Roy arrived in Brazil in 1977 as a Peace Corps volunteer from the United States. He knew very little about Brazil. He did not know that the language of the country was Portuguese and imagined that the Amazon covered the entire country. As a biologist passionate about nature, it was the image of a paradise. Hence, at his arrival, he was disappointed. In Brazil there where cars, big buildings and life was much more urban than he had thought.

After a short stay in Lavras in Minas Gerais, he was sent to Brasília to work on management plans for national parks at the Brazilian Institute for Forest Development (Instituto Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento Florestal (IBDF)), today the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio)). In theory, the work was interesting, but in practice he spent few days in the parks and a lot of days in an office in Brasília. It was not what he wanted.

He managed to get transferred to Recife but that post also was not what he wanted. Traveling with friends through the interior of Bahia for São João (big celebration in June) he got to Lençóis, Bahia for the first time. Lençóis is today the main tourist center of the Chapada Diamantina. His life would never be the same: “No exaggeration, I did not look for a place, but still in the bus, I thought, I found it!”

He went on some hikes with local miners, got to know the Fumaça waterfall from below and other places of the Sincorá ridge. His friends left after a week but he stayed. He rented a house in Lençóis where he lives until today. There, he had many roles and functions: Guide, Director of the National Park (which he calls a punishment since he had fought for its creation), Mining Inspector, head of the city’s tourism department and today of its environment department.

When Roy arrived in Lençóis the city was very different from today. Mining for diamonds and carbonate, the dominating activity in the region, paid little. The city was very poor, the historical heritage was not well taken care of, and the population was made up of mainly old and very young people, since all working age adults migrated to the Southeast (mainly São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) in search for a better life. In the words of Roy, the city seemed to be the scenery for an old Western movie.

Yet the Sincorá ridge, its rivers and waterfalls were still there. Mining had, up to that point, been mainly manual and the degradation coming from diamond exploration, while existing, had not yet compromised its beauty. Roy became friends with the mining community and spent his time discovering the mountains. He hiked the ridge so often that he became an expert for its history and trails.

One time, in 1979, hiking in direction of Vale do Capão, the sky opened and he was overwhelmed by the incredible scenery. In that moment, he had the flash of an idea: “if this place were in Europe or the United States, it would certainly be a national park.” That was when he began to fight for the plan of a national park to protect the Sincorá ridge.

It was not an easy task. During those times, there was little environmental consciousness in the country, economic progress was the main driver for development and very few people could imagine that nature’s resources are limited. Even some friends did not believe in his campaign for the creation of a park!

In addition to Roy’s persistence, various other factors helped the process along. The main factor was the construction of a hotel by the state to promote tourism in the region. Several important people of the political scene of Bahia stayed there: ministers, members of parliament, senators and future governors. When these people arrived in Lençóis, they often asked for a guide to get to know the area. The local people would answer: “Guide, what guide? Talk to the American, he likes walking around the mountains.”

So Roy, besides being paid for what he did anyway, was able to sell his project to important figures of the Bahia state government. Some of them bought his idea and after a long journey, the park was created in 1985. But this did not happen without challenges. In 1982 almost everything was ready for the inauguration, the opening date was set and the official ceremony organized, when the government, under pressure from the miners and the “run for the diamonds”, decided to stop the process.

Diamond exploitation had seen a revival. Exploration entered into a new cycle in the early 1980ies using machines to extract the diamonds. That exploration was not regulated and was controlled by a few people. Still, in this extremely poor region, the little the local population gained was more than before. As Roy put it: “Every little thing was something, the old times were relived.”

Initially, Roy had not included their main exploration area as part of the park, but the federal government did, confronting the diamond miners. Mining for diamonds was illegal and as such did not generate taxes. Moreover, there was a strong media pressure for the closure of the exploration activities. TV Globo (the main national TV channel) produced several reports against this activity, and, around 1992, filmed the soap opera Pedra Sobre Pedra (Stone over stone) in Lençóis, which became a big national success. This contributed to an increase in eco-tourism in the region and strongly supported the conservation of the park.

The diamond miners fought as long as they could to continue their activities. During that time, Roy worked as mining inspector and as such had the role to reconcile the conservation of the park with the diamond exploration. He tried to convince the miners to use cleaner, yet more expensive techniques, to protect the water of the rivers. Despite his attempts, they reached no agreement, since the diamond explorers were not interested in increasing their costs to protect nature. In 1996, 6 months after leaving his job as inspector and mediator, the army closed the all non-manual mining activities.

