The natural wanders of Chapada Diamantina

Located in the interior of Bahia, Chapada Diamantina is a natural paradise surrounded by mountains, large plateaus, rivers, waterfalls, transparent fresh water pools, caves and several springs sprouting from rocky cliffs. The diverse vegetation and abundant fauna facilitate the spotting of several species of birds, capybaras and small lizards. Even some species of large mammals threatened with extinction, such as Jaguars and pumas can be seen in the region.The town of Lencois is the gateway for the Chapada Diamantina National Park with its many trails. Many of these trails were open by slaves, cattle drivers and miners centuries ago. The trails offer different levels of difficulty but due to the lack of signs it is important to have a presence of an experienced guide especially on the longer ones. Cave exploring and baiting on the many pools and waterfalls seems to be the favorite activities among the visitors that come to the Chapada Diamatina.Chapada's attractions are innumerous. Here is a list of the most important ones, a most see if you may:

Enchanted Well
A 180ft deep well located in a cave with its turquoise crystal clear blue waters is Chapada's most famous post card.

Mount Pai Inacio
From the top is possible to admire the immensity of Chapada Diamantina. The hike is a short 20 minute walk uphill off course after a total walk of 5 hours (19 miles) from downtown Lencois.

Torrinha
A cave with a great number of rare rock formations.

Lapa Doce
A 2500 ft subterranean cave full of stalactites and stalagmites.

Blue
, This is a steep cliff with a lake in the background it's more like a funnel-shaped depression, where the sun only shines for about an hour a day. When visiting Blue you may want to visit Pratinha as well, they are very close to each other.

Blue Well
A bluish colored subterranean lake Early afternoon is the best time to visit.

Do Lapao
This cave is made of quartzite, with a 150ft diameter. 3 hour walk over a difficult terrain starting from Lencois.

For the more adventurers Chapada offers radical sports such as canoeing on the Capivari waterfalls, 12 miles from Lencois. The outing lasts 3 days and two nights, and includes camping, trekking and rappel on the waterfalls.

The Fumaca Waterfalls is a 30 miles trip between Lencois and Palmeira. This is perhaps the hardest outing that last four days and 3 nights, with trekking over the Vale do Capao and Tirolesa. A steel cable descent finishing with a dive into a pool of water is part of the program.

How to get to Chapada Diamantina:

By Car - The main Chapada town of Lençóis is 427km (265 miles) from Salvador. Take BR-324 to Feira de Santana, turn onto BR-116 to Argoim and then BR-242 to Lençóis. The road is paved the entire way, but the asphalt breaks up in places on the BR-242.

By Air - schedule flights to Lencois are not available at this time. The situation may change soon. In the past there were flights from Sao Paulo, Salvador and Brasilia once or twice a week.

click here to see a map of the area

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