Brazil Eco Adventure Tours
Rainforest - Hiking & Biking - Wildlife

Saco do Mamanguá

 Saco do Mamanguá    Saco do Mamanguá    Saco do Mamanguá 
Saco do Mamanguá, in the south of Rio de Janeiro State is a 8 km x 2 km narrow bay, connecting the Juatinga Ecological Reserve with the Cairuçu Environmental Protection Area (APA) (see map).

This geomorphological feature, a drowned river valley, called ria is unique in Brazil. Rias are similar to fjords which are deeper and shaped by glaciers.

The Mamanguá reaches a maximum depth of 10 m at its entrance, diminishing constantly to its sickle - shaped bottom (Ponta da Foice). There, several rivers flow into the Mamanguá, creating 9 inundated areas (várzeas), a growing ground for the caixeta (Tabebuia cassinoides), a popular softwood.
Saco do Mamanguá

It is used for all type of handicraft by the 120 caiçara families (apr. 600 people) that live along the bay´s shore in little villages such as Currupira, Regato, Baixio, Cruzeiro or Ponta da Romana.

Behind the caixetais, where the tide mixes the sweet water of the rivers with the salty water of the sea, an important mangrove forest occurs. Its minusculous algae, bacteria and fungi represent the beginning of the food chain for many fishes, birds and other animals making the Mamanguá to one of the most important fish reproduction areas in the region. In order to reduce illegal fishing, principally by the use of trawls, concrete blocks with iron hooks were fixed at strategic positions on the seafloor of the Mamanguá.

From Saco do Mamanguá which can be accessed from Paraty many trails start to the conservation units of Juatinga and Cairuçu.

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