Parque Nacional da Serra da Capivara (Serra da Capivara National Park)

The Parque Nacional da Serra da Capivara, designated Cultural Patrimony of Humanity by UNESCO, was created to preserve some of the most important archaeological world treasures - thousands of prehistoric inscriptions engraved in rocky walls 12 thousand years old.

Five hundred and sixty km south of Teresina, capital of the state of Piaui, is the Serra da Caipivara national park. Without doubt it is one of the most astonishing places in Brasil. A place of great natural beauty with towering formations of sandstones and shale set in the arid sertão with its natural vegetation of caatinga, it feels like the location for a western. But the parks most important treasure is that which has left by man - human beings. There are over five hundred different archeological sites containing the most extensive collection of cave paintings in the Americas. The oldest of these date back 29,000 years, though most are less than 12,000, and there are signs of human habitation fifty thousand years ago. It has helped to revolutionize the theories of man´s arrival in the Americas, and in 1991, UNESCO included it in the World heritage list of archeological sites.

Paintings represent day-to-day aspects, rituals and ceremonies from the regions ancient inhabitants, and also animal pictures, some already extinct.. In excavations performed in the Serra da Capivara, researchers found tools, ceramic utensils, remains and sepultures. Research about discoveries in the area made archaeologists believe that man would have lived in the American continent for over 30 thousand years, contradicting the most accepted theories by scientists. Rupestrian paintings and objects can be seen in some archaeological places which are open to visitors, with 500 sites existing in the park.

The Serra da Capivara is located in a semi-arid region, with typical caatinga fauna and flora. During rainy months, the vegetation, poor in diversity during the dry season, blooms. There are different types of xique-xiques (kind of Brazilian cactus), palms, varieties of cereus and angicos (any of various trees of the mimosa family). More than 200 bird springs have already been cataloged.

The Parque Nacional da Serra da Capivara is administered by FUNHAM (Fundação Museu do Homem Americano / American Man Museum Foundation) and IBAMA (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis / Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources). It offers excellent structure for visitations, with delimited paths and specialized guides. In the city of São Raimundo Nonato is located the Museu do Homem Americano (American Man Museum) with a heap created from objects found in archaeological exploitations performed in the park area.

DON’T MISS OUT
Archaeological sites

The visitors go on foot or in special vehicles. To visit the 48 archaeological sites with runways, which make the rupestrian picture observations easier, the visitor can hike through 14 predetermined trails. Some are long and cross over hardly accessible grounds. The Toca do Boqueirão da Pedra Furada has inscriptions from many prehistoric periods on a big wall with 70 meters length. On Sítio do Meio, besides paintings, archaeologists found traces of utensils used by ancient inhabitants, such as fragmented stone objects and ceramic pieces. Among the sites to be visited are the Baixão das Andorinhas, where there's a flock of swallows late in the afternoons, and Desfiladeiro da Capivara, which was used as runway by ancient local populations.

INFRASTRUCTURE

The Centro de Visitantes (Visitors Center) at the park informs how to visit the park and also indicates specialized guides, required to be with tourists on visitations. Near the park, there's an inn, a student hostel and a camping area. São Raimundo Nonato, the nearest city, offers good options of simple inns. Goat meat is used at local restaurants to prepare some of the most typical regional dishes.

HOW TO GET THERE

The pernambucana city Petrolina, 350 km from the park, is the main landmark with an airport which has regular flights. From that city and Teresina, 510 km from the park, buses depart to São Raimundo Nonato. Specialized ecotourism agencies always have full packages for visitations to Serra da Capivara.

ANDETUR BRAZILIAN TRAVEL CLUB also offers tour packages to the Serra da Capivara National Park from our Natal, Rio Grande do Norte office! Tours can start from Natal, Forteleza, Petrolina, or Teresina. A visit to the Serra da Capivara may be combines with other trips .... depending on the time available for the visitors.

More Pictures and tour information

 

August 22, 2004