With 115 thousand hectares of dunes up to 50 meters high – na área equivalent to the city of São Paulo – the Parque dos Lençóis Maranhenses is one of the 15 protected ecological areas in the state of Maranhão.

Rainwater forms truly natural swimming pools of crystalline water among the dunes, oases in the desert. Desert? With a rainfall index of 1750 millimeters annually, it rains three hundred times more than in the Sahara. This is a strange environment: an ocean of sand cut up by verdant oases and hundreds of lakes teeming with fish and crustaceans. The dreamlike view of the dunes moving with the wind, particularly when seen from above (a flight over the region must not be missed) suggests sheets stretched on the ground drying in the sun, hence the name of the park.

The entry to Lençóis is at the small town of Barreirinhas, 337 kilometers from the state capital, São Luís. The journey to the dunes can be made in a four wheel drive overland vehicle or by boat, with a descent of the river Preguiça taking for hours.