Explore nosso site e conheça a Reserva Ecológica Refúgio das Araucárias.
Navegue pelo menu para conhecer os atrativos da reserva, nossas pousada, o projeto Conecte e nosso projeto de conservação.
Nosso projeto de conservação é financiado principalmente pela pousada. Ao se hospedar no Refúgio das Araucárias você está colaborando com a restauração de 300.000 m2 de Mata Atlântica.
Sejam bem-vindos!
beija-flor-de-veste-preta
foto: Jason Polak
O Refúgio sob o olhar do
fotógrafo Jason Polak
We make our way to our destination. The forest habitat changes into farmland punctuated with small cities. On the road, huge trucks carrying eucalypts and other timber are a reminder that the beautiful forests are a rare exception, and not the rule.
The uniform monoculture farms give way to the scarred wilderness of the Carlos Botelho park. We are staying near the park in an Airbnb run by Adilson Brito and Edi Oliveira, a couple with a passion for conservation. They own 30 hectares of land nearby that once was a soybean plantation, but that they committed to rewilding. Adilson gives me a few rare photos that he scanned from an expedition of Reinhard Maack. Maack was an explorer, and his photos show immense swaths of untouched Atlantic forest that no longer exist today.
But Adilson tells us that the Atlantic forest has an incredible regenerative ability, and the evidence is right before our eyes. They started rewilding much of their land in 2010, and already it’s hard to tell that it’s a new forest. Now, instead of a soybean plantation, it is the Refúgio das Araucárias and Ecovila, where they have committed to keeping 80% of the land wild. The remaining 20% is used to grow food and expand an eco-village where one can build a sustainable tiny house.
It is hard to convey how cool their story is, especially for those who haven’t lived in Brazil. But after living here for two years, I can say that doing things in Brazil is hard, especially when those things are off the beaten track. I only wish more people who owned land would see that rewilding it may be our last hope for redemption.
On their property, there’s an amazing trail. Walking through its windy path, I am reminded of the most important reason to watch birds. It’s not just for the photographic opportunities, nor is it just a game of numbers (although seeing new species is certainly enthralling). Instead, watching birds is a way of receiving ancient knowledge of ecosystems, of life, and of ourselves.
Acesse a matéria completa : Deep in the Atlantic Forest of São Paulo