Parnaiba Delta

The Parnaiba reaches the Atlantic not through a single mouth but through five arms, breaking into roughly eighty islands of sand, mangrove and dune - and because it discharges straight into open ocean rather than into a gulf or lagoon, it is routinely described as the only open-sea delta in the Americas. Boat trips thread the igarapes between mangrove walls to reach dunes on Ilha do Caju and Ilha das Canarias, where the settlements make a living from crab, fish and carnauba palm. The wildlife draw is the scarlet ibis, which comes in to roost in the mangroves in the late afternoon and turns whole trees red; guaras, the local name, are the reason many people book the sunset run rather than the morning one.

What you actually see

• An open-sea delta - five arms discharging straight into the Atlantic.
• Eighty islands of mangrove and dune - the channels threaded by small boat.
• Scarlet ibis at dusk - guaras coming in to roost and reddening the trees.
• Carnauba and crab villages - the settlements on Canarias and Caju.

When to go

July to December. Two days. Book the afternoon run for the ibis.

Honest expectations

This is a boat trip and the day is long. The delta is not a beach destination - water is brown and muddy at the margins. Sun exposure on open boats is heavy, and biting insects are serious at dawn and dusk in the mangrove.

Nearby

Lençois Maranhenses is west along the coast; Jericoacoara is east in Ceara.