Itatiaia National Park
| Itatiaia National Park | |
|---|---|
| Parque Nacional do Itatiaia | |
IUCN category II (national park) | |
View in January 2014 | |
| Nearest city | Resende, Rio de Janeiro |
| Coordinates | 22°22′30″S 44°36′43″W / 22.375°S 44.612°W |
| Designation | National park |
| Created | 14 June 1937 |
| Administrator | ICMBio |
Itatiaia National Park (Portuguese: Parque Nacional do Itatiaia) is a park in Brazil. People made it a park in 1937. It was the first national park in Brazil. It is Brazil's oldest national park now. It is in two of Brazil's states: Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais.
Name
Itatiaia means "many-pointed rock" in the Tupi language.
History
Itatiaia National Park, the oldest national park of Brazil, was created on 14 June 1937 by President Getúlio Vargas. It was the first of 76 such parks.[1]
Place
The park is in the Mantiqueira Mountains. It is in municipalities of Itatiaia and Resende in Rio de Janeiro state and in Bocaina de Minas and Itamonte in Minas Gerais state. It is mountainous and rocky. It is between 540 to 2,791 metres (1,772 to 9,157 ft) above sea level. The highest place is the Black Needles peak (Pico das Agulhas Negras).[2]
The higher part of the park has the starts of 12 river basins that go into Brazil's Rio Grande (Grand River), which goes into the Paraná River, and the Paraíba do Sul, the most important river in Rio de Janeiro state. The lower part of the park has Atlantic Forest plants and wide rivers with pools and waterfalls.[2]
Bird watchers come from all over the world to look at the park's birds. There are 350 species of birds in the park. People also hike and rock climb. The park is surrounded by the Serra da Mantiqueira Environmental Protection Area.
People go to the high park of the park through an entrance about 35 km from the main entrance. They can go to the Pico das Agulhas Negras and Prateleiras from there. The low area of the park is much closer to the city of Itatiaia. It has many waterfalls, for example as Véu da Noiva. The low area has also a natural history museum.
Pictures
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Itatiaia National Park Overview
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Pico das Agulhas Negras, the highest peak in the National Park
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Itatiaia National Park
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Véu de Noiva waterfall
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Melanophryniscus frog, symbol species of the park
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Frilled coquette
References
- ↑ Ariane Janér (2010), The National Parks of Brazil, EcoBrasil - Brazilian Ecotourism Association
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Itatiaia National Park – ICMBio.
Sources
- The Itatiaia National Park, ICMBio, archived from the original on 2017-03-13, retrieved 2016-05-01
Other books and websites
- Jorge Pádua, Maria Tereza e Coimbra Filho, Adelmar F. Os Parques Nacionais do Brasil. Instituto de Cooperação Iberoamericana. Madrid. José Olympio Editora, 1989. ISBN 84-85389-19-0, pág. 122 a 129
- Corrêa, Marcos Sá "Itatiaia - O Caminho das Pedras" São Paulo. Metalivros, 2003. ISBN 85-85371-50-1, 240 pág.
- Leite, Helton Perillo Ferreira - "Planalto do Itatiaia - Região das Agulhas Negras", Rio de Janeiro. Montanhar / Publit, 2007. Edição parcialmente trilíngue. ISBN 978-85-7773-076-6, 232 páginas.