Brazil
Lençóis Maranhenses
Thousands of rain-filled lagoons between white dunes stretching to the horizon like another planet.
From the air, Lençóis Maranhenses looks like a hallucination — thousands of turquoise and emerald pools sitting in the hollows between white sand dunes, stretching unbroken to the horizon. On foot, the silence is total. The sand radiates heat under your bare feet, and then you slide down a dune into water that is warm at the bottom and cool on the surface, staring up at a sky so blue it hurts.
Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in Maranhão covers fifteen hundred square kilometres of dune field — one of the largest in Brazil — where seasonal rains fill the low points between dunes to create temporary lagoons from January through September. The lagoons vary from ankle-deep puddles to pools two metres deep, their colour shifting from deep blue to bright green depending on algae and light. No vegetation grows on the dunes themselves; the landscape is pure sand and water. Dune buggy crossings from the gateway towns of Barreirinhas or Santo Amaro take four to five hours, stopping at lagoons along the way. By October, the water begins to evaporate, and by December most lagoons have vanished entirely.
Solo
Walking alone across the dune field delivers a solitude unlike anything in Brazil. The scale is disorienting — no landmarks, no shade, no sound — and the reward is swimming in a lagoon with no one else for kilometres.
Couple
Private lagoons at sunrise, dune crossings where you can't see another human being, and the contrast of pure white sand against the turquoise water. The landscape makes every photograph look impossible.
Friends
Dune buggy expeditions, overnight camps at the remote Lagoa Bonita, and the shared delirium of hiking a landscape that looks like another planet. The group energy makes the physical effort feel like play.
- The blue and green lagoons only form between January and September, filling the dune hollows after the rains.
- The dune field covers fifteen hundred square kilometres — you can walk for hours without seeing another person.
- Dune buggy crossings take four to five hours, stopping at lagoons warm enough to float in.
- The Lagoa Azul at peak fills to two metres deep — crystal water over white sand, cold on the surface, warm below.
Grilled fresh-caught fish and rice with cuxá sauce in Santo Amaro or Barreirinhas.
Guaraná Jesus — the bright pink soft drink found only in Maranhão — ice cold after a dune trek.
Fried banana with rapadura sugar as trail fuel from village cooks at the edge of the dunes.
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