Parque Estadual do Rio Vermelho

About this place

Rio Vermelho State Park is a nature reserve on the east coast of Santa Catarina Island in Florianópolis, bounded by the Rio Vermelho district to the north, the Lagoa da Conceição to the west, Moçambique beach to the east and Barra da Lagoa to the south, and covering 1,532 hectares. It was recognised in 1962 as a forest station used for experimental pine and eucalyptus plantations until 1970, which altered its coastal restinga vegetation; it became a forest park in 1994 and a state park by decree in 2007. Restinga covers about 45 per cent of it, alongside Atlantic Forest, dunes and marshes. It holds one of the island's oldest sambaqui shell mounds, about 5,020 years old, and protects the aquifer that supplies the north of the island. Much of Moçambique beach, at 12.5 kilometres the longest in Florianópolis, lies inside the park. An ecological trail lets visitors see wild animals rescued from abuse by the environmental police and learn their stories.