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Serra da Capivara National Park Tour The Serra da Capivara National Park is a treasure trove of archaeological and natural wonders. It's canyons hide some 500 natural shelters and caves, which have an incredible collection of paintings and engravings made by the men that inhabited the region starting about 50,000 years ago. UNESCO has declared the park part of the “Cultural Heritage of Humanity“, due to the age of its archeological sites and the aesthetic quality of the rock art. (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/606)
The park is home to more than 1,000 cave paintings and engravings, earning it the nickname of the "Brazilian Lascaux". Many of the numerous rock shelters in the park are decorated with cave paintings more than 25,000 years old, providing an outstanding testimony to one of the oldest human communities in South America. It is home to six research laboratories and a number of cultural institutions, including the modern spiral-shaped Nature Museum, which traces the biological history of the planet. |
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Day 01 (THU) ...... Recife/ São Raimundo Nonato This morning we fly to Recife and then on São Raimundo Nonato (NSR), a small airport recently built to improve access to the Serra da Capivara national park. We arrive late afternoon and drive the short distance to the Museum of American Man which showcases the work of decades of research alongside precious finds. The Foundation of the same name, run by Niéde Guidon since her pioneer researches in 1973, brings together 50 years of research that brought to us funerary urns, human cropoliths, ceramics and an impressive cultural chronology from stone axes dated of 100,000 years ago to European porcelain ware with the arrival of the white man in the region in the 17th century.
Tonight, we spend the first of five nights at the Hotel Serra di Capivara, newly constructed at the edge of the park to accommodate visitors to the sites. The hotel is located in the town of São Raimundo Nonato, 30 minutes from the airport and a mid distance between the archeological sites of the South, East, West and North of the National Park. Day 02 (FRI) ...... São Raimundo Nonato/ Serra da Capivara/ São Raimundo Nonato We spend the next five days exploring the extraordinary sites of the Serra da Capivara. Over 300 archaeological sites have been found within the park, the majority decorated with paintings, some more than 25,000 years old. Numerous circuits and trails have been created in order to access them and we start our exploration with the site of Boqueirão Pedra Furada, a huge geological structure discovered by Niéde Guidon. An extremely important site surprising in the unique chronological range it covers: a stratigraphy of, at least 60,000 years of human occupation, in addition to traces of animals such as sabre-toothed tigers and giant sloths. During the 10 years of initial excavation of the site, several lithic artifacts were found (spearheads, half-moon axes, flaked stone blades, etc.), structured bonfires, cropoliths, cave paintings and various marks of human occupation. Our rock art circuit for the day will also include the sites of Toca do Sítio do Meio and Toca da Fumaça. On the itinerary of this day we will have our ‘Cistine Chapel’, cradle of the origin of man in Americas, with more than thousand views in rock art. This valley of Pedra Furada has several sites with a wide variety of stylistic rock art. We end our day with a visit to the Serra da Capivara Ceramics Project, created in 1994 to support the local economy with the artisanal production of pottery decorated with rock art paintings found on the sandstone cliffs of the archaeological sites. Day 03 (SAT) ...... São Raimundo Nonato/ Serra da Capivara/ São Raimundo Nonato After breakfast we travel into the park to walk the Cicuito Serra Branca route. This is an area where the maniçobeiros lived, extracting latex from the manicoba tree during the rubber boom of the late 19th century. Here we will view the rock art at numerous sites including Toca do Vento, Toca do Mulungu, Toca do Caboclo da Serra Branca, Toca da Extrema, Toca do João Arsena, Toca do Veado, Toca Pingo de Boi and Sítio Andorinhas. The rock art seen on this circuit is currently compared to some masters of the modern Art, like Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci. It’s where we realize the geography and the shelter strategies chosen by men in prehistory, also testimonied by monkeys, deer and foxes. The afternoon is devoted to visit Canyon Andorinhas - the ‘Brazilian Cappadocia’ – a spectacular archaeological site located with a wonderful panoramic view. Delicate strokes are observed in the rock art there. If we are very lucky we might see a large flock of swallows, for which the canyon is named, as they gather to roost for the night. Day 04 (SUN) ...... São Raimundo Nonato/ Serra da Capivara/ São Raimundo Nonato Our visits today include Toca da Entrada do Pajaú I and II, small shelters with dozens of paintings portraying the daily activities of prehistoric people. We will also see Toca do Barro, Sítio Desfiladeiro and Toca do Papagaio, the first site to be catalogued by researchers and where two skeletons were found, dating to over 7,000 years old. This region of the Serra da Capivara Canyon has the oldest paintings in the region, dated of 12 thousand years. Shaded trails and a genuine micro climate is where visitors walk to contact a tropical and green forest, and the Rock Art registers scenes of sex, hunting and birth. After lunch, the trail take us to attest the abstract paintings and geometric engravings. Day 05 (MON) ...... São Raimundo Nonato/ Serra da Capivara/ São Raimundo Nonato In the morning, visits to the sites in the Canyon, Toca da Entrada do Pajau, Baixão da Vaca, (where a walk is necessary), Toca do Inferno (hike without cave painting) and Toca do Paraguaio. Geologically we have sandstone in the sedimentary basin from when this entire region was a seabed in the Silurian and Devonian periods 650 million years ago. After lunch, the Museum of Nature shows us how the climate is a determining factor for living beings. At night we will have a visit to Toca do Boqueirão da Pedra Furada with more than 1 thousand illuminated paintings for the observation of a wealth of details of the rock art by different groups at different times. Day 06 (TUE) ...... S. Raimundo Nonato/ Serra da Capivara/ Recife/ ? This morning we take the Serra Vermelha Circuit and visit Síto Três Perna. In the Serra Vermelha region in Sítio do Baixão do Perna I, II, III are paintings of collective sex, fighting, hunting and many animals moving to the right. Light and quiet walks. After lunch we start our long journey south, returning to São Raimundo Nonato airport where we fly to Recife and to our next destination.. |
We encourage people to use the Azul flight, that does REC-NSR on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. The possibilities to be there for 5 nights are from THU-TUE or from TUE-SUN, but the Museum of the American Man is closed on Mondays and on Tuesdays, so, we have to remake the itinerary to include it in the second option.
Petrolina (PNZ) is served by Latam and by Gol every day, but it would demand overnights there in both directions. It is 4-5 hours far from NSR and we would need to recalculate prices. 2025 prices per person in US$:
*Rates subject to change without previous advice ** rates not valid during National Holidays Included: Transportation (Sedan vehicle); Guide assistance English medium level, with off line translation app; Meals in a total of 18 (B/ L/ D). Accommodation 05 Nights at Hotel-Resort, Sightseeing, entrances fees in the Serra da Capivara NP
Not included: health insurance, meals not mentioned) and drinks, flights Important remarks:
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