Brazil Tours

Brazil Tours / Trekking - The Itatiaia National Park is an integral protection conservation unit of the Mata Atlântica Biosphere Reserve in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais (see map). The oldest Brazilian National Park was created in 1937, due to an initiative of the biologist Alberto Lofgren. Many tours start from Visconde de Mauá.

Itatiaia is one of the intrusive complexes of the Mantiqueira mountain chain which was formed about 70 million years ago, through alkaline magmatism in the northern segment of the Ribeira belt. The peaks of this syentitic 330 sqkm (31 x 12 km) rugged mountain massif represent the highest elevations in East - South America.

Itatiaia most probably originated beneath a huge alkaline volcano, which during the Cretaceous was comparable to present - day Mts Kenya and Kilimanjaro along the East African Rift. Over time, the volcanic cones eroded and only the plutons remained visible.

Flora and Fauna of the park change with the altitude. In the lower part, between 650 and 1.500 m occurs montane dense and mixed tropical rainforest on the oceanic side and semideciduous seasonal rainforest on the continental side. Above 1.500 m occurs high montane rainforest and on the plateau above 1.600 m the so-called altitude fields / (campos de altitude).

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