Brazil, 2006
Photo Gallery 28:
Praia do Forte
Photos by Adam Jones
Another day-trip out of Salvador: to Praia do Forte, home of the TAMAR
turtle-conservation project, and the oldest Portuguese structure in Brazil.
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One of the sea-turtles in the world-renowned TAMAR research station.
Founded in 1980, the TAMAR initiative now monitors over 500 turtle-nests
near Praia do Forte, and "has another 18 stations along the coast and two
stations on oceanic islands" (Lonely Planet). Fishermen who once harvested
the turtle eggs to sell for food now do so under contract to TAMAR scientists.
IV.
This picture and following: the Castelo de Garcia d'Avila. "For no apparent
reason" (Lonely Planet), a Portuguese farmer who owned twelve cows received a grant
from the King of Portugal to some 800,000 square kilometres of Brazilian territory,
making him the largest private landowner in the world. He built the Castelo, the only
feudal castle in the Americas and the oldest major construction in Portuguese America,
in 1552 to serve as the seat of his vast holdings. This picture, of a model in the
attached museum, shows how the Castelo looked in its prime.
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This photo and following: the ravishing view down to the shore
from the Castelo grounds. One imagines the vista little-changed from
half a millennium ago.
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