Things to do
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Morro do Pai Inácio
A flat topped hill of 1120 metres standing alone above the valley, climbed in about twenty minutes on a stepped path from the roadside. The view over the tablelands is the picture every trip to the Chapada comes home with, and sunset is when the vans arrive together.
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Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina
Some 1520 square kilometres of tableland, canyon and river, made a national park in 1985 and covering most of the walking the region is visited for. There is no single gate: the trails are entered from the towns around its edge, and the long routes through the Vale do Pati need a guide.
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Cachoeira da Fumaça
A drop of roughly three hundred and forty metres, second highest in Brazil and so long that the water breaks into smoke before it lands. The clifftop viewpoint is a steep climb of about two hours from Vale do Capão; reaching the base takes a two day walk.
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Cachoeira do Mosquito
A fall dropping into a pool inside a private reserve north of town, named after a diamond found in the streambed rather than after the insect. The last kilometres are rough track, and the water is cold enough to be a decision.
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Canto das Águas
The town's long established hotel, set on the Rio Lençóis at the edge of the historic centre with the water audible from most rooms. It has a pool and a garden, which after a week on the trails is the reason it gets booked.
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Gruta da Lapa Doce
Part of a system of some seventeen kilometres near Iraquara, entered through a sinkhole and walked for about eight hundred and fifty metres by lamp. The formations are massive, the ceiling stays high, and a guide is compulsory. Lamps are handed out at the entrance and the walk takes about an hour.
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Poço Azul
A flooded cave near Nova Redenção where a shaft of light falls through a hole in the roof between April and September and turns the water an improbable blue. Entry is in limited numbers, in a life jacket, and only around the middle of the day.
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Poço Encantado
A cavern lake at Itaetê, some sixty metres deep and clear enough that the fallen trunks on its floor read from the walkway. From April to September the midday sun reaches it through a fissure and lights the chamber blue. Swimming is not allowed.
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Ribeirão do Meio
A natural rock slide about forty minutes walk from town, where the river has polished a slab smooth enough to sit on and ride into the pool below. It is the swim the town itself does at the end of the day.
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Vale do Pati
The valley the diamond workings left behind, now the best known multi day trek in Brazil, walked in three to five days and slept in the houses of the families who stayed on. No road reaches it, so there is no way to cut the walk short once it has begun.
