I've wanted to visit this site for years. The biggest problem? It's so far away from anything! The closest airport is Montes Claros which is still 3 hours away but hey - at least you are close, right? Well, so I didn't do that but I'll get back to it soon. Most travelers actually fly to Motees Claros and take a collectivo to Itacarimbi which is the closest town to the park. This is THE way to go. There's a shitty public bus but trust me to say you don't want to take that. For the way back just ask your pousada or hotel to organize a car back and you'll join one of those. Plus you don't even pay more than the bus would! So I didn't do that because I was in the area for more, starting from Belo Horizonte I rented a car (airport is north anyway which saves you 40min), stopped over in Diamantia again (used the airport before but driving was...err...well, fun?) and then had an easy ride to the park. Later, I would drive onwards to Brasilia which is a bit unpaved sometimes so getting a 4x4 isn't a bad idea plus the park roads here are utter rubbish thus getting a 4x4 helps. Sure the costs are higher but you'll be glad to have it.

Second is where the stay. I stayed in Itacarimbi which is 15~20min away from the park entrance. There are some pousada closer but I only recommend Recanto das Pedras (and I'm not favoring them) because it's JUST outside the park and lots of tourists stayed there. In fact it was sold out and I couldn't stay there but I did at least have the town to enjoy... some. There are several places in town to pick instead.

Third you need to contact the park and they'll give you a list of guides to pick. You MUST pick a guide to visit. They'll have the keys, register you, organize everything locally. The list sent by the park is really big and shows the guide's language skills. Need English? Look for the Briti...oh wait...American flag on the list! I think they guides mainly spoke Portuguese, Spanish and some English but you never know about odd ones. You'll contact the guide and if all good s/he will arrange the hikes for you. This schedule will be fixed and you cannot change it later. Most of the guides are from Itacarimbi and you can pay extra for a pickup with their car or motorbike if necessary. You must have transport within the park and if you didn't come with any you'll need to arrange it beforehand. Their pickup options aren't crazy expensive though.

Just for a quick note: the busy times in the park are December, January, July and August. It's not crowded in the park at all due to visit limits but you will need to book ahead.

When you get to the park you have to check in and get some info at the visitor center, need to sign a disclaimer and can browse the shop if you want. The park itself is free but you obviously have to come with a credited guide. Even though you'll only visit the park office on your first visit you'll always come back and check in in the morning. The guide will give you a list of things to take which includes sunscreen and mosquito repellent, 2l of water. You WILL need 2l of water! The guide will also provide you with snake guards if you want but snakes are hardly ever seen. Yes, they exist and there are warnings everywhere but you shouldn't worry about them. There are also jaguars etc here but you will never actually get in touch. What you will notice is that it's very hot so take a hat!

There are nine places to visit in the park and 2 long hikes. I recommend 2 days to see the major parts. If you are slow you'll still see most of it. For day one I did Arce Andre which is a long hike and tough at times. There are ladders and rocks to climb over so they won't take you if obese, unhealthy or perhaps even over a certain age. You can do alternative treks though so inquire about your options. That hike goes past the Bonita cave (could have done on that day but it has limits), past some rock art and graves and up to a wonderful lookout over the sinkhole beyond. It's truly magical. It was also a good spot to rest. Just before that you can step through a cave and skip the entire sinkhole but I think that's a waste. I'll get back to that soon though. From the lookout, aptly named Mundo Inteiro where you see the entire world-well you don't but you got a good view- you'll descent to the river which is quite poor now, apparently due to human impact, and then over to the arc. Andre Arc itself is fantastic. It was out lunchbreak for the day and you have once again great views to enjoy while lunching.

Now comes a bit of a tougher part. You'll walk through the arc on rocks which isn't so bad at first but it will go for a good 20 minutes. On the way you can also see a cave which you may have visited before the lookout. This is a shortcut through all this and if you are unfit take the path onwards I suggest going back through the cave and to the office from here. The usual way is to continue on large boulders and ladders - definitely not something the average joe would hike on. I wasn't too keen on this part but it was the 'best' way to continue. After the tough part are two large caves to go through where the river flows as well. These can be wonderful to visit. On the way back to the office - which is mostly flat once you pass the two caves - is one more lookout of rock art. You will also see an abandonded damn but by that time you'll be happy to finish the day. So this was Day 1 even though the Bonita Cave could have been included so perhaps keep that in mind. You can choose the starting time as long as it is after 7am. Bonita + Arce Andrew hike can easily be done within one day.

