What are those little black dots stretched out on white cloth on the edges of BA-001? Take a deep breath that the perfume delivers: they are cloves placed to dry on the edge of the hot asphalt. Nearby, the Atlantic Forest, purple, yellow and orange cocoa fruits mix between jequitibás and pau-brasil. At the end of the trail, the river, dyed in amber, meets the sea.
We arrived at Engenhoca beach, in Itacaré, on the south coast of Bahia, where sea, waterfall and forest guide the trip.
It’s a sunny late afternoon of a blue sky Monday. The sand is taken over by a group of Europeans, very connected in the surf lesson.
With colorful dreadlocks, mirrored sunglasses, a toned and tanned body, the Bahian professor governs the movement of that scenario.
Accompanied by an entourage of assistants, he gives instructions, in English, to the students, who balance themselves as best they can on the board, still on firm sand. Soon, the tide will rise and with it the gang will show off their maneuvers in the water.
Engenhoca is one of the rural beaches of Itacaré, so called in contrast to the urban beaches, which are inside the city, as is the case of Resende, Tiririca, Ribeira and Praia do Costa.
Favorite for people who hang out in more untouched environments, surrounded by natural beauty, rural beaches require a vehicle to travel to a certain point on the BA-001 highway. From there, the visitor follows the trails drawn inside the forest to finally reach the ocean.
The beaches of São José, Havaizinho, Camboinha (or Gamboa), Prainha, Itacarezinho —one of the most popular —, Jeribucaçu and Arruda also make up this “rural” circuit.
“It’s for those looking for a more complete experience. A direct contact with the Atlantic Forest, full of discoveries”, explains José Antônio Oliveira dos Santos, 37. “Anyone who truly loves nature cannot be left out”, excites up the guide.
A native of Itacaré, where he is known as Zé do Ambrósio, he is a bit frightened by the felling of trees to make room for condominiums. He fears that such progress will end up taking away from Itacaré what is most fascinating: the harmony between the blue of the sea and the green of the forest.
Only 75 km away from Ilhéus, the city lost, some time ago, the aura of an isolated stronghold. It ceased to be a bucolic territory for fishermen, surfers and beachgoers to establish itself as one of the most sought after destinations on the Costa do Cacau tourist route in Bahia.
There are currently around 30,000 people living there.
“We no longer have low season”, celebrates businesswoman Cida Aguilar, 45. From Feira de Santana, she says that Itacaré is a nature destination that increasingly attracts an eclectic audience of travelers, from adventurers to senior citizens.
Just take a walk at night along Rua da Pituba, a stronghold of bars, restaurants, cafes, shops and handicrafts, to realize that this flow of diversity is present.
With respectable green areas still preserved, Itacaré and surroundings manage to maintain the climate of untouched beauty in most of its beaches. More than ever, the place requires extra attention and care.
The municipality concentrates 23,219 hectares of Atlantic Forest, calculates SOS Mata Atlântica, an area equivalent to 30 thousand football fields (which would give one for each resident).
Director of knowledge at the NGO, Luís Fernando Guedes Pinto classifies the region as one of the most diverse in terms of planning. In his words, “high endemism”—that is, with species of flora and fauna that only exist there.
“Tourism is, unfortunately, one of the great pressures on the Atlantic Forest”, he evaluates.
The expansion, especially real estate, of hotels, resorts and condominiums, is one of the main drivers of deforestation in the biome, in addition to the risk of pollution of rivers and the ocean.
But this does not necessarily mean that the activity is bad. “It can be an ally of conservation as long as it respects the vocation and limits of a region. Tourism is an important way for people to get to know and help preserve our forests”, she says.
A reforestation effort has been carried out by Floresta Viva since 2003 in those parts. Director of the institute, Rui Rocha, 50, says that 400 thousand seedlings of Atlantic Forest trees have already been planted. The agency also monitors 1,500 threatened trees in the same biome in five neighboring municipalities.
“Here, the protection of the environment is an action that requires collective vigilance, an environmental guerrilla”, he explains.
“It involves surfers, tourists, old and new residents, fishermen, everyone who loves and respects this special place”, he says. Those who arrive soon realize: everything in Itacaré is connected to nature.
