Unusual, isn't it? Lots of sand, desert and lots of water! How so?
This is Brazil. How did it all come about and where is it?
Now I will tell you …
In Brazil, with its tropical climate, there are no real deserts, but there is an amazing desert, where many fresh lakes arise during the rainy season coming from the Amazon basin. With the end of the rainy season, the lakes dry up almost completely. It remains a mystery how many fish, crabs and other animals appear in the lakes during the rainy season. There is a hypothesis that birds arriving from the sea bring eggs to this area. There is an opinion that caviar remains in the sand and with the arrival of rains, aquatic inhabitants are born from this caviar.
The area is inhabited by nomads who fish during the rainy season from March to June, and leave the desert during the dry season to find jobs in nearby villages. Local legend says that once on the territory of the present desert there was also a settlement of Indians, which was once completely covered with sand.
The desert is called Lençóis Maranhenses, which is Portuguese for “Lingerie of Maranhão”. Maranhao is the Brazilian state where the desert is located, and the locals called the desert linen because the light sands resemble linen stretched out to dry from above. To preserve the unique desert, it was given the status of a national park in 1981. On a territory with a total area of about 1000 sq. km, the entry of private cars is prohibited. Oil production is also prohibited in this area.
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National Park Lencois Maranhenses National Park - located off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in northeastern Brazil, about 100 km northeast of the city of São Jose de Ribamar and 125 km from São Luis, in state of Maranhao.
Due to its uniqueness, the Lençois Maranhenses Desert is not deprived of the attention of filmmakers. The Brazilian film House of Sand (2005) was filmed here, as well as several episodes of the Brazilian TV series Clone (2001). Lencois Maranhenses also filmed a dance that can be seen in the Indian film Robot (2010).
For thousands of years, the finest sand by river currents along the channels is carried to the mouths of deltas, to the places of confluence with the ocean, from where, through internal ocean currents and breezes of different strengths, it spreads in the opposite direction to the mainland - lining up in legions of sand dunes to conquer the "terra incognita" … the winds practically never stop and in the dry season, playing dunes like chess on a huge board with an area of more than 50 km from the coastline inland, and along the coastline from the mouth of the Rio Preguiças about 45 km, … thus. "Singing sands" occupy an area of almost 50x50 sq. Km.
The white figures on this board are themselves dunes of different shapes and sizes, sometimes with caps in the form of vegetation, and the black figures are lagoons with rainwater that fill the spaces between them.
The season of storm fronts comes from the relatively nearby Amazon and creates its own climate in this region.., tons of water pouring out from the sky fill the spaces between the dunes, forming huge lagoons, or giant puddles, which then slowly dry up during the dry season..
The optimal time to visit these places, in contrast to the Pantanal, is precisely the rainy season from May to September, when the sun, which is known to shine in the equatorial region almost equally, has not yet had time to drain these lakes … during this period you can still swim in them and even fishing, and already in the dry season, when the lagoons dry up under the scorching sun at t 45C, or are erased by the newly arrived dunes … this area is more reminiscent of the Sahara Desert, justifying its unspoken name "Brazilian Sahara".
Whoever will travel to these places will not miss the city of Sao Luis, the capital of the state of Maranana..
The city is located on the eponymous triangular peninsula with suburbs, in the bay called San Marcus to the west and the bay of San Jose to the east …, with a population of about 800,000 pesos (people).
Founded in 1612 by the French, the city was subsequently captured by the Dutch and ultimately came under the jurisdiction of the Portuguese crown, which undoubtedly reflected in its historical center … a mixture of styles of the above-named peoples, from the French baroque to the tiles of the Portuguese colonial style.
For many Russians it will be surprising - it is clean here, there is not a single plastic bottle, not a single bottle of beer or vodka, not a single wrapper with something. In many ways, Lencois Maranhenses Park is similar to a desert, but it receives more than 300 times more rainfall than in the same Sahara. In the rainy season, water collects between the dunes and lakes with the purest blue-green water appear.
Although Lencois Maranhenses looks like a desert, it is not lifeless sands. During the rainy season, birds come here, and shrimps and fish appear in the lakes, which is used by the inhabitants of the nearest villages.
There is also vegetation here. When there is enough moisture, mangroves up to 12 meters high literally come to life here. These thickets are home to giant crabs, golden hares, caimans and deer.
The dry season lasts from December to March. At this time, the air warms up to +36, so some of the reservoirs become shallow, and some dry up altogether. Many lakes are also disappearing. At this time, local residents are mainly engaged in cattle breeding and are waiting for the start of the rainy season. The most important mystery of Lencois Maranhenses is where all its living creatures go and where they appear again.
There are many versions on this score, but scientists have not yet come to a consensus. The most popular hypothesis is that the eggs of local fish and crabs can easily be stored for several months until the required moisture is present.