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, Fortaleza, Jungle Flame, Landscapes, Marcellina Sulphur, 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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