Lençóis Maranhenses Crossing

The Lençóis Maranhenses crossing walks the length of the national park of the same name, on the coast of Maranhão in northern Brazil: about 60 km in three days, west from Atins to Santo Amaro do Maranhão. The park, created in 1981, protects some 156,000 hectares of white sand dunes, and in the rainy season thousands of freshwater lagoons fill the hollows between them. The first day crosses the open dunes from Canto de Atins to the oasis of Baixa Grande. The second, shorter, leads to Queimada dos Britos, another small settlement of fishing and herding families in the middle of the sands. The third crosses the western dunes to Santo Amaro. Nights are spent in the oases, in simple family houses, often in hammocks. There is no waymarking and no shade, the sand is soft and the dunes change shape with the wind. A local guide is strongly advised, and most walkers start early and rest through the midday heat. The lagoons are fullest from about June to September, after the rains; later in the year many dry out.

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