Today, there is no machine mining left and the park receives thousands of visitors from all over the world. Lençóis and the other cities in the region grew and have more resources for conservation, not just of the environment, but also of their historical heritage.

The Chapada Diamantina National Park, like the majority of Brazil’s national parks is still not fully implemented. There are neither fences nor gates, nor enough resources for their maintenance. Yet, there can be no doubt that the park exists. It exists in the hearts of many people, in particular in those of the local population. The guide associations clean its trailswithout extra remuneration, many local citizens are volunteers in the fire brigades, and the new generations see in the park their heritage that has to be preserved.

There are still many challenges to be confronted. Roy reminded us that besides companies without a sense of environmental responsibility, poverty is another big enemy of nature. To overcome poverty, people invade protected areas to live, plant, hunt or search for precious stones. They often are not environmentally conscious since their main concern is to survive. In Lençóis, ecotourism lead to economic growth in the city, but poverty still persists, since the newly generated opportunities attracted thousands of people from the surrounding areas in search for a better life.

This is why today through ecotourism and in the past by promoting clean mining Roy fought and continues to fight for the importance of reconciling conservation with economic activities to the benefit of both nature and people. For his history and his role in the creation of Chapada Diamantina National Park, Roy is for us a great example.

João was also a pioneer in surfing the “Ribeirão do Meio” (Middle Creek). Legend has it that kids, parents and grandparents would come just to see João going down the full creek. And that’s how it all began for me. Disguised as a guide, João took us around the Chapada for eight days, doing mischief. He started out by going down the “Ribeirão do Meio” with his own feet. I must confess that I, myself, had to pray a lot to go down it on my butt: “Lord’s prayer, Hail Mary… God bless me!”

During these eight days, every day was full of surprises and adventures. He picked the mango from the highest branch in the tree, climbed the “Morro do Veneno” (Poison Hill) like a lightning bolt, flew fifty meters down the Capivara and climbed the “Morro do Macaco” (Monkey Hill) without using his hands. As if this weren’t enough, when I couldn’t go on anymore, he’d come back and carry me up the Macaco with just one arm. That’s why João, to us, is not João Batista, he’s Super João!

Super João climbed the trees that no one else could climb, picked the fruit that nobody else could pick and reached the highest point in the Chapada as fast as a bullet. João knows where the waters spring and what can be eaten from the woods. João speaks with the sky, the sun and the waters. João knows and loves the animals. João understands that those who listen to nature, who know it and respect it, are more human. And that’s how, while he shows us the beauties in the heart of Bahia, he is also defending the Chapada Diamantina. That is why João is not just João Batista, João is Super João, our super hero of the Chapada Diamantina!

Source/ Fonte: http://www.infochapada.com/indexparque.htm

The National Park “Chapada Diamantina” (Diamond Mountain Plateau) is located in the heart of the Brazilian State of Bahia and covers 152.572 hectares of the Sincorá ridge. The Park was created in 1985 and includes the municipalities of Lençóis, Palmeiras, Andaraí, and the districts of Igatu and Mucugê. The park’s name comes from its past as an area famous for the extraction of diamonds, which was the main economic activity followed by coffee production. Today, the main motor for the local economy is ecotourism.

The beauties and attractions of the park are so many, that we could easily spend the four months of our trip discovering its secrets. Abundant waters molded breath taking waterfalls, caves and valleys into the Sincorá ridge. The Atlantic Forest and singular fauna are equally impressive, and the cities and small villages do not leave anything to be desired. Among the historic remnants of the Diamond exploitation, the coffee plantations and the mystic and alternative Vale (valley) do Capão, there are plenty of options for those not so keen on walking.

We had chosen Lençóis as the main city for our adventure since we did not know better and because it is difficult to move around the park by bus. We admit, however, that when passing by Vale do Capão during our hike, it felt like staying. We were also very curious to visit Mucugê (some say it is like Lençóis some 20 years ago), Igatu (the city of stones or the Machu-Picchu of the Chapada) and the Marimbus, a flooded area also known as the Mini-Pantanal of the Chapada.

Unfortunately, as there is so much to do in and around the park, we had to choose. We chose to go on a hike that would allow us to see the greatest numbers of attractions while at the same time allowing us to experiment first hand the park’s wild nature. We did the “Cachoeira da Fumaça por Baixo” (Fumaça waterfall from below) and the Pati Valley trails walking about 105km during 8 days. We swam in several waterfalls, crossed many mountains (some just hills), enjoyed panoramic views and benefited from the abundant kindness of the remaining inhabitants of the Pati Valley.

