Chapada do Araripe

The Araripe plateau rises above the Cariri valley and holds one of the most important fossil deposits in the world: the Santana and Crato formations, laid down about a hundred and ten million years ago in a lagoon whose chemistry preserved animals in extraordinary detail - fish with soft tissue intact, pterosaurs with wing membranes, insects, flowers and one of the earliest known feathered dinosaur specimens. It was named a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2006, the first in the Americas, which is a different designation from World Heritage and covers geological heritage and its interpretation. Nine geosites are marked across the plateau. The springs along the escarpment base fed the towns of the Cariri, and Crato's museum holds the reference fossil collection. Fossil trafficking has been a long-running problem here.

What you actually see

• Cretaceous fossil beds - fish, pterosaurs and insects preserved with soft tissue.
• The first geopark in the Americas - UNESCO Global Geopark status since 2006.
• Nine marked geosites - the interpreted points across the plateau.
• Escarpment springs - the water that built the Cariri towns below.

When to go

May to September. Two days.

Honest expectations

The geosites are spread out and need a car. Collecting fossils is illegal and material offered for sale is likely trafficked. The museum in Crato is modest. This is a place for interest in the geology rather than for scenery.

Nearby

Juazeiro do Norte and the Padre Cicero pilgrimage are below the plateau; Crato is west.