses, built of brick with straw roofs, are scattered here and there near the town of Barreirinhas, the gateway to the Park. The Maranhenses area measures 600 square miles of sand along a 43-mile-long strip, with dunes rising to a height of 130 feet that are interspersed with turquoise fresh-water lagoons. The rainfall in this desert is 300 times more than in the Sahara. We cross a river and then find still more sandy tracks forming what looks like a real labyrinth. They seem to lead us nowhere and, for a moment, we feel like navigators from the Old World searching for the Americas. However it's peaceful here. The sun continues