When we were in Fortaleza in June 2026, one of the things we wanted to do after spending time with family was explore parts of the city we hadn’t visited before. Since this is my hometown, there wasn’t much left to discover — but one obvious choice remained: the Parque Estadual do Cocó, an urban oasis and ecological park along the Rio Cocó.
When I was growing up in Fortaleza, this park didn’t exist. Back then, the area was abandoned and polluted, tucked away on the city’s outskirts. Today, it’s the largest urban natural park in Brazil’s North and Northeast regions — and the fourth-largest in all of Latin America — spanning roughly 3,908 acres (1,581 hectares) across more than 15 neighborhoods. Protection efforts began in 1977, but the park wasn’t formally recognized as a state park until 2017, after four decades of advocacy. Its mix of mangrove, dunes, restinga, and tabuleiro (tableland) forest makes it one of the richest pockets of biodiversity within any Brazilian city. With a few extra days in town, it only made sense to go for a hike and see it for ourselves.
From the start, we knew this would be a lush forest. It felt like a tropical jungle, with a canopy providing plenty of shade and mystery. Once inside, we could hear birds all around us, though we couldn’t see them.
After a detour around a muddy stretch of trail, we reached a pond with water lilies, a small bridge, and a view of the skyscrapers surrounding the park. That was a surprise — we knew we were still inside the city, but the lush forest had already made us feel miles away.
Around the pond, we began to notice flowering plants, including the Jungle Flame (Ixora coccinea), its vibrant red clusters standing out against the surrounding greenery.
Wherever there are flowers, pollinators follow, and a Marcellina Sulphur (Phoebis marcellina) was one of the first butterflies we spotted. Its translucent yellow-green wings seemed to transform the area into something out of a fairy tale.
Before turning around, we spent some time at a larger pond, where egrets, herons, and black-necked stilts waded through the water in search of food. As a reminder of exactly where we were, the city skyline rose again just beyond the trees.
This was a surprising and rewarding hike. It’s wonderful to see an area like this made available to city residents, where people and wildlife share the same space.
That is the story behind the shots. If you liked this post, you may also be interested in others featuring Brazil, Butterfly, Flower Hour, Fortaleza, Jungle Flame, Landscapes, Marcellina Sulphur, One Step, Parks, Parque Estadual do Cocó, Wildflowers, and Wildlife. Until the next time, keep clicking and capturing the beauty your eyes find.
Posted for Terri’s Flower Hour #34.
Posted for Pepper’s One Step at a Time #13.
Sources
- SEMA Ceará, Parque Estadual do Cocó — https://www.sema.ce.gov.br/gestao-de-ucs/unidades-de-conservacao-de-protecao-integral/parques/parque-estadual-do-coco_/
- Governo do Ceará, Área do Parque do Cocó é ampliada em 10 hectares — https://www.ce.gov.br/2021/06/02/area-do-parque-do-coco-e-ampliada-em-10-hectares-para-estimular-convivencia-sustentavel-com-a-natureza/
- Wikipédia, Parque Estadual do Cocó — https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parque_Estadual_do_Coc%C3%B3
- Butterflies and Moths of North America, Marcellina Sulphur (Phoebis marcellina) — https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/phoebis-marcellina
- North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, Ixora coccinea — https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ixora-coccinea/
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Steve Schwartzman
On close inspection the verdure wouldn’t be appropriate, but your first picture might pass for a scene along Shoal Creek or Bull Creek or Onion Creek in Austin.
A verse by T.S. Eliot could apply to your experience of returning to the place where you grew up:
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
Egidio Leitao
Thanks, Steve. TS Eliot’s verses are so beautiful. Thanks for sharing those, too.
Anita
A lovely post, Egídio. It’s amazing to see how this once neglected area has become such a vibrant green oasis in the heart of the city. Your photos show so well how nature and urban life can coexist. It must be a beautiful place to explore.
Egidio Leitao
It was a thrill to explore the place and discover its views, flora, and fauna. I’ll work on another post to feature some of the wildlife I saw there. Thanks, Anita.
Toonsarah
What an amazing job they’ve done of transforming that abandoned area into a vibrant nature-filled oasis!
Egidio Leitao
I was also pleasantly surprised at what they did. Thanks for writing.
shoreacres
It’s a beautiful spot. The Ixora surprised me. I often see it here, and never had considered where it might grow naturally.
Egidio Leitao
Linda, I was surprised by a lot of what I saw there. I’ll plan another post in the future showing more of the wildlife I spotted.
margaret21
How wonderful! Sometimes, wild retreats in urban areas can get to seem too well-trodden, with wide beaten tracks, and hints such as litter that a city is nearby. That doesn’t seem to be the case here?
Egidio Leitao
Very good point you mention here. City officials kept the place close to natural in the trail design. Thanks for writing.
Anne Sandler
What a beautiful park this is. I’m glad they set aside a lot of acreage for it. I also loved the skyline image–how the buildings rise so high behind the natural beauty of the park. There is so much to like about this post from butterflies to a tree lined path. I hope we will be seeing more!
Egidio Leitao
Thank you, Anne. It’s a great story. My niece lives in one of those residential towers. Her condominium even has a private entrance into the park.
Lindy Le Coq
What a beautiful post, Egídio. A good news story with what had been polluted and ugly turned into a thriving ecological masterpiece!
Egidio Leitao
Thank you, Lindy. It took long, but it happened. It’s a great feat.
Pepper
What a wonderful story of a place that was once polluted transformed to a spot to enjoy the beauty of nature. Your images are beautiful as always, Egidio.. It was wonderful of the butterfly to pose in a spot where its details were highlighted by the sunshine.
Egidio Leitao
Thanks for this comment. The transformation in the park is a beautiful story.