Chapada Diamantina

Plateaus & HighlandsBahia,Brazil

A Brazilian plateau of flat-topped mountains cut into canyons and blue grottoes, trekked for days, with a 340-metre waterfall that turns to spray before landing.

September·Peaking now

May–Sep

Dry season and the classic window: cool clear days firm the trails for Vale do Pati and the Fumaça clifftop, and the mesa views run unobstructed. Nights on the high ground turn cold and the rivers drop to their easiest crossings.

Year-round The flat-topped mesas, canyons and flooded caves are here year-round. What the seasons change is how much water comes over the falls, how firm the long trails run underfoot, and how clear the midday sky is.

Chapada Diamantina is a plateau of flat-topped mountains in the interior of Bahia, in northeastern Brazil, and its most famous waterfall drops 340 metres without reaching the ground. Wind funnelling up the valley lifts the falling water back against the rock, so for much of the year nothing reaches the pool below. A trail from the Vale do Capão climbs to the clifftop, where you lie flat at the lip with the whole drop under your chin. The short climb is Morro do Pai Inácio, a landmark mesa by the road: at sunset the flat tops run to the horizon and the bare rock goes gold. Most of the park is campo rupestre, rocky highland grassland where tough, fire-hardy plants grow. Among them are the sempre-vivas, everlasting flowers whose papery blooms hold their colour long after picking. So many were gathered that several are now protected. Poço Azul is the flooded cave you are allowed into, and you float on the surface over sunken trunks and boulders on the floor. From April to September a shaft of midday sun reaches the water and dissolved minerals scatter it into deep blue. Divers have lifted more than four thousand fossil bones out of this one pool, a complete giant ground sloth among them. In the Marimbus wetlands a guide poles a dugout through a maze of flooded channels and water plants, herons and caimans in the reeds, the distant mesas lying on the still water. None of it is seen in a day. The Vale do Pati takes two or three, walking between the table mountains, fording clear rivers, crossing the open rocky grassland of the gerais and sleeping in family farmhouses. The plateau is named for what people used to take out of it. They were hard black diamonds, sold as industrial drilling grit rather than jewellery, panned by hand from these streams until they gave out. The river crossings and mule trails the garimpeiros left are the routes walkers follow now, and the farmhouses that take you in belong to the families who stayed.

Worth knowing

Good to know

Both blue pools lie outside the park — each is a long 4x4 day out of Lençóis, and Poço Encantado is look-only while Poço Azul is the one you can swim in.
Trails are long, exposed and often unmarked — take a local guide, sturdy shoes and more water than feels necessary; the dry-season heat and open ridges dehydrate you quickly.
The foot of Cachoeira da Fumaça is a two-day trek — the route down the valley and back cannot be done in a day, and the Vale do Capão guides' association controls access.

Things to do

1
Trek the Vale do Pati
Spend two or three days walking Chapada's most famous valley, sleeping in family farmhouses between the table mountains. The route fords clear rivers, passes hidden waterfalls and climbs to ridge-top viewpoints, crossing the gerais — rocky campo rupestre grassland dotted with fire-hardy shrubs and everlasting flowers. It is done entirely on foot with a guide.
2
Catch sunset from Morro do Pai Inácio
Take the short, steep climb up this landmark mesa for the classic view over the plateau. As the sun drops, the flat-topped mountains stretch to the horizon and the bare rock turns warm gold — the most photographed moment in the park.
3
Float in the blue water of Poço Azul
Poço Azul is the flooded cave you are allowed into, and you float on the surface looking straight down at sunken trunks and boulders on the floor. Divers have lifted more than four thousand fossil bones out of this pool, among them a complete skeleton of a giant ground sloth. Come near midday in the dry months.
4
Canoe the Marimbus wetlands
Paddle a dugout canoe through the Marimbus, a maze of flooded channels and water plants often called the 'Bahian Pantanal.' Herons and caimans move among the reeds, and the still water mirrors the distant mesas as your guide poles you slowly through.
5
Hike to Cachoeira da Fumaça
Climb the trail from Vale do Capão to the clifftop above Cachoeira da Fumaça, then lie flat at the lip and look straight down 340 metres. Wind funnelling up the valley lifts the falling water back against the rock, so for much of the year nothing at all reaches the pool below.