When you get in Jalapão, leave your mobile phone at home. Watch carefully the nature of the region and plan your activities. You will not need to carry your phone with you. But there is another good reason for that: there is no service.
Located in a remote region of Tocantins, Jalapão is undoubtedly one of the most incredible Brazilian destinations with amazing waterfalls, dunes and wells, in the company of maned wolves, red brockets and other animals of the regional fauna.
Beautiful Waterfalls
The Jalapão State Park has an area of 34,000 km², larger than the Brazilian states of Alagoas and Sergipe. To visit this heaven, you need catch a plane to Palmas, the capital of Tocantins, and then go through 190 km to Ponte Alta do Tocantins.
You can find some travel agencies who organize some tours. You can tour by yourself but it is much easier hiring one of these companies, which already owns 4×4 vehicles to face the sandy soil, as well as all equipment used on the adventures and attractions.
In Ponte Alta are some of the first day attractions: lovely waterfalls
of the city. The famous waterfalls are: Fumaça with its well of green water and Soninho, which has natural pool great for swimming.
Dirt Road
Time to get back on the road! From Ponte Alta to Mateiros village, near the main attractions, is 160 km on dirt road.
However, there is so much to see along the way. The Sussuapara Canyon is small and easy to access but it worth a visit because of its beautiful rock and vegetation view.
The Velha Waterfall contrasts with the previous destination: great and breath-taking, it has so much water that is called by the inhabitants of the “Jalapão Iguazu Falls”. You can swim and relax at the Prainha do Rio Novo on the way to the dunes which have 40 meters high that remind a desert. The place has an unforgettable sunset.
Quilombolas and Rafting
One more irresistible stop is Ferve-douro, a well which is not possible to sink. Fervedouro is among a dense ve-getation and full of banana trees and crys-tal clear waters.
Then, head to the Povoado de Mumbuca (Mumbuca Village), where quilombolas (descendants of Afro-Brazilian slaves who escaped from slave plantations until abolition in 1888) talk about their life style and sell gorgeous handicrafts, made by golden grass, known as “gold of Jalapão”. In the end, arrive at Formiga Waterfall, small but lovely with a large volume of water which forms a natural pool in the middle of the local vegetation.
There is still much to do in Jalapão such as rafting down the rapids of the Novo River and hiking in the Espírito Santo Mountain, tours which takes a whole day.
Source: Visitbrasil