Serra do Mar

The Serra do Mar has steep slopes and lots of rain.

It is made of many kinds of rock.

An escarpment is a long, steep slope or cliff. IPT says the Serra do Mar is very complex: many different kinds of rock and rock structures run along its whole length. Its heights vary a lot, its slopes are steep and it gets a great deal of rain.

IPT adds that explorers noticed the range as early as the 1700s. Since the 1930s, scientists have studied its rocks and the basins of layered rock around it to learn how it formed.

IPT stresses the range's high lithological and structural complexity along its entire length, its wide variation in altitude, high slopes and high rainfall. Its origin and evolution have long intrigued researchers: explorers noted it as early as the eighteenth century, and more systematic studies of its lithology and of the sedimentary basins that surround it began after the 1930s.

The IPT summary comes from a chapter calling the Serra do Mar 'the most tormented relief in Brazil' (Vieira and Gramani, in Landscapes and Landforms of Brazil, Springer, 2015).

The Atlantic Forest grows on these mountains. Rare monkeys called muriquis live there.

Orchids and bromeliads grow in its forests too.

IPT says the Serra do Mar includes Brazil's largest area of Atlantic Forest. In Serra dos Órgãos National Park, Brazil's register of protected areas lists different forests from the lower slopes up to the high slopes, then high grasslands and plants on bare rock.

The park protects the southern muriqui, one of the most threatened primates in the world, and other rare and threatened animals, such as a toad called the flea toad. Farther south, UNESCO's Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves, part of the Serra do Mar, have forests full of orchids and bromeliads.

Brazil's CNUC register says Serra dos Órgãos National Park preserves the central area of the Serra do Mar Biodiversity Corridor, the largest remaining portion of Atlantic Forest, with sub-montane, montane and upper-montane rain forest, high-altitude grasslands and rock vegetation along its altitudinal gradient. It lists rare, endemic and threatened species such as the gray-winged cotinga (Tijuca condita) and the flea toad (Psyllophryne didactyla), and the southern muriqui (Brachyteles arachnoides), one of the world's most threatened primates.

UNESCO's Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves (1999), part of the Serra do Mar domain in Paraná and São Paulo, have more than 450 tree species per hectare in some areas and 350 recorded bird species.

Part of the Serra do Mar is a national park. It was made in 1939.

Many rivers start in the park.

Serra dos Órgãos National Park, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, was created on 30 November 1939. It was made larger in 2008, and Brazil's register of protected areas gives its area today as about 19,850 hectares.

The park protects the springs of rivers that begin there, and one-of-a-kind rock features. It also welcomes visitors and climbers, asking them to keep their impact low and climb safely.

CNUC: created by Decree 1,822 of 30 November 1939 (10,527 ha), limits revised in 1984, enlarged by decree in 2008 (20,024 ha) and revised in 2022 (19,850.30 ha; 19,850.17 ha by GIS); managed by ICMBio; IUCN Category II; entirely Atlantic Forest; in the municipalities of Guapimirim, Magé, Petrópolis and Teresópolis.

Its creation goals include protecting singular geological monuments, the springs and sources of rivers born in the park, and encouraging mountaineering and climbing with minimum-impact and safety principles.

The slopes are steep. Stay on the trail with your grown-up.

Rain can come often here, so bring a raincoat.

PlayOwl's advice: the Serra do Mar has steep slopes and a lot of rain, so stay on marked trails, wear good shoes and bring a rain jacket. Rocks can be slippery when wet.

Climbing is a sport for trained people with the right gear. In Serra dos Órgãos National Park, climbers are asked to follow safety and low-impact rules.

PlayOwl's advice, based on the conditions IPT describes (high slopes, high rainfall): keep to marked trails, wear footwear with grip, carry rain gear and follow park staff instructions.

The park's creation goals encourage mountaineering and climbing only within principles of minimum impact and safety (CNUC).