Noronha, jewel of nature

Michel Braunstein · Issue 63, Nov/Dec 2011 · pp. 54–57

If I were to tell you about a special place where no one locks their door at night, where crime is virtually nonexistent, where the number of tourists is intentionally restricted to preserve the ecological balance, and where each visitor must pay a daily fee of fifteen Euros (Approx US$20) to protect the environment, would you think about Brazil? Probably not! Yet, Fernando de Noronha, the tiny archipelago still resists the changes and other influences of the continent! The archipelago entails twenty-one volcanic islands and is located at three hundred and sixty kilometers (224 miles) from the closest coast of Brazil (Natal). Spreading over a total area of twenty- six square kilometers, it is located in the Atlantic Ocean near the equator (3° 51’S, 32° 25’W). The main island, the only one which is inhabited, is about ten kilometers long (6 miles) and up to three kilometers wide (1.8 mile…