The Serra da Tiririca State Park () is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

in the state of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil. It protects an area of rugged terrain on the Atlantic coast with Atlantic Forest vegetation.

Location

The Serra da Tiririca State Park is divided between the municipalities of

Niterói Niterói () is a List of municipalities in Rio de Janeiro, municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro, in the Southeast Region, Brazil, southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay, facing the city of Rio de ...

and Maricá, Rio de Janeiro. It has an area of . This includes a

marine park A marine park is a designated park consisting of an area of sea (or lake) set aside to achieve ecological sustainability, promote marine awareness and understanding, enable marine recreational activities, and provide benefits for Indigenous peo ...

that extends offshore between Pontas do Alto Mourão and Costão de Itacoatiara. It has rugged terrain with slopes above 50° in some places. The average altitude is around . The park includes eight hills, namely Morro do Elefante: , Alto Mourão: , Costão de Itacoatiara: , Morro do Telégrafo: , Morro do Catumbi: , Morro da Penha: and Morro da Serrinha: .

History

The Serra da Tiririca region has many archaeological sites, particularly in Itaipu, which has important sambaquis (middens) left by different groups of indigenous people. When European settlers arrived the region was inhabited by Tamoios people. In the mid-16th century the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

s erected buildings in Itaipu to catechize the local people.

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

commented on the biological diversity when he visited in 1832 en route to

Cabo Frio Cabo Frio (, ''Cold Cape'') is a tourist destination located in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian coast runs east from Rio de Janeiro to Cabo Frio where it turns sharply north. North of Cabo Frio is Cabo de São Tomé. It was named aft ...

. Creation of the park was due to a campaign by civil society against damage to the environment that began in the early 1980s and included environmental groups, residents' associations and other residents of the region. A Public Civil Action, the first in Brazil, was filed by the Public Prosecutor against an illegal subdivision. The Tiririca Front was active in 1989-90 but lost support due to its overly politicized activity. After this the Ecological Citizenship Movement (MCE) led development of a study to prepare the technical and legal basis for the park, including a draft built that was forwarded to the state legislature through Carlos Minc. The Serra da Tiririca State Park was created by state law 1.902 of 29 November 1991 with the objective of protecting the Atlantic Forest vegetation, sources of watercourses and fauna. The provisional limits were defined by state decree 18.598 of 19 April 1993. On 10 October 1992

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

recognized the park as part of the Atlantic Forest Biosphere Reserve. A 386-page guide to the park was published in June 2016 describing all the trails in the park, with 15 trails described in detail.

Environment

The vegetation of the Serra da Tiririca is in the Atlantic Forest biome, consisting of dense montane or submontane rainforest. This type of forest formation occurs at altitudes from in the coastal region of the

Serra do Mar The Serra do Mar (; ) is a system of mountain ranges and escarpments in Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeastern Brazil. Geography The Serra do Mar runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean coast from the state of Espírito Santo to southern Santa Ca ...

. Vegetation includes forest, with trees such as ipê-amarelo and quaresmeira, restingas, mangroves and marshes. There are more than 150 species of birds, and many species of amphibians, reptiles and small mammals.

Visiting

The park is open daily from 07:00 to 18:00, or 19:00 in summer. The visitor's reception center is in the Itacoatiara neighborhood of Niterói. Darwin's route is now the Darwin Trail from Engenho do Mato in Niterói to Itaocaia in Maricá. Other trails in the park lead to lookouts over the city of

and the beaches of Niterói and Maricá. Visitors may practice extreme sports such as rappelling and rock climbing.

Notes

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Serra da Tiririca State Park State parks of Brazil Protected areas established in 1991 1991 establishments in Brazil Protected areas of Rio de Janeiro (state)