Ubajara National Park, National park in Ceará, Brazil
Ubajara National Park is a nature reserve in the state of Ceará, in northeastern Brazil, with caves, waterfalls, and forested hills. The park sits on a plateau and covers terrain that shifts noticeably from dense forest to open rocky slopes.
The park was established on April 30, 1959, under President Juscelino Kubitschek, after geologist David Azambuja drew attention to the area's geological value. It was the first national park created in northeastern Brazil.
The park's name comes from an indigenous language and means either 'Lord of the Canoe' or 'Lord of the Arrows'. This meaning points to the peoples who lived across this land long before the area became protected.
Visits to the Ubajara Grotto are supervised by Ibama and must be arranged in advance, with guides from ICMBio. The wetter, cooler period runs from January to June; July to December is the dry, hot season. The chairlift, which covers 550 metres in about 3 minutes, has been out of service for two years, so the grotto is reached on foot by the steep 7 km main trail, a 4-hour walk.
The chairlift to the grotto runs 550 metres and takes about three minutes, while the steep main trail covers 7 km and four hours on foot. The grotto itself extends 1,200 metres, but visitors walk only about 450 metres of galleries, descending 35 metres. The lift is operated by the state tourism secretariat and has been out of service for two years.
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