Serra da Capivara, World Cultural Heritage

Capybara's National Park
Northeast Tradition
Boqueirão da Pedra Furada Piauí State

World heritage...

Serra da Capivara National Park (By Anne Merrie Pessis)

In the heart of what is known as the drought polygon, where the Semi-Arid backlands, become harsher, where the scrub-land converges upon the brushwood and the climate irregularities of the Northeast make themselves more strongly felt, one finds a geological frontier, the meeting point of the table-lands, locally known as Chapadas that form a continuing chain of ranges, with a very old plain that forms the peripheral mild-course of the São Francisco, the most important river of the Northeast. The contact between the two formations is marked by a Cuesta, an immense line of vertical line of vertical walls, cliffs of rare beauty. Known as Serra da Capivara, this plateau are the boarders of the National Park bears the same name and occupies an extension of 130,000 hectares of the Maranhão-Piauí sediment basin.

The mountain range emerged from the depths of the sea approximately 225 million years ago, forming a chain of paths and gorges, an uneven surface composed of sediment rocks, sandstone, silt and conglomerate that were shared by the force of the waters and winds for thousands of years.

Plateaus and valleys, with surface variation of up to 250 metres of altitude, make a diversified scenery cutout the rocks, with very narrow drenditical valleys and deep narrow rivers inlets. Broader valleys form ravines passes that snakes into the mountain, opening for tracks passage. On both sides of these corridors that are true chasms in the plateau, the walls of the mountain, eroded into differentiated due to the heterogeneity of the rocks, are often found water reserves “Big Pots” according to the local way of speech-dug by nature into the rock, in which rainwater collects and remains for months, during the period of drought, and is enjoyed by the local fauna.

In front of this continues range, extending as far as the eye can see, is the vast pediment of the plain, dotted by random spikes of granite or gneiss, of great variety of colour and texture, and left behind by the ancient and eternal process of erosion. Some calcareous ranges, dark grey in colour, contain grottoes of great curiosity and mystery, which show signs of being linked together by a system of subterranean galleries.

At present, the climate of the region is semi-arid. Two well-differentiated seasons provoke a true metamorphosis in the landscape. During the rainy season which a great volume of water runs over the soil with a force that encourages the washing way of fine sediments, impoverishing the land. The water torrent is of such magnitude that the channels are transformed into riverbeds, in which the waters progress with such force that they take with them trees, rocks, and sediments. The waters may reach high level with incredible speeds, constituting a true danger to the domestic species of animals; even large-sized animals many times are unable to escape from this trap of the unexpected.

The vegetation is exuberant during this season, with a surprising floral diversity, bright colours, different perfumes and delicates shapes. The plain then becomes a prairie with multiple tonalities of green and the region offers a festival of life, during which the species reproduce enthusiastically. The visitor who is not familiar with the region may think that he finds himself in a zone of humid tropical climate, where the temperatures are pleasant, the diversity of vegetation is surprising, and all the natural reservoirs of water overflowing. The duration of the rains; as the weeks as the frequency of the rains; as the weeks go by, the strong heat of the sun punishes soil and life, fauna and flora. Everything begins to dry out, and the rains do not return for many months. The vegetation, of bushy and arboreal types, adapted to these climatic conditions, is known as caatinga, a term meaning “White grass” in the native Tupy Language (spoke by Indians). It completely loses it leaves for the period of drought that lasts approximately eight months. The scenery changes as if magic, the leafy exuberance of life becomes a close tangle of entwined branches, naked and crooked, covered with thorns that a machete and the protection of leather clothes. As ash-grey cloak covers the region reflecting the sunlight, growing stronger and caustic.

Life dozes, the animals restrict their movements economizing their energies during the day and looking for water at nightfall. The marvelous sounds of nature breaking out turn into silent tonalities, appropriate to survival. All become expectant of a new cycle, of the return of the rains, life awakens, and after only one week, the plants recover their foliage covering the region with a green mantle. The fauna also movies quickly and the natural reservoirs of water are renewed. The rhythm of life is reborn.