Lençóis Maranhenses National Park

Lençóis Maranhenses National Park has water in a ‘desert’ – who knew?

Lençóis Maranhenses National Park is a national park in northern Brazil’s state of Maranhão, in South America.
Lençóis Maranhenses National Park is a sandy area with sloping dunes that incorporates lagoons, and while it appears to be a desert, due to the lack of any obvious vegetation across much of the area, it receives too much rain to be classed as one.
Lençóis Maranhenses National Park covers an area of 1550 square kilometres (600 square miles) and includes approximately 70 kilometres (43.5 miles) of coastline and stretches as far as 50 kilometres (31 miles) inland.
Lençóis Maranhenses National Park became a national park in 1981 and in 2014, it was managed by the Brazilian Chico Mendes Institute for Conservation of Biodiversity (ICMBio – Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade).
Lençóis Maranhenses National Park cannot be entered by any vehicle type except 4-wheel drives, and tours are available for a fee.

The blue-green freshwater lagoons of Lençóis Maranhenses National Park are formed by the 1194 to 1524 millimetres (47 to 60 inches) of rain that falls each year.
Lençóis Maranhenses National Park is a popular tourist destination, and the best time to visit is said to be from July to September when the lagoons are full, and during this time, fish inhabit the ponds, including the mud-dwelling wolf fish.
Even though Lençóis Maranhenses National Park receives significant rain, due to persistent winds it has only small quantities of vegetation in certain areas.
Fisherman, during the wet season, fish in Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, but work in agricultural sites during the dry season, when most of the lagoons have dried up.
Lençóis Maranhenses National Park sand dunes can reach heights of 40 metres (131 feet), and there are no public facilities like toilets and food outlets in the park.

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