Scenery of the Sea of Dunes in Brazil-Lakisma Rahses
Viewed from the sky, the rolling sand dunes are like pieces of white linen that are dried in the wind. In fact, the name of this area-"Lakisma Rahses" means "Bed Sheets of Maranhão State." Maranhão State is located on the tropical coast of northeastern Brazil, where half-moon-shaped sand dunes spread. No matter what the name is, it is a Gobi Desert full of magic colors, with shimmering white sand waves spreading out continuously. In the dazzling blue-green pond made of rainwater, there are silver fish swimming. Shepherds drive their sheep over towering sand dunes, fishermen go out to sea to fish, and only the stars in the sky and ghosts in the wreckage of shipwrecks guide them.
"It's like entering another space." Carolyn Alvert said she served as director of the 1550-square-kilometer national park. The park was established thirty years ago to cover this wonderful ecosystem. It is as if the sea boundary of the Bahamas Islands suddenly appears in the middle of the Sahara Gobi.
Only in this Gobi can dreams and bubbles become reality. In fact, on a harsh scale, Lakeis does not belong to the Gobi, said Antonio Cordeiro Fetosa, a geographer at the Federal University of Maranhão. The annual rainfall in this area is about 120 centimeters, but the certificate boundary states that the Gobi is called the Gobi if the annual average rainfall is less than 25 centimeters.
Moreover, it is water that cultivates this sandy landscape. The two rivers on all sides, the Banaiba River and the Prejisas River, carry local sediment to the Atlantic Ocean, and most of the sediment is collected on the park's 70-kilometer-long coastline. During the dry season, especially in October and November, the strong eastern winter wind blows sand to places as far as 48 kilometers away. Within sight, half-moon sand dunes with a height of up to 39 meters are sculpted everywhere. Codeiro has witnessed the endless changes of Lakismalakhese, with sand dunes advancing 20 centimeters per year in some areas. "Every year, the scenery is very uncommunicative." he said.
Every year, new lagoons occur after rainwater from January to June fills the valley between the sand dunes. Some of these short-term water bodies can reach more than 90 meters long and nearly 3 meters deep. In early July, the lagoons have the most abundant water volume, and rivers such as the Negro River connect these lagoons when they pass through the sand dunes. Fish are then able to migrate along the current to the lagoon, where they feed on other fish or insect larvae in the sand. A few species of fish, such as Hoplias malabaricus, even drill into the mud to hibernate during the dry season, and reappear again when the light falls during the rainy season. Once the rainy season ends, the lagoon begins to evaporate in the fierce equatorial heat wave, and the water surface can fall at a rate of up to 1 meter per month. The residents here not only include fish and insects, but also humans who live in the ruins around the sand dunes. 90 men, women and children settled in two oases in the sand dunes-Quemada dos Britos and Dabaisha, and lived in earthen huts with palm-leaf roofs. Like sand dunes, they change the trajectory of their lives with the seasons. During the dry season, people raise chickens, cattle and sheep, cultivate cassava, soybeans and cashew nuts, and spread about 70 kilometers along the northeastern coastline of Brazil from the dazzling sandy land of the park.
Fiber from mauri and carnauba is collected in the arid forest along the sand dunes. The rainy season came and it was difficult to cultivate crops, so the residents of Shazhou went to the seaside and lived in fishing sheds on the beach. They sold pickled and dried Atlantic silver carp to vendors, who then shipped it to the city for sale.
In 2002, a highway was built between St. Louis, the capital of Maranhão State, and the rapidly rising town of Barrerinas (which operates its location at the entrance of the National Park to host growth). Since then, the tourism industry has also begun to expand. At this moment, the number of people visiting the park every year reaches more than 60,000. People drive various off-road vehicles for rides on the sand dunes, which worries the park's staff.
"No driving is allowed on the sand dunes." Alvert said she was concerned that the reckless behavior would pose a threat to the birds that settled here, as well as the sandpipers and tern expectant birds. In order to advise tourism that could grow continuously, she taught a team in 2009 to walk from one end of the park to the other to explore the traces of sand dune creatures.
It is no wonder that outsiders want to visit this exotic wonder in Brazil's largest coastal sand dune area, because even those who know the place best will sigh at the beautiful scenery that is constantly mobilized. Manoel Brito, the late father of Quemados Britos, once raised about 500 sheep, and the sheep wandered freely in the sand. As he drives his sheep across the sand dunes, he will be amazed at the constant changes in the sand. "Everything here is 10% stable," he once reported to me,"but if you investigate carefully, you'll find that the sand piles are moving every day. God made these white mountains so that the wind could play with them forever."
