Itatiaia

Itatiaia National Park, established in 1937, is Brazil's oldest national park, protecting approximately 28,084 hectares of Atlantic Forest and high-altitude grasslands in the Mantiqueira Mountains on the border of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais states. The park encompasses a dramatic altitudinal gradient from 600 to 2,791 meters at the Agulhas Negras peak, one of Brazil's highest mountains. This elevation range creates an extraordinary diversity of habitats, from lush tropical forest at lower elevations to otherworldly high-altitude rocky grasslands above the tree line. The park's name derives from the Tupi indigenous word meaning 'rocks with many points.'