Carlos Botelho State Park

Carlos Botelho is a protected forest reserve in the Sorocaba region that safeguards Atlantic rainforest and its inhabitants. The land rises through steep terrain with thick tree cover and shelters many plant and animal species that need forest protection to survive.

Four separate forest reserves created in 1941 merged into a single protected park in 1982, establishing stronger conservation across a wider area. This consolidation made management more effective and allowed the forest to recover as one continuous ecosystem.

The reserve functions as a place where visitors can walk through living forests and directly experience how plants and animals coexist in their natural setting. Visitors find educational facilities that explain what they see in the woods and why protecting these forests matters to people today.

The park provides multiple hiking routes that pass through different elevations and forest types suited to various fitness levels. Plan your visit during the drier months when trails are easier to walk and weather is more comfortable for spending time outdoors.

The land shelters a significant population of southern muriquis, among the world's largest primates, found nowhere else in Brazil with such numbers. Watching these large, slow-moving apes move through the treetops is a genuinely rare experience that few forests on the continent can offer.