Lapa Pintada
Rock paintings.
ALISSON ALMEIDA SANTOS — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Paulo JC Nogueira — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Paulo JC Nogueira — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Paulo JC Nogueira — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Paulo JC Nogueira — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Paulo JC Nogueira — CC BY-SA 3.0
Lapa Grande State Park is a reserve in the countryside of Montes Claros, the largest city in northern Minas Gerais. Created in 2006 and enlarged in 2014 to about 15,360 hectares, it was set up to protect the Lapa Grande cave complex and, above all, the springs that supply the city and its neighbours with water; they are thought to provide about thirty-five per cent of Montes Claros's supply. The park lies in a transition zone between cerrado savanna and dry caatinga scrub, on karst terrain where water has carved many caves and rock shelters out of the limestone, under dry forest whose look changes greatly between the dry and rainy seasons. It is open to visitors, with trails leading to caves, lookouts and archaeological sites, among them the Lapa Grande trail, the Lapa Pintada trail with its paintings and the Stone Bridge trail. Walkers, cyclists and birdwatchers come here, and its management plan was approved in 2021.
Rock paintings.
A natural arch.
The city's water.
Rural Montes Claros, northern Minas Gerais
Yes, with trails to caves and lookouts.