São Luis Botanical Park
São Luis Botanical Park is located in a 100-hectare
environmental conservation area and offers visitors the
opportunity to connect with nature,
participate in activities related to sustainability, as well
as contribute to the preservation of local flora and
fauna.
Explore this page in order to learn more about this space
dedicated to the conservation of green areas, environmental
education, and leisure:
What can you find at the Botanical Park?
The attractions at São Luis Botanical Park include ecological
trails, the Trail of the Senses, the Orchid Garden, the
Herbarium, the Knowledge Railcar, sustainability workshops,
educational games and dynamics, the Vale Space, visits to the
Ponta da Madeira Industrial Port Complex, as well as VIP visits.
The space also has more than three classrooms with a capacity
for up to 50 people each and an auditorium accommodating up to
200 people. The Park offers events such as workshops, courses,
and seminars aimed at both the general public and collaborators
at Vale. The Park also includes an amphitheatre – an open space
designated for cultural and theatre presentations, as well as
music.
Access the WhatsApp group for
São Luis Botanical Park and keep up to
date with events at the park.
Click here
Sloth
Did you know that the sloth's main source of food is the leaves
of a tree known as embauba (the Snakewood Tree, or cecropia
palmata)? Or that sloths are sedentary animals, and their
organism develops slowly, which makes meeting their
physiological needs difficult.
Sometimes I like to appear hanging between two branches, and I
use my claws to help me move from one branch to another.
Blue Butterfly
Hello! I am the blue butterfly, my beautiful colours
attract attention from curious people and scientists that are
obsessed with butterflies. I have blue-colored wings which, when they come into contact with the sunlight, it creates an effect that projects a multitude of colours, just like a rainbow.
I'm usually seen in periods where rain is more frequent! Did you
know that we like to fly over river courses in the morning?
Also, there is a superstition: the person who finds me flying
around will be someone very lucky.
Capijuba Monkey
Hello! My name is black squirrel monkey, or 'capijuba' monkey, which is an Indigenous Brazilian word that means 'small monkey with yellowish fur'. I live in groups with up to 100
other little monkeys, and I am always restless, jumping from one
branch to another.
I eat fruit, insects, and the nectar from flowers. I am diurnal, which means I am active during the day, and sleepy at night.
During the day I hide myself away from the smallest sign of a predator and I make a very intense yelling sound as if it were a whistle.
Meet our mascots
Hover the mouse and click to expand
Virtual Visit: learn how to have an immersive experience in the Botanical Park
Click here
On the website, through a virtual visit, it is possible to get to know our operations and see the Botanical Park through a 360º immersion. It's very easy: once you open the map, click on Maranhão and select the São Luís Botanical Park. From there, you can access the virtual tour of the Park.
Main activities
Vegetable planting workshop
In the vegetable workshop, the importance of planting
seeds and seedlings in pots or flower beds is discussed.
During the workshop, tips are given on: land
preparation, irrigation, fertilization, and routine
care. Aiming at well-being and healthy eating.
Visits to the industrial port complex
After exploring the Botanical Park, guests are able to
visit Vale’s operational area. During the visit there
are presentations on the following topics: Vale’s
history in Brazil and around the world, day-to-day life
at Vale, and Our Business. The stops on the trip
include: the rotary car dumper, stockyard, and Ponta da
Madeira terminal.
The Trail of the Senses
The Botanical Park’s sensory trail is an attraction
adapted for guests with limited mobility or visual
impairments. Visitors will encounter five stations along
the trail that allow them to explore their senses, as
well as a lake in which fish can be found.
Knowledge railcar
This trip takes visitors along in an old-fashioned
passenger railway car, which has been renovated and
modified to create a space for knowledge and fun. Here
you can find a memory game along the wall with images of
local fauna, books and paintings for children, samples
of crafts created in workshops held in the Botanical
Park, and exhibits with photos of the activities that
are held at the park each day.
Meliponary
The Meliponary is a space for visits and environmental
education where it is possible to learn about the life
and behaviour of stingless bees, also known as
meliponines.
Here you can find a total of 26 beehive boxes with
gigantic bee population that can include as many as 5
thousand bees per box. In our meliponary, we work with
two stingless bee species: the Tiúba (melipona
fasciculada) and the “small bee” (plebeia minima).
Orchid Garden
Opened in 2011, the São Luis Orchid Garden is the first
garden of its kind opened to the public in the city. The
garden is home to collections of orchids that are native
to the different biomes of Brazil and includes around 30
different species.
Seedlings nursery
This is the location in which seedlings destined to be
used by Vale in the production of native arboreal and
shrub species found in Brazilian forests are grown. The
nursery is focused on forest recovery and provides
communities with free genetic material. The nursery has
a production capacity of 50,000 seedlings per year.
There are currently 40,000 seedlings produced in the
nursery each year.
Herbarium
São Luis Botanical Park’s Herbarium has 3 different
types of botanical collections: exsiccates, a carpotec,
and a sementeca (seed library), with specimens found in
the Amazon Cerrado and the caatinga (arid regions of
Northeastern Brazil).
Rooms, auditorium and amphitheater
The park has three classrooms with a capacity of 50
people each and an auditorium for 200 people. In these
spaces, events such as lectures, courses and seminars
are held for external audiences or internally by Vale
employees and contractors. The park also has an
amphitheater, an open-air space for cultural, theatrical
and music presentations, with a capacity for 350 people.
Vale Space
In this environment, there is a permanent exhibition
with information about Vale's operations in Maranhão,
Brazil and around the world, with an emphasis on the
production process from the mine, in Pará, to shipment
at the Port, in São Luis.
