Parque Estadual de Campinhos

Campinhos State Park

The Parque Estadual de Campinhos (Campinhos State Park) was the first state park created to preserve the speleological heritage of Paraná. It has an area of approximately 335 ha and is located in the vicinity of Tunas do Paraná. At the end of the single lane road is a visitor center with a well maintained park and a small lake. The visitors first check in at the visitor center, where they see a video about the importance of protected areas. Then there is an informative talk about the rules of the place. Then there are three different trips, the Gruta dos Jesuítas, the Gruta da Fada (Fairy Cave), and the Gruta do Abismo (The Abyss). But actually only the first two are real caves, the Gruta da Abismo is just a single room which has dailight through a huge opening and is mainly a picknick spot.

There is a 850 m long trail through the rain forest. The list of animals and plants which can be observed with a little patience in the park is long: hawks, harvestmen, herbivorous bats, blue rooks, yellow-breasted surucuás, red-breasted surucuás, quer-queros, purple-breasted parrots, arapongas, red-headed woodpeckers, bush deer, serelepes, jacus, pacas, otters, agoutis, moorhens, bush dogs, coatis, ferrets, armadillo chickens, small bush cats, cavies, coral snakes, rattlesnakes, jaracuçu, and jararaca. The most important plants are pine (Araucaria angustifolia), imbuia (Ocotea porosa), cedar (Cedrela fissilis), jacaranda (Dalbergia brasiliensis), yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis), Brazilian oak (Roupala brasiliensis) and aroeira (Schinus sp.).