Northeastern Brazil is currently the region with the highest growth in the number of long-distance trails, establishing itself as one of the leading scenarios for this region of the country. There are a total of 49 officially registered sections in nine states, totaling more than 1,200 kilometers of mapped routes, connecting the Caatinga and Cerrado biomes and providing an extensive support structure for visitors.
Delivering the good news to Folha is Hugo de Castro, director of the Brazilian Trail Network, who emphasizes the importance of the expansion as a “vector of conservation, identity and regional development.”
The first structured Northeastern trail to join the network was Caminho dos Cañónes do Rio San Francisco around 2018, Castro said. “But it was an isolated effort at Paulo Afonso within the ICMBio reserve,” he recalls. Since then, communities in the area have recognized the potential to create dedicated trails for walkers, cyclists, and equestrians.
“Today, among the main trails in the Northeast, in addition to the Caminho dos Cañão itself, the Caminho da Ibiapaba and the Caminho das Alarnas stand out, each with its own identity, but all united by the proposal to integrate natural, cultural and sustainable tourism,” he says.
The Caminho das Alarnas in the state of Paraíba is 110 kilometers long, connecting the cities of Alaruna and Cuite, passing through the Pedra da Boca State Park and passing archaeological sites, historical ruins and unique rock formations. “It has been fully implemented and structured to serve visitors and is now a reference for community management and standardized signage, serving as a model for other trails in the region,” Castro defines.
Connecting the states of Piauí and Ceará and linking Sete Cidades and Ubajara National Parks, the Ibiapaba Pass is 130 kilometers long and rescues the old motorist route through a changing landscape from Caainga to the Atlantic Forest.
The pioneering Caminho dos Cañón do Rio San Francisco is 60 kilometers long and “stands out as one of the most iconic experiences in the Northeast,” Castro said. Located in Paulo Afonso, Bahia, the trail runs through the landscape, from rock walls along Velho Chico that reach a height of 100 meters, to sections of land and water that allow for integration with riverside communities.
Intensifying these efforts is part of the intention to create a larger trail that will cross the country from north to south, from Oiapoque in Amapá state to Barra do Chuy in Rio Grande do Sul, via two route options: along the coast and inland, Castro said. And to promote as much as possible the benefits of implementing these routes, as well as the importance of their demarcation, signage and safety, two events were held in the area this year.
In September, the Municipality of Araruna (PB) hosted the first Paraibano Trail Conference, which brought together public managers, volunteers and experts in regionalization and implementation policy. And in October, Paulo Afonso hosted the first Northeastern Trails Seminar with representatives from all the states in the region. It is already planned that the Pan-American Congress will be held in Foz do Iguaçu next year. In an ideal future, representatives of neighboring countries could connect with each other through many paths.
And if the Oiapoque-Chuil route is still an abstraction, Castro emphasizes the importance of trails being interconnected, not through official efforts, but by “giving pedestrians and cyclists the option of choice to continually build and integrate trails.” It’s similar to poet Antonio Machado’s famous phrase, “A path is made by walking.”
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