Second day we went to Bonita because I skipped that on the first one. After the long hike you will be happy it was skipped but it's not really a lot of extra walking. The main issue with Bonita is that there's a limit of visitors so once a group (max 8 per guide btw) enters there's a sign that it's 'Occupado' and you need to wait for them to come out A group takes maybe 20 minutes, possibly even thirty. That is perhaps the main reason not to add this in a full day's hike. Speaking of limits. Benito has a max visitor size of 40 per day, Arce Andre only 20 per day! The wall hike which we did on Day 2 is also limited to 40 but there is a of space. Each area has limits so if you want to add Bonita randomly on a day you need to check with the guide and office beforehand. If it's free you can probably add your name to the list. Even in a busy season this doesn't seem like a huge problem but getting to Arce Andre on short notice might be tougher.

After Cave Bonita we went back to the visitor entrance for a break. From here one goes the other way to the 'wall' hike which you already saw at the visitor entrance. It's a brutal path back up so enjoy the descend, huge caves and massive walls while you can. On the way back you will need all the energy you have for the ascend. This hike doesn't take soooo long but if it's the only thing you plan today - which is very likely - then go slow especially on the ascend.

On the 2nd day in the afternoon we went to the last part on the map. It takes another 15min driving and the road isn't very good unless you have a 4x4. It is not entirely necessary to add this part. It contains some more rock paintings (pretty good I admit) and a long stalagmite. It looks better on the photos they took for the tourist center but either way since you are already here...

It doesn't rain much in the area but there are two different periods. Wet and dry. In dry season, which is winter and I came, it looks like a European autumn with brown leaves and easy to look through the treelines. In summer it becomes thick and you would definitely enjoy the lookout more because it will be a surprise when you exit the thicket. Since it's already open I saw the sinkhole before but it is still a great view. I spent 20 minutes having a break here.

There are three biomes in the park. First we have Atlantic Forest, then Cerrado which is like a savanna, and Caatinga only presented in Brazil. This is a unique mixture. You will find forest trees next to cactee and so on. Driving from Diamantia I already noticed the landscape changing over and over again but here it's all in one go. I think this alone would justify inclusion on the world heritage list. Throw in some more rock art for culture and yay- we are in business.

One of the issues with park I have personally, and anywhere in Brazil, is that the parks aren't owned by the government. Sure, we don't want the government to just seize properties like in SOME countries but that means you have their fences and houses inside parks. It's like that in every park around Brazil. Second issue is that the indigenous still live inside the park and they don't want UNESCO to have this park included - reason being they are afraid controls get taken away. Whether or not it's true the solution to this issue was to cut the included park and their indigenous parts so it's not longer included. The crappy road through the park ends up at the indigenous villages and they probably would prefer better roads too but meh. Even in the busy season I never saw another car on that road. Third issue I have is human impact. The place is not entirely owned by the government so basically owners could do whatever they want here. I don't know the law or details but not so recently the river used to be super high and their impact made it very shallow. One can no longer see it rise to the side of the caves. While they cannot simple deforest the lot it seems they can easily impact how the nature here works.

A big attraction to the park are the rock paintings. We know nothing about the people that lived here before aside from how they buried a few. The art is odd and their language doesn't make sense. One site shows that they used to live in the rock outcrops. I'm not that impressed with it but the usual 'they have been around for 12,000 years' is quoted. A lot of areas are covered up so we don't step on it by mistake. As you don't see more than the art on the walls it is a little limited. It raises questions about what they wanted to show (there are snakes which means, careful snakes?) or why they chose to draw at all. Sometimes there is art covering other art, not only by modern graffiti.

Finally I did not visit a cave near the tourist center. It is called something like 'prayer cave' where indigenous used to come and pray I guess. Well, the guide didn't recommend it and it's only if you have nothing else to do. They intend to open up more caves in the future. There are hundreds of caves but most are impossible to reach now. One cave is signed and will eventually open plus the cinqo torres that namely enough features five towers will also be done for some more hiking.