Parque Estadual da Serra de Caldas Novas, State park in Goiás, Brazil.
Parque Estadual da Serra de Caldas Novas is a state park in Goiás, located on an elevated plateau in central Brazil. The terrain is hilly and covered with cerrado vegetation, and the area also has natural waterfalls and rocky outcrops scattered across the landscape.
The park was created in 1970 to protect the natural landscape from the pressure of farming and urban expansion in the region. Its founding coincided with a period when the area around Caldas Novas was growing fast due to thermal spring tourism.
The park contains plants typical of the cerrado, the Brazilian savanna, including twisted trees with thick bark and root systems adapted to dry seasons. Walking through the terrain gives a clear sense of what the surrounding landscape looked like before farming and urban growth changed it.
The park is open Tuesday through Sunday, and the trails cross hilly ground, so sturdy shoes and enough water are a good idea. Arriving early in the morning is a smart choice, as temperatures on the plateau can get very high during the day.
Beneath the park, groundwater seeps through rock fractures and rises to the surface as thermal springs reaching over 50°C (122°F). This heat comes from geothermal pressure rather than volcanic activity, which makes the phenomenon relatively rare in this part of South America.
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