Chapada dos Guimaraes National Park

The chapada is an escarpment of red sandstone standing several hundred metres above the Cuiaba plain, and the signature sight is Veu de Noiva, an eighty-six-metre fall dropping off the rim into a bowl of forest, seen from a platform across the gorge. Mirante da Geodesia at the edge of the escarpment looks out over the plain, and the site is often described as the geodesic centre of South America - a claim based on an older calculation that more recent surveys place elsewhere, which the local signage does not dwell on. Cliff faces along the rim hold nesting red-and-green macaws, and hyacinth macaws are seen in the area. Other sites include the Cidade de Pedra rock formations, the Aguas Frias falls and a long series of pools on private land.

History

The park's origins go back to 13 September 1910, when the vice-president of Mato Grosso, Colonel Pedro Celestino Corrêa da Costa, worried about the loss of vegetation at the headwaters of the Coxipó-açu, Manso and Cuiabá rivers, declared the area to be of public utility. In 1984 environmentalists, artists and intellectuals in the state petitioned against a government plan for a tourist complex nearby, in February 1986 NGOs launched a national campaign asking President José Sarney to create a national park, and the park was created three years later, in 1989 (Wikipedia, Chapada dos Guimarães National Park).

The landscape

• Veu de Noiva - an eighty-six-metre fall off the escarpment rim.
• Cliff-nesting macaws - red-and-green macaws on the rim faces.
• Cidade de Pedra - eroded sandstone formations along the escarpment.
• The geodesic marker - the disputed continental centre point at the mirante.

When to go

May to September, the dry season. Two days.

Things to know

Veu de Noiva was closed for several years after a landslide and access arrangements have changed more than once - check current status. Many falls are on private land with individual fees. Distances between sites are long. Heat in the open cerrado is heavy from midday.

Nearby

Cuiaba is an hour south; the northern Pantanal is south-west.

Key facts