Chapada das Mesas

Chapada Das Mesas National Park, Created 2005, Table Mountains And Waterfalls In The Cerrado Of Southern MaranhãO · Carolina, Maranhão

Chapada das Mesas is a region of flat-topped sandstone mesas, broad waterfalls and spring-fed pools in the Cerrado savanna of southern Maranhão, near the Tocantins river. A national park created in 2005 protects part of it, but many of the best-known sights sit on private land around it and are run as paid attractions. The small river town of Carolina is the base. From there people visit the wide Cachoeira de São Romão inside the park, the Pedra Caída complex with its canyon waterfall and long zip line, and the startlingly clear blue pools of Poço Azul and Encanto Azul further out, as well as the Morro do Chapéu, a mesa climbed for the view at sunset. It is hot, remote and reached by long drives, much of the last stretch on dirt roads, so most visitors come from Maranhão, Tocantins and neighbouring states, often on package trips from Imperatriz or Palmas. It is a beautiful and still uncrowded corner of Brazil, but it asks for four or five days and a vehicle or a local operator, so it suits travellers already in the region.

Parque Nacional da Chapada das Mesas, Carolina, MA, Carolina, Maranhão, Brazil

The national park has no single gate or fixed opening pattern; visits are made in the daytime, usually with a local guide and a 4x4, and some areas require authorisation or a registered guide, so arrange trips through operators in Carolina. The private attractions that make up much of a visit keep their own daytime hours, set their own fees and may limit numbers: Pedra Caída runs as a complex with a hotel, restaurant, zip line and guided trails, and Poço Azul and Encanto Azul admit visitors in the daytime and can cap swimmers to protect the water. Some sites close one day a week or in bad weather; confirm before driving out. In the rainy season, roughly December to April, dirt roads turn to mud, some fords become impassable, waterfalls turn brown and pools lose their clarity, and flash floods can close swimming. The dry season is the main season, busiest in July and on Brazilian holidays, when operators and pousadas in Carolina fill up. The sunset climb of the Morro do Chapéu depends on a guide and the weather.

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