The main attraction of Lencois Maranhenses is of course the endless dunes which I described in the previous post. However, the second day of our trip in the region was no less exciting. The Pequenos Lencois which literally means "little Lencois" can also boast beautiful dunes filled with temporary lakes, rain forest rivers abundant with wildlife, golden beaches and tiny villages. And what's best, it's pretty much off the beaten path and you'll see very few tourists here.

If you want to see what the main dunes in Lencois Maranhenses (that we visited on the first day) were like, take a look at this post. I've described how to get there, when to visit and uploaded many beautiful photos from this extraordinary place - it's totally unbelievable that such vasts areas of dry sand can be found right in the middle of a tropical rain forest.

Pequenos Lencois

The second day was somehow more exciting as it was a full day of enjoying the nature and surrounding impressive scenery. On the first day, the tour only started in the late afternoon and we spend merely a couple of hours admiring the dunes. That was it.

But on the second day - the trip began in the morning (departing from Barreirinhas) and our first attraction was a boat ride on the river Preguicas where we could see some beautiful, colorful birds. We stopped at the little village (if you can even call it a village) made of a few wooden huts and a bar at the golden beach called nearby. We encountered lots of lively monkeys that loved climbing up people's bodies all the way to the head. It was fun, but you have to be careful so that the animals don't steal your belongings.

After having some refreshments, we were taken to Vassouras - Environmental Protection Area where we were free to roam around the dunes. Here, we also saw the lakes formed naturally during the rain season - but the color of water was different than in the lakes we saw on the previous day. Also, the sand was more golden. It was an amazingly beautiful sight - almost like in Sahara! But tiny Sahara.

The last stop was the village of Mandacaru and the Preguicas lighthouse from where we could view the panoramic view of the entire area. Unfortunately, not many dunes were seen from here - mostly the river and swamps. After that, we had a bit more time to walk around the Cabure beach - the point where the river and the ocean met. The beach was completely flat and shallow. Also, on the day we went there, it was extremely windy so we didn't enjoy it as much as we could - nevertheless the beach area appeared strangely barren and empty - which was so interesting considering the contrasting green coconut tree forests of the nearby village.

If you wish to see the tour options and prices of the tour operator we used, click here.