Brazil
Serra da Canastra
The São Francisco River born from a crack in a cerrado plateau patrolled by maned wolves.
The São Francisco River is born here — a thin trickle over the lip of the Casca d'Anta escarpment, dropping nearly two hundred metres into the valley below. On the plateau above, cerrado grassland stretches to every horizon, and somewhere in the tall grass, a maned wolf is hunting on legs too long for its body.
Serra da Canastra National Park protects over two thousand square kilometres of cerrado plateau in south-western Minas Gerais. The park's centrepiece is the headwaters of the São Francisco River — one of South America's most important waterways — which begins its three-thousand-kilometre journey to the Atlantic as a waterfall at Casca d'Anta. The surrounding grasslands harbour maned wolves, giant anteaters, and pampas deer. But the Serra da Canastra is equally famous for what happens on its farmland: the artisanal Queijo Canastra, produced by smallholders using raw milk and traditional methods, is Brazil's most celebrated cheese. Visitors can buy wheels directly from the ageing caves of family farms that have been making it for generations.
Solo
The plateau trails offer solitary walking through cerrado grassland with genuine wildlife encounters. Visiting cheese farms and talking with the makers adds a human layer to the wilderness.
Couple
Farmstead pousadas, sunrise over the plateau, and artisanal cheese bought at the farm gate — Serra da Canastra offers a rural romance that feels worlds away from the coast.
- The Casca D'Anta waterfall drops one hundred and eighty-six metres into a natural pool — the trail from the plateau rim takes twenty minutes.
- Maned wolves — the tallest wild canid in the world, with legs that look spray-painted black — are seen most evenings at dusk around the park farms.
- The Canastra cheese is made from raw whole milk from local Junqueira cattle — the recipe and maturation process are legally protected as intangible heritage.
- The source of the São Francisco River — which flows through five Brazilian states before reaching the sea — is a crack in the cerrado rock accessible on foot.
Queijo Canastra — Brazil's most famous artisanal cheese — aged in caves and bought at the farmgate.
Comida de fazenda mineira — rice, beans, sausage, greens, and egg — cooked over a wood stove.
Pão de queijo and café coado at farmstead pousadas as mist lifts off the plateau grasslands.
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