Ubajara National Park

The park and its surrounding area were originally the homelands of the indigenous Tabajaras people, some of whom still inhabit the mountainous jungles nearby. The park was created as part of the Brazilian national parks system in 1959. It is administered by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (CMBio). The park's most prominent geographic feature is an 820-meter high escarpment with limestone cliffs. There are rolling mountains with jungles and areas of more arid landscape. The park is noted for having a variety of rivers, streams, waterfalls, and caves. Vegetation in much of the park looks like it does in the Amazon basin, with areas of lush green jungle, while other parts of the park are drier with trees like jatobá, angico, and quince. There's an interesting range of animals in the park with colonies of bats living the grottos and monkeys swinging through the cloud forest. Several kinds of rodents, from small mice to large species like tapirs and capybara roam the woods, along with anteaters, rabbits, and deer. Jungle cats prowl for prey but are rarely seen because they shy away from humans. Big cats like the puma live here, but the most numerous is a small species of wildcat called the oncilla that looks like a small underfed leopard, with spotted fur. The oncilla is regarded as a vulnerable threatened species. It is common through much of northeastern Brazil....