Intervales State Park — Attraction in Região Imediata de Itapeva

I wished I could have granted a five star review because I’m such a nature person and especially love the rain forest habitat and biodiversity. So why only 2 stars? There are a few reasons: 1/ it was impossible to book a tour or a lodging online 2/ it was impossible to get anyone to pickup the phone despite countless attempts at any time of the day and night 3/ I had to drive nearly 4hrs from São Paulo without a reservation and without knowing if someone would be there upon arrival —it was a wild bet, but no tours could be planned for the afternoon or the evening only for the next morning. 4/ I forgot in the Parque’s lodge my wallet with my identity cards, credit cards and a lot of cash and only realized it while in São Paulo before my departure & return to the US… And it was impossible to get anyone to pickup the phone or to respond to my emails. 5/ While the forest is vast, the wild life is sadly scarce… Nothing compared to what I used to see decades ago, which proves how much humanity has endangered other species.

So why would I have loved to give a 5 star rating? Because we need to preserve such wildness before it’s too late. Because we also need to encourage the locals who live in the area to remain such nice, warm hearted people welcoming eco-friendly tourists. Because the tour guide...

Great for observing birds. I guess most people come for the caves, but I came for the birds. Most trails are accessible with guides only. The mirante and a small trail around some lakes/ponds are walks you can do by yourself. The park is well laid out, with several pousadas/lodges. There is a natural pool close to the entrance and a restaurant that serves buffet style breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pretty good value for money and it tasted good as well. Gerson, my guide, met me at 6 am and we watched birds pretty much the whole day. Even though I did not come in the best season to do so, I saw plenty of birds. As it is a forest and most of the birds are small and restless it was a bit tricky to get good pictures of all of them. We waited until it started to get dark and saw some Owl and a Tapir, just outside the park. As nature is the attraction, besides the restaurant there is nothing to do when it gets dark, no Wifi...

I came to this park to visit the (at this time only) APE Geocache back in November 2016 - this was the only reason.

This reason showed one more time that Geocaching brings you to such lonely places you would never see without it but that are absolutely worth a visit.

An absolute recommendation from my side, this is one of those untouched places showing you the real rainforest! I did not see any special animals except of birds and frogs but hey - that's nature! In case I want to see some exciting animals: Go to a Zoo. In case you want to explore some real rainforest with special noises, nice lakes and this typical rainforest feeling: Go to this place.

I also stopped at the restaurant and got some very good food.

An absolute recommendation...