Peruaçu River Canyon

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 …

There are actually two similar sites on the tentative list, this one submitted 16/09/1998, and 'Canyon du Rio Peruaçu, Minas Gerais', submitted 11/03/1998. The latter is submitted by IPHAN, the institute that protects cultural sites in Brazil, but strangly this organization marked it a natural site. The organisation submitting this site is IBAMA, which manages the natural parks, and IBAMA is marking it as a mixed site. As both descriptions talk about archeology, it seems also the first submission should have been a mixed site. Anyway, IBAMA took 6 months longer and apparently took this time to write a proper description, so I will consider only this one.

In his review of Diamantina, Wojciech Fedoruk points out that Cavernas do Peruaçu NP is relatively close by. This drew my attention and I started looking into the possibility of visiting. I reserved three days in my schedule for a visit. Then, I found there is a daily Transnorte bus from Diamantina to Montes Claros at 6.00h, arriving 10.30h. However the busses to Januaria, which is still 40 kilometers from Peruaçu, leave at 10.00h and 18.00h. Very inconvenient, but I contacted the guesthouse nearest to the park entrance and the owner Kescia turned out to be a miracle of organising. I was lucky to get a ride from one of the members of their whatsapp 'hitchhike' group from Montes Claros straight to the guesthouse for only BRS 80. Having left Diamantina at 6.00h, I arrived there 15.15h.

The next day I was …