Crafts and Environmental Education Workshop
Space reserved for recreational activities, with
ecological games, art workshops and
sustainable workshops, such as: bags an rugs made with cloth flaps, pet keychain, bags made with milk cartons, recycled paper picture frames, wrapper head with
popsicle stick etc.
Health trail
Trilha da Saúde is a walking program guided by physical
education professionals, offered free of charge to 400
residents of the Itaqui-Bacanga region. Activities such
as gym classes, dance, lectures on health and exercise
practices are held in the morning and afternoon, from
Tuesday to Friday, in the Botanical Park. The program's
objective is to contribute to the quality and life of
residents of the Itaqui-Bacanga region, in addition to
bringing these people closer to the company's
initiatives.
Events
Various events and actions are carried out throughout
the year, based on the Park's operating pillars –
culture, education and health – offered to audiences of
all ages. Main events: Environment Week, Picnic in the
Park, Health Park, Saturday at leisure, Reading Week,
Biodiversity Day, Innovation Fair, Water Day, Annual
Tree Festival, Children's Week, Exhibitions, Courses,
Workshops, Seminars, Sustainable Art Week, Christmas
Party, among others.
Eco library
Space with children's books, games, educational videos &
various educational toys, serving as a toy library.
Cactus
The cactus brings together species of cactus and
succulents that can be found in the region and in
Brazil. Despite being small, it has a wide variety of
species, available for visitation. The Park team works
on the maintenance, production, conservation and
enrichment of the collection.
There are also events held involving plastic arts, sustainability
workshops, performing arts, music and multimedia presentations,
festivals, exhibits, as well as support for social initiatives and
health campaigns.
Environmental Education
Activities that add knowledge about sustainability are a priority of the São Luís Botanical Park.
For this reason, we are bringing together all of our activities
here so that you can learn more about the park:
- Ecological Trails
-
The Park has three ecological trails of closed forest:
Mata Ciliar, Angelim da Mata, and Restauração Florestal.
Each trail has its travel time and is carried out under
the supervision of an environmental educator, who leads a
group of up to 20 people.
During the trail, the visitor learns about botany and
facts about the fauna and flora under the supervision of
the educator. In addition, we also have the Trilha dos
Sentidos, which was adapted to receive groups of people
with disabilities and the elderly. Here, visitors can put
into practice the senses of sight, touch, taste, smell and
hearing.
- The Environmental Education Program
-
The Environmental Education Program (EAP) receives support
from the Municipal Education Secretariat and is offered to
students from municipal public schools in the Itaqui
Bacanga area. The program’s objective is to develop
environmental awareness in the community, build a legacy
for future generations, promote sustainability and changes
in attitudes with regards to sustainability within schools
and the community as a whole.
The program is aligned with UNESCO’s pillars and the
topics discussed include Air, Water, Biodiversity, Energy,
and Waste. The EAP, since its first edition was held in
2012 up until its most recent edition in 2019, has been
able to provide instruction to 1340 students from the
municipality’s Basic Education Units located in the
Itaqui-Bacanga region.
- Sustainable Community Project
-
The Sustainable Community Project aims to: encourage and
train people through Environmental Education, advising on
the reuse of materials that would otherwise be discarded
and developing new skills. In this way, it is possible to
increase the possibility of generating income for the
communities involved. The project also takes place through
lectures, courses and sustainable workshops, according to
the local reality, focusing on the reuse of the most
generated waste in the region. For example: food,
paper/cardboard, plastic, fabric and elements of nature.
- Trail Caravan Project
-
This socioenvironmental initiative offers activities
centred on railway safety, environmental education, health
and entertainment for children, young people, and adults
from the communities surrounding the the Carajás Railroad
in the states of Maranhão and Pará. Since the Trail
Caravan Project was first implemented in 2017, more than
56 thousand residents from the areas surrounding the
Carajás Railroad have participated. The project consists
of workshops on sustainability and other topics,
discussions with train engineers, and fun educational
games on railway safety. There are also services available
in the areas of healthcare, gymkhanas (fun competitions),
distribution of snacks, and recreation.
- Activities on a Passenger Train
-
This initiative was developed in order to provide
children, young people, and adults from the communities
surrounding the the Carajás Railroad in the states of
Maranhão and Pará with environmental education and
entertainment.
Traveling from São Luís to Açailândia, Açailândia to Santa
Inês, these events take place during a voyage completed by
train, making the activities more fun and educational. The
activities on board the train include workshops on
vegetable planting, making tiaras using different fabrics,
using milk cartons as gift wrap, storytelling, face and
body painting, games, a reader’s corner, among other fun
and educational events.
- Virtual Activities
-
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Botanical Park needed to
adapt itself to the new moment of social distance. Starting
in 2020, actions such as the Environment Week were carried
out, 100% online, in addition to workshops, talks and
other actions, totaling 2,137 participants and 58 online
activities.
- Participatory Planning Project
-
The project is a form of direct involvement of the
Itaqui-Bacanga community in choosing, monitoring and
carrying out initiatives carried out in the Botanical
Park.
Main actions: Clothing Customization Workshop, Theater
Shows, Alternative Culinary Workshop, Talent Show, Musical
Saturday, Music Workshop, Dance Class, Project Development
Mini-course, Visual Arts Exhibition, among others.
- Itinerant Park Project
-
The Parque Itinerante project is a socio-environmental
action developed for the communities of São Luís and along
the Carajás Railroad. The actions have an environmental,
social and sustainable nature with the participation of
communities. Among them are: lectures, mini-courses or
workshops as requested.
Locale
Av. dos Portugueses, s/n - Anjo da Guarda, São Luís - MA,
65085-581
Do you have any questions about the
São Luís Botanical Park?
Contact us by email or phone:
parquebotanicoslz@vale.com
3272-7702
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