The fervedouros
Springs that hold you up.
Ffpaniago — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Marcel Favery — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Filipe gonzaga ferreira — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Marcel Favery — CC BY-SA 4.0
Jalapão State Park, created in 2001, is the largest state park in Tocantins, covering some 159,000 hectares of the state's east: open savanna and grassland crossed by clear rivers, with sand dunes and flat-topped plateaus bounded by cliffs up to 800 metres high. The region is almost empty, with less than one inhabitant per square kilometre. Its signature experience is the fervedouros: springs that well up from underground into sandy pools with such force that bathers cannot sink. Most are on private land, each with a small fee (roughly R$10 to R$25), and each group may stay only 15 to 20 minutes. The region is also known for golden grass (capim dourado) crafts made by the Mumbuca community, descendants of people who escaped slavery in Bahia. It is remote, on dirt and sand roads, so most visitors come on 4x4 tours lasting several days. Entry to the park is free, but the dunes, the Serra do Espírito Santo and the Cachoeira da Velha may only be visited with a licensed guide or local conductor, and daily numbers are capped.
Springs that hold you up.
Mumbuca crafts.
Across the savanna.
Mateiros and São Félix do Tocantins, Tocantins
Not its park sights, such as the dunes, the Serra do Espírito Santo and the Cachoeira da Velha: a licensed guide is compulsory, and most visitors come on 4x4 tours.