The Ubajara National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional de Ubajara) is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

in the state of

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...

, Brazil. It is the smallest of the 35 national parks of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and is known for the Ubajara

grotto A grotto is a natural or artificial cave used by humans in both modern times and antiquity, and historically or prehistorically. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or often flooded at high ti ...

Location

The park is in the

Caatinga Caatinga (, ) is a type of semi-arid tropical vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in interior northeastern Brazil. The name "Caatinga" is a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation" (''caa'' = forest, v ...

biome. It covers . It was created by decree 45.954 of 30 April 1959, modified on 26 April 1973 and 13 December 2002. The park is administered by the

Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm."Brazilian Federal Law 11.516/2007 (Por ...

. It lies in the municipalities of

Ubajara Ubajara is a municipality in the state of Ceará in the Northeast region of Brazil. In this municipality is located the Ubajara National Park The Ubajara National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional de Ubajara) is a national park in the state of Ceará, ...

Tianguá Tianguá is a municipality in the state of Ceará in the Northeast region of Brazil. The municipality contains part of the Serra da Ibiapaba Environmental Protection Area The Serra da Ibiapaba Environmental Protection Area ( pt, Área de Prote� ...

and Frecheirinha in

. The park adjoins the

Serra da Ibiapaba Environmental Protection Area The Serra da Ibiapaba Environmental Protection Area ( pt, Área de Proteção Ambiental Serra da Ibiapaba) is an environmental protection area in the states of Piauí and Ceará, Brazil. It contains fragments of cerrado, caatinga and Atlantic Fore ...

to the west. The park is in the western edge of Ceará peripheral depression and the Ibiapaba plateau. Average annual rainfall is . Temperatures range from with an average of . Altitudes range from above sea level. The flora include remnants of the original forest as well as secondary growth and exotics.

Conservation

The park is classified as

IUCN protected area category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

II (national park). It has the objectives of preserving natural ecosystems of great ecological relevance and scenic beauty, enabling scientific research, environmental education, outdoors recreation and eco-tourism. Protected species in the park include the

oncilla The oncilla (''Leopardus tigrinus''), also known as the northern tiger cat, little spotted cat, and tigrillo, is a small spotted cat ranging from Central America to central Brazil. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and the popul ...

(Leopardus tigrinus),

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

(Puma concolor),

Maranhão red-handed howler The Maranhão red-handed howler (''Alouatta ululata'') is an endangered species of howler monkey endemic to forests (for example Babaçu forests) in the northeastern Brazilian states of Ceará, Maranhão and Piauí. It was previously thought to ...

(Alouatta ululata), the variable antshrike (Thamnophilus caerulescens) and the frogs Adelophryne baturitensis and

Adelophryne maranguapensis ''Adelophryne maranguapensis'' is a species of frog in the family Eleutherodactylidae. It is endemic to Serra de Maranguape, just west of Fortaleza, in Ceará state, northeastern Brazil. Description Based on the type series including two adult ...

Ubajara grotto

Set in a hillside in the Ibiapaba Mountains, 320 kilometres from

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

, the grotto has impressive

stalactite A stalactite (, ; from the Greek 'stalaktos' ('dripping') via ''stalassein'' ('to drip') is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble an ...

and

stalagmite A stalagmite (, ; from the Greek , from , "dropping, trickling") is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically ...

formations, the result of nature's patient work with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and water over many thousands of years - each centimetre of crystallised growth takes three years to form. Access to the grotto is by a chairlift. The park has waterfalls and paths through the forest. Visits are supervised by ''

Ibama Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources ( pt, Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis, IBAMA) is the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm. IBAMA supports anti- ...

'', the national body for environmental conservation, and must be arranged in advance. Other attractions in the Ibiapaba mountains include ''Morro do Céu'', 820 metres high, and ''Pedra de Itagurussu'', the source of the Pirangi waterfall. File:2010. Ubajara (CE) (2).JPG File:Anderps 0016.JPG File:Anderps 014.JPG File:Anderps 013.jpg

Notes

Sources

* * * {{authority control 1959 establishments in Brazil National parks of Brazil Protected areas of Ceará Caatinga