Qualla: Araguaia National Park

Araguaia National Park: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Marcelo de Sousa Guedes, CC BY-SA 3.0. Bananal Island sits in the middle of the Araguaia River in the state of Tocantins, a freshwater island roughly the size of Jamaica and the second largest inland river island in the world. Four indigenous peoples - the Javae, Karaja, Ava-Canoeiro, and Tuxa - live in sixteen villages on its southern two-thirds, a cultural reserve where non-indigenous Brazilians are not allowed to settle. The northern third is Araguaia National Park, 557,700 hectares of flooded forest and grassy savanna that became a national park in December 1959. To get there, you fly to Palmas, take a bus or hired car to a river town called Caseara, and hire a boat. There is no bridge. Driving is impractical except during the two driest weeks of the year, when you might ford the river in a truck.

Read more: Araguaia National Park on Qualla

Image: Marcelo de Sousa Guedes | CC BY-SA 3.0

Araguaia National Park: An Island in a River

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rodrigo José Fernandes, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Araguaia is a slow river that does not like to stay in one channel. Somewhere in its long journey north to meet the Tocantins, it split around an obstruction in its bed and never rejoined - or rejoined only at the island's downstream tip, far enough north that a landmass the ...

Read more: Araguaia National Park on Qualla

Image: Rodrigo José Fernandes | CC BY-SA 4.0

Araguaia National Park: Four Nations, One Island

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rodrigo José Fernandes, CC BY-SA 4.0. Under Brazilian law, the southern two-thirds of Bananal is reserved for indigenous populations, and has been since 1973 when legislation was passed to designate much of the island as a reserve. The four nations living in the sixteen villages there are distinct. The Javae and Kara...

Read more: Araguaia National Park on Qualla

Image: Rodrigo José Fernandes | CC BY-SA 4.0

Araguaia National Park: Between Two Biomes

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Emanuel Liandro, CC BY-SA 4.0. Bananal sits at the meeting point of two great South American biomes: the Amazon rainforest to the north and the cerrado savanna to the south. The park contains both, depending on whether you are near water or not. The flooded forests and marshes hold rainforest species. The drie...

Read more: Araguaia National Park on Qualla

Image: Emanuel Liandro | CC BY-SA 4.0

Araguaia National Park: The Birdwatchers' Census

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rodrigo José Fernandes, CC BY-SA 4.0. Toucans and macaws are the noisy headliners. But the water is where the real variety turns up - anhinga drying their spread wings after a dive, herons and egrets stalking the shallows, ospreys dropping feet-first into the flooded forest to lift out fish. The savanna contributes r...

Read more: Araguaia National Park on Qualla

Image: Rodrigo José Fernandes | CC BY-SA 4.0

Araguaia National Park: Getting There

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rodrigo José Fernandes, CC BY-SA 4.0. The airport that matters is in Palmas, the planned capital of Tocantins, reached by flights from Brasilia. From Palmas you take a bus or arrange transport to Caseara, a small river town. From Caseara you hire a boat, which is the practical way to enter the park. Tour guides will ...

Read more: Araguaia National Park on Qualla

Image: Rodrigo José Fernandes | CC BY-SA 4.0