Lençóis Maranhenses

Lençóis Maranhenses National Park Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses IUCN Category II - National Park
location	Maranhão , Brazil
surface	1550 km²
WDPA ID	61
Geographical location	2 ° 32 ′  S , 43 ° 7 ′  W Coordinates: 2 ° 32 ′ 0 ″  S , 43 ° 7 ′ 0 ″  W
Setup date	1981

The Lençóis Maranhenses National Park (sheets of Maranhão) , in Portuguese Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses , is an extensive dune area in northern Brazil . It is located on the coast of Maranhão state .

An area of ​​1550 km² was declared a national park on June 2, 1981 . The fixed and shifting dunes extend up to 40 km inland, thus creating the only desert in Brazil despite the relatively high rainfall (around 1500 mm). The temperatures range between 16 ° C and 36 ° C. Winds are often strong.

The starting point for tours in the national park is Barreirinhas . Other parts belong to the places Humberto de Campos and Primeira Cruz . There are several lagoons in the national park. Your water level depends on the rain. After a long dry season, many lagoons are completely dry, but the excursion destinations Lagoa do Peixe or Lagoa Bonita always have water.

With a slow liner or a boat taxi you can go from Barreirinhas to the coast to Caburé and Atins . Caburé is situated on a headland between the river and the sea and consists of only half a dozen guest houses. Atins is a small place from which you can walk straight into the Lençóis . From the lighthouse nearby you have an impressive view. From Caburé you can take a jeep through the Pequenos Lençóis to Paulino Neves or Tutóia .

flora

Various grasses and shrubs grow on the beaches, including sandgrass, beach grass and rose thorn. Various cacti of the genus Cereus can often be found near the dunes . Outside the desert is surrounded by mangrove forests. The red mangrove ( Rhizophora mangle ) and the white mangrove ( Laguncularia racemosa ) dominate here.

fauna

Crabs and turtles come to the beaches to lay their eggs. These include the common turtle and the hawksbill turtle , which is threatened with extinction. Furthermore, fish, shrimp and molluscs live in the lagoons, although the water almost completely evaporates in the last months of the year. Most aquatic animals die as a result. The spawn - just like the latency eggs of the Daphnia - survives in the still moist lower layers, and the brood only hatch during the rainy season. In addition, migratory birds that stay near the lagoons bring with them unintentionally fertilized fish eggs from other bodies of water in their plumage.

Views

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Movies

• Casa de Areia. (Alternative title: The House of Sand. ) Feature film, Brazil, 2005, 115 min., Director: Andrucha Waddington, summary by IMDb , with Fernanda Montenegro and Fernanda Torres . The film takes place exclusively in the Lençois.
• Dunes, sand and solitude. The Sahara of Brazil. Documentary, Germany, 2008, 28 min., Written and directed: Michael Stocks, production: ARD -Studio Rio de Janeiro, Phoenix , SWR , first broadcast: December 5th, 2008 on Phoenix , synopsis by ARD.
• Gone with the Wind - On foot through the Sahara of Brazil. Documentary, Germany, 2011, 43:44 min., Script and director: Michael Stocks, production: SWR , series: Countries - People - Adventure , first broadcast: January 8, 2012 on SWR, summary by SWR.
• Brazil's coasts 2nd north-east. (OT: Le Brésil par la côte 2. Le Nordeste. ) Documentary, France, 2014, 43 min., Script and director: Ombline de la Grandière, Nicolas Moncadas, production: arte France, Gedeon, Gullane, series: Brazil's coasts / Le Brésil par la côte , first broadcast: 9 June 2014 by arte, table of contents by arte.
• Brazil's dune lakes. (OT: Lençóis Maranhenses, les lacs de sable. ) Documentary, France, 2014, 43:03 min., Script and direction: Bruno Victor-Pujebet, Bernard Delaroche, production: arte France, ZED, Productions Nova Média, series: Stille Waters are deep / La vie secrète des lacs , first broadcast: 4th September 2015 by arte, table of contents by arte.

Web links

Commons : Lençóis Maranhenses  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Situation map ( Memento of December 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), (PDF)
• Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses. In: www.icmbio.gov.br. Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (Brazilian Portuguese). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lençóis Maranhenses. In: Brazil portal , accessed on September 5, 2015.
2. ↑ Lençóis Maranhenses Dunes. In: Atlas Obscura , accessed September 5, 2015.
3. ↑ Lençóis Maranhenses - The Brazilian Sahara. In: Southern Sky Tours Blog , accessed September 5, 2015.