Before loosing ourselves on the park’s trails, we took a tour called Route 1. This Route is a day tour that takes you past several of the Park’s main tourist attractions, such as the famous Morro do Pai Inácio (Pai Inácio’s Hill, a reference to Candomblé religion) and Morro do Camelo (Camel’s Hill).

The hike of “Cachoeira da Fumaça por baixo” is a difficult 3 days hike. It goes from from Lençóis to Vale do Capão passing the Palmital and Capivara waterfalls, and seeing the Fumaça from below and above with many additional panoramic views along the way. The hike took us to places where diamonds were previously extracted and some almost untouched Atlantic Forest. Hikers should bring their own food and it advisably also their own tend in case of rain or crowed burrows (naturally covered areas used as places to sleep).

The hike of the Pati Valley is considered to be one of the most beautiful in Brazil. The hike goes from Vale do Capão to Andaraí, passing through the Vieira and Rio Preto plains, and including the Castelo hill, and the Funil and Cachoeirão waterfalls. It is a moderately difficult hike.

The Pati Valley (alongside Vale do Capão) was home to most of the coffee producers in the region at the beginning of the 20th century. During this time, the Valley had almost 2 thousand inhabitants. The coffee crisis during the first half of the last century was responsible for the exodus of most of its population. Today it is reduced to a total of 50 people (see Guia Vale do Pati).

Many of these remaining inhabitants receive visitors in their homes. This way of accommodation makes the Valley trails even more special. The hospitality of the Wilson, Eduardo and Joia families was without a doubt one of the highlights of our walk.

Besides treating guests with great kindness, the food at their houses is great and homemade. We drank coffee grown, toasted and grounded on their properties. We tasted green papaya salad that everybody thought was cabbage. We ate tropical fruits and vegetables directly picked from their garden, bananas of many kinds and juices from mangaba, umbu and acerola. The chicken were running around freely before we ate them and desert homemade. Dona Maria, Sr. Wilson’s wife, swears it is the walk that makes the food so good, but I think it is good indeed!

As it is hard to describe in words what we saw and what we felt, we have prepared a couple of slideshows and videos with images and histories of our walk. We hope that seeing the images you can feel at least a little bit of the emotions (and maybe the tiredness) we felt. We hope you will like it!

The bus option has many downsides: less independence to go to the places we want to visit, less space to take things, less comfort, more sleepless nights and so forth. Yet, looking exclusively on the practical side, it is also true that the less stuff we take or the less we drive, the less worries we will have. Not to mention that, making the math, the total cost of the trip will also be smaller. In the end, however, we chose the bus option mostly for philosophical reasons.

Coming from the upper middle class, I have always had the feeling that there was an invisible line between rich and poor. The line is invisible because there are no geographical divisions; both classes live very close to one another. In any Brazilian city it is possible that only few streets will be between a favela and a high luxury condominium. This invisible line can be illustrated in many different ways: how people talk, how they dress… the fear of violence. The truth is: no matter, which side you are on, you know there are two sides!

Drawn to action research we decided that traveling by bus would allow us to experience, and therefore, better understand some of the difficulties of being on the other side of the line. Finally, at 6pm on February 1, 2010 we took our first bus to Vitória da Conquista/BA. As if to test our decision, the bus we would be on for 13 hours, arrived to pick us up at the bus station with broken air conditioning and blocked windows that could not be opened. Outside the bus, the temperature was approximately 40 degrees Celsius. This meant that inside the bus, the temperature probably exceeded 50 degrees.

The broken bus left the bus station with about 30 people to a place 45 minutes outside Belo Horizonte, where we waited for 1 hour until the replacement bus arrived. Fortunately it arrived… Let’s hit the road!

After a night of sleep we arrived at Vitoria da Conquista/BA and from there we followed to Lencois/BA. It was day, so it was possible to observe the landscape. The landscape described in another language the inequality mentioned above. Between breath-taking nature and large plantations, we could spot small houses, humble people and smells that denounced poverty despite the beauty around us.

We passed through small towns called Anagé, Tanhaçu, Ituaçu, Barra da Estiva, Cascavel, Mucugê, Andaraí e Tanquinho. In Tanquinho we caught an improvised cab to Lençóis/BA, the touristic center of the Chapada Diamantina. After 24 hours traveling, we arrived at the exact moment a procession started with hundreds of people that celebrate in the typical way the town’s patron saint. A procession is a typical religious ritual to worship and give thanks. At this moment I was filled with peace, the decision to leave was blessed…

All of this to say that after our first and longest bus trip, it was clear that the decision to come down from our pedestal of distant observers to enjoy the good and bad sides of traveling by bus around Brazil, was the right decision!