Autor: MPS Som e Iluminação | Publicado: 2010-05-28T17:04:00-07:00

ECOTOURISMNature right next to you                      Ecotourism in Pará is part of the daily life. And it is no wonder. After all, you are in the Amazon. In the Belém metropolitan region alone, there are five environmental parks, and, in any one of them, the splendid Amazonian flora will treat you with unforgettable surprises. And you will enjoy the unique experience of being in the jungle under the rain.In the urban zone of Belém, with a population of over one million, 500 different bird species have been already classified, and are totally integrated in the life of the city. Among these species, parakeets, “sabiás” (song-thrushes), “curiós” (finches), “sanhaços” (tanagers) and hawks fight for space and food in the thick canopies of the mango-trees and “samaueiras” (kapoc-trees), and in the amazing number of fruit palm-trees – “açaí’, “pupunha” and “bacaba”, among others – that cover the city with a lush green vegetation.Belém Environmental Park (Utinga)                                                                                           With an area of over 13.4 square kilometers, it is one of the largest Environmental Protection Areas located within a metropolitan region all over Brazil. Within this park, there are the springs that supply water to Belém and also the Bolonha and Água Preta lakes. The springs are located within a forest that shelters a large number of mammals, birds, fish, insects, reptiles and chelonians, whose footprints can be spotted along the trails, in the guided tours.                     Belém Ecological Park                     The Park, with an area of 0.44 square kilometer, is aimed at environmental education and is also open for visits and cultural activities. It is a breathing space for the city and a didactic showcase of life in the Amazônia.                     The Emílio Goeldi Zoobotanical Park                     Located in the heart of the town, the Park houses samples of scientifically organized and classified Amazon flora and fauna. It is the ideal place for those who want to have a preview of what awaits them during their adventures in the Amazônia.                     Mosqueiro Island Municipal Park                     The municipality of Belém has approximately 60 islands, and the Mosqueiro Island is one of them. The Municipal Park, which is considered a preservation unit, has an area of 1.9 square kilometer and is formed by three islands covered with lowland forests (floodplains of the major white-water rivers of the Amazon), with patches of secondary forest. Guided tours within the Park are allowed along 3 kilometers of trails.                     Gunma Ecological Park                     Still within the Metropolitan region, in the municipality of Santa Bárbara, is the Gunma Ecological Park covering an overall area of 5.4 square kilometers. The Park has 4 square kilometers of primary forest. Hiking in the trails is allowed, and intense educational activities are conducted in partnership with Japanese counterparts.                     Atlantic Amazônia. Sea and Jungle                      The Atlantic Amazônia – entirely located in the State of Pará – offers a mix of sea and forest unmatched by any other region in the word – the mix of biodiversity.The coastline of Pará coastline is where birds stop to rest during their long trip between the Antarctic and the arctic, in islands covered with tropical forest and surrounded by plentiful sea fauna.Also, The coastline of Pará has one of the largest and richest extensions of mangroves in the whole planet, interspersed with wild beaches with fine white sand. The mangroves occupy an area of over 100 kilometers long, with an average width of 20 kilometers, offering spectacular sceneries.                                          Bragança. Beaches and mangroves                     Located some 200 kilometers from Belém, with access by road and good tourist infrastructure, Bragança is a town dating back to the colonial period and is the starting point for the tours to the mangroves and to the beautiful Ajuruteua Beach.One of the greatest attractions of the place is fishing in the “paranás” (small waterways created by islands on the course of the main river) that cut across a primitive and exuberant landscape, full of small animals and home to communities descending from the Tupinambá Indians. These communities keep alive a rich folklore that explains and interprets the surrounding nature.                     Canela and Itaranajá. Bird Cradles                     The Canela island – close to the Bragança coast – is an Environmental Protection Area and part of a group of islands that shelter migratory birds. In the Canela Island specifically there are thousands of nests of “guarás” (red, long-legged birds resembling flamingos) that breed there. It is one of the largest nesting places in the world.On the coast of Salinópolis – a sophisticated bathing resort 200 kilometers away from Belém – is Itaranajá. A small oceanic island full of nests of herons, guarás, wood-peckers, “arirambas” (king-fishers), and wild ducks. At dawn and at dusk, the flight of the flocks offer a spectacle that, by itself, is worth the trip.                                           Urumajó. Cradle of turtles                     Located in the municipality of Augusto Correa, on the border with Maranhão, Urumajó is a portion of the vast mangrove that covers part of the coastline of Pará. This Environmental Protection Area holds an immense diversity of typical flora, and is the place chosen by the sea turtles to lay their eggs, on long beaches swept by winds, under the equatorial sun. Being a wild area of difficult access, it is ideal for those who look for peace and quiet.                     