ECO-TOURISM - MARAJÓ

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’.

By: Bianca Gaspar e Marcus Wanzeller