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A vast coastal national park of shifting white dunes and rain-fed turquoise lagoons, Lençóis Maranhenses covers roughly 155,000 hectares of Brazil’s northeastern shoreline. It was established in 1981 and lies in the state of Maranhão, east of Barreirinhas.

Despite the name, which means bedsheets, this is not a desert. Heavy rains from January to June fill the hollows between the dunes. The water settles over an impermeable layer beneath the sand. By July the lagoons are at their fullest, and they stay swimmable well into September. Dunes rise as high as 40 metres. Their ridges are rippled like linen, and the pools below shift from jade to deep sapphire as the light changes.

Access is deliberately limited. Visits are made with accredited local guides, usually by 4×4 from Barreirinhas, with longer journeys by boat along the Preguiças River to riverside villages such as Atins. The pace is unhurried. Visitors walk barefoot over cool sand at dusk and float in silent pools, with little but wind and sky around them. The park is also home to mangroves, restinga scrub and rich birdlife.