Marajó. Rural and Wild                     On the Marajó Island, it is hard to tell where rural life ends and the wildlife begins. Cattle and buffalos (photo) live together in harmony with herons, which peck insects from their furs, and with capybaras. The rich Amazonian biodiversity is everywhere, even in the country farms of this island, located at the mouth of the Amazon River and which is part of a large archipelago of the same name.From February through May, the rains flood the pasture fields and land vehicles are replaced by water vehicles, using the same roads and amid exuberant vegetation. From May through January, sightseeing of the island will take you both to fresh water beaches and to vestiges of pre-Columbian civilizations. The starting points for so much adventure are Soure and Salvaterra, twin towns located east of the Marajó Island.In the same archipelago is the Caviana Island, with an area of 5 square kilometers, and the best site for watching the ‘pororoca’, the encounter of the waters of the Amazon River and of the Atlantic Ocean in April and September. There is also the Mexiana Island, equipped with a resort specialized in ecotourism, the right place for a direct contact with the Amazon jungle and the great ‘sea-river’.                                          Experience the jungle                     Several biodiversity preserves are located in Pará. These preserves are stretches of forest, chosen for being sanctuaries to unique species. The National Forests, the Parks and the preserves offer the ecotourists a wide array of options, in each one, the experience of biodiversity presents a new face.Caxiuanã National Forest – 300 square kilometers of dense forest, accessible only by boats leaving from Belém. In this forest lies the Emílio Goeldi's jungle-base, where researches may be developed at a site where nature remains untouched.Tapajós National Forest – Located in the Central Region of the Brazilian Amazon, in the west of Pará, the Tapajós National Forest, headquartered in Santarém, has an area estimated in 6 square kilometers.Universities and scientific institutions develop research on the peoples who have lived in the area for hundreds of years. The area is accessible by road.Saracá-Taquera National Forest – Located to the west of Oriximiná city, with an area of 4.3 square kilometers, and accessible only by boat along the Trombetas River, this National Forest offers canoeing, sport fishing, and trails for hiking, and houses of population groups descending from the “quilombos” (communities of run-away slaves).Tapirapé-Aquiri National Forest –with an area of 1. 9 square kilometers and is located between the municipalities of Marabá and São Felix do Xingu, in the south of Pará. Large predators, such as jaguars, can be found in the region.                                                                                                                                                                                                 The thrill of the land                     Mountains, caves and life in ancient times. This trilogy, amid the Amazonian forest of Pará, offers an endless string of surprises. Pará has three hilly regions, and each has peculiar characteristics, affording new sceneries and new thrills at each footstep.                     City of the Gods –A gigantic formation of calcareous rocks, eroded by water and wind, arises in the middle of the dense forest. It is the city gods, in the municipality of Alenquer, North of the Amazon River, where ancient peoples left inscriptions and rupestrian paintings, and where figures sculpted by natures generated legends and myths over the course of time. Ererê Hills –The indigenous word meaning “once more, good-bye” is the name of a ridge full of cliffs and caves covered with fascinating rupestrian inscriptions and paintings, portraying mystical figures, and dating back to over 12 thousand years. The inscriptions are representations of the sun, the moon and other elements relating to the cosmos. The place is located in the municipality of Monte Alegre, North of the Amazon River.                                                                Paituna Hills –Or Pay-tuna, green water lake, in the Tupi language. Caves offer subterranean landscapes of great beauty, enhanced by panels of rupestrian paintings. On the top of the hill, the Pedra do Palão (Palão Stone), a large rock formation sculpted by the wind, stirs human curiosity. Also located in the municipality of Monte Alegre.Serra dos Martírios/Andorinhas State Park –located in the southeast of Pará, in the municipality of São Geraldo do Araguaia, with an area of 250,000 square meters, these hills house 80 archeological sites with over 5,000 rupestrian paintings and engravings, with an estimated age of 8,300 years. There are 36 smaller and 26 larger caves, and 28 waterfalls. The area is home to hundreds of species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish, also holding an extraordinary vegetal diversity. In this enchanted landscape, 16 population groups of fauna, and 3 of flora are preserved.Buritirama Hills Still in the southeast of Pará, next to the Itacaiúnas River, in the Preto River region, the Buritirama Hills house archeological sites and geological resources still unknown to researchers. The Casa da Cultura Foundation has already identified 107 plant species, 40 of which are orchids, and 211 species of vertebrate animals were catalogued, 11 of which are included in the endangered species list. In the archeological field, 13 sites ware discovered and documented.A surprise with Nature's enormous diversity, underlined in every landscape from dense virgin forests to wide-open wilderness of ocean beaches.                                                                                      By: Bianca Gaspar e Marcus Wanzeller