Genipabu Dunes: Natal's Desert Meets the Atlantic
The Genipabu dunes north of Natal are among the world's most dramatic coastal dune systems — a rolling desert landscape of orange sand meeting the deep blue Atlantic, with a freshwater lagoon among the dunes
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Genipabu Dune Buggy
The dune buggy rides at Genipabu – plunging down nearly vertical dune faces, surfing the sand slopes and flying over the peaks – are one of Brazil's great adrenaline experiences
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Lagoa de Genipabu
The freshwater lagoon hidden among the Genipabu dunes — surrounded by cashew trees and accessed by Jangada raft — is an unlikely tropical oasis in the sandy landscape
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Camel rides on the dunes
Camel rides across the Genipabu Dunes are a touristic oddity - the camels imported for the experience create a surreal Middle Eastern atmosphere in a Brazilian dune landscape
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Dune Sandboarding
The steep surfaces of the Genipabu dunes are used for sandboarding — riding boards down the sand slopes in a dry equivalent of snowboarding, reaching considerable speeds on the steeper slopes
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Coastal Dune Ecosystem
The Natal coast's dyne ecosystem – with its cashew forests, endemic reptiles and wind-sculpted formations – is a fragile environment now threatened by overdevelopment and tourism pressure
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Sunset over the dunes
The Genipabu Dunes at sunset — the orange sand turning red, the Atlantic glistening and the silhouettes of buggy vehicles on the dune tops — create one of northeastern Brazil's most photographed scenes