Piauí
This National Park is situated near Piripirí, on the BR-343 main road from Teresina to Fortaleza. It is most famous for its extraordinary rock formations but there is also good cerrado birding for the species typical of this habit. There is a pleasant hotel just outside the park.
This national park with extensive primary caatinga is perhaps too remote for dedicated listers but for those with wider interests the scenery is magnificent and there are literally hundreds of archaeological sites with 6-12,000 year old rock paintings. The sites are widely scattered and one drives and walks long distances to see a representative sample. The park is administered by IBAMA but all the investment in an excellent system of roads, trails, walkways and signs has been carried out by the Fundação Museu do Homem Americano, an NGO run by Niéde Guidon, a French archaeologist who has worked here for over 30 years. Dr. Guidon believes that three of the sites are the oldest in the Americas, with evidence of human occupation dating back 50,000 years. However, although the museum and all the literature you will find there treat this claim as fact, few archaeologists accept it. So much so that neither an article in National Geographic in December 2000 nor a recent BBC programme on the early peoples of the Americas even mentioned the Serra da Capivara.
The park contains one of the largest areas of primary caatinga left in Brazil and all the caatinga specialities are here. The following Brazilian endemics have been recorded: Yellow-legged Tinamou Crypturellus noctivagus, White-browed Guan Penelope jacucaca, Caatinga Parakeet Aratinga cactorum, Pygmy Nightjar Caprimulgus hirundinaceus, Broad-tipped Hermit Phaethornis gounellei, Spot-backed Puffbird Nystalus maculatus, Spotted Piculet Picumnus pygmaeus, Ochraceous Piculet Picumnus limae, Silvery-cheeked Antshrike Sakesphorus cristatus, Caatinga Antwren Herpsilochmus sellowi, White-browed Antpitta Hylopezus ochroleucus, Red-shouldered Spinetail Gyalophylax hellmayri, Great Xenops Megaxenops parnaguae, White-naped Jay Cyanocorax cyanopogon, Gray-eyed Greenlet Hylophilus amaurocephalus, Scarlet-throated Tanager Sericossypha loricata, White-throated Seedeater Sporophila albogularis and Red-cowled Cardinal Paroaria dominicana.
To get to the park fly or bus to Petrolina and then take a 5 ½ hour bus ride to São Raimundo Nonato. There is no accomodation in the park which is some distance from São Raimundo and one stays at the Hotel Serra da Capivara hotelserracapivara@wserra.com.br on the edge of the town. The manager of the hotel, Girleide Oliveira, will organise a guide (obligatory) and a car. In July 2003 the guide cost R$35 (c.US$12 – about to increase to R$45) per day and the car R$0.75 / km. We drove 450 kms in four days. Although the cost is on the high side I strongly recommend this site for those with the time and inclination to get to know the caatinga. The best time to visit is November–March, after the rains have (hopefully) started and the birds are breeding.
