Parque E - Senderos latinoamericanos

Guidebook), currently a reference for those wanting to explore the trails in one
of the most known and visited national parks in Brazil, located in the city of Rio
de Janeiro.
This time, however, the challenge is much bigger. After all, in the Tijuca National
Park, the work consisted of mapping and presenting in a clear and concise
manner in a printed guidebook well-defined trails that receive a regular flow of
visitors and that have been well-known to the Mountain Clubs of Rio de
Janeiro for decades. In the case of Desengano, barring a few exceptions, the
trails received very few visitors and had to be almost entirely rebuilt.
For this hard task, we had the support of one of the most experienced groups
in this field in the country. The group is associated with the almost centenarian
Brazilian Excursionist Center (Centro Excursionista Brasileiro) – the first
Mountain Club in Latin America. Putting this work together was in itself an
adventure, humorously registered in a making-of presentation at the end of this
book. Furthermore, the project included an update to the park's cartographic
map, GPS mapping of its main trails, and the creation of an image database for
future use by Inea.
The involvement of the local population and of the Mayor's Office of Santa
Maria Madalena, the city where the park's headquarters is located, was very
important. Besides offering all their support for the preparation of the
guidebook, the Mayor's Office also suggested the inclusion of some short
trails located outside this conservation unit that have great local appeal and
are potentially attractive to visitors as well. This contributed for a more
comprehensive work. Therefore, our intention is that Desengano State Park
become a true vector for regional development, inspiring the creation of more
and better jobs than those provided by other rural land's traditional activities,
such as cattle raising and agriculture, always harder and less profitable in
areas with jagged mountainous terrain such as the Desengano Massif.