Red macaws
Nesting on the walls.
Tatiana Gasques — CC BY-SA 4.0 · João D'Andretta — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tatiana Gasques — CC BY-SA 4.0
Buraco das Araras, the Macaws' Hole, is a huge sinkhole in the municipality of Jardim near Bonito, counted among the largest of its kind in Latin America, about a hundred metres deep with walls of red rock and a green lake at the bottom where caimans live. Great red macaws nest on its walls, and they gave it its name. A local worker rediscovered it in 1912, after which it suffered decades of neglect, even becoming a rubbish dump. In 1996 the landowner, Modesto Sampaio, switched the land from cattle to ecotourism, cleared the sinkhole and replanted it with native trees; the macaws came back, and it became a private nature reserve in 2007. The visit is an easy guided walk along a trail with viewing platforms on the rim, about an hour and twenty minutes. The best time is early morning, when the macaws are most active, so bring binoculars if you can.
Nesting on the walls.
And its green lake.
On the rim.
Jardim municipality, about 50 km from Bonito
Early morning, when the macaws are most active and flying around the sinkhole; the visit takes about an hour and twenty minutes.