Mangrove forest
On the river.
Raí Luz — CC BY-SA 4.0 · BrasilEire — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ruan moreira — CC BY-SA 4.0 · David Moraes de Andrade — CC BY-SA 3.0 · David Moraes de Andrade — CC BY 2.5 · Babi borghese — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Raí Luz — CC BY-SA 4.0
Cocó State Park is the largest natural park within a city in Brazil's North and Northeast and the biggest green area in Fortaleza, with extensive mangroves and ancient dunes around it. It covers 1,575 hectares from the Fortaleza–Maracanaú boundary to the mouth of the Cocó river at Sabiaguaba, crossing fifteen districts, and is counted as the fourth-largest urban park in Latin America. It takes its name from the Cocó river that runs through it, which explains its riverside forest, dunes and mangroves. Protection began in 1977, and a state decree created the «ecological park» in 1989. It shelters endemic and threatened plants and animals, cools the city and helps prevent floods in the rainy season. It has more than two kilometres of linked trails, good for exercise and enjoying nature. Recorded visitor numbers jumped from 15,000 in 2014 to over 60,000 in 2016 as Fortaleza's people rediscovered it.
On the river.
Over 2 km.
Around the park.
Along the Cocó river, Fortaleza
1,575 hectares, counted as Latin America's fourth-largest urban park.