Saco do Campo, Petroglyphs

This video is in Portuguese and it's about Saco do Campo, it's an archaeological site (Petroglyphs) located in the Rural Zone of Frei Martinho in Paraíba State. The incriptions were registered firstly by Jose de Azevedo Dantas an amateur archaeologist in 1924.

POLO SERIDÓ PART II

Source: http://www.englishtips-self-taught.blogspot.com

Rappelling in Gargalheiras through Vitoria Regia Turismo, credits of the picture for Canidé Soares

In Seridó, which covers 18 towns, including currais Novos, Caicó, Acari and Jucurutu, the strengths are the cuisine, handracft and culture with archaeological site which have been being enable. "Iphan has started to prepare two archaeological sites in Carnaúba dos Dantas and equip them with all infrastructure to receive tourists," as the coordinator elaborates. Also, cuisine and adventure tourism promise to catapult the amount of tourists coming to those towns.

The salt mines are, on the other hand, the major attraction in Costa Branca pole, made up of 18 municipalities. The production associated to tourism, highlighting irrigated fruit production and oil, is another segment being developed in the region. According to Carmen Vera, other differences are the beaches, the colorful sand and Rosados dunes. "Culture is also very strong, especially in Mossoró, which became th cultural town in the State. Not to mention the museums and boulders," she adds.

This year, the state plans to invest in two other poles: Agreste-Trairi and Serrano. The former ahs religious tourism the major point, after the completion of the Statue of Santa Rita de Cássia in Santa Cruz. "Since it just beginning, we still have a lot to find out. We have been working to list touristic spots and find out potentialities in the region", says Carmem.

In Serrano pole, the main towns are like Martins, Portalegre and Patu. As far as the administrator sees it, the biggest potential in that region is adventure tourism with rappelling and zip-lining. There are also Martins hills and the cuisine festival, an event that has become traditional in the agenda and hang-gliding in Patu, a new activity that has just been included there.

According to SETUR there are 87 touristic municipalities in the state, but there is not enough budgets to invest in them all. According to Carmem Vera, there are many other towns that wish to be part of the touristic circuit. However, they do not have the infrastructure. "It takes more than just having the touristic product. It takes accommodations, food, transport and access. Having the attraction does not guarantee good conditions to host tourists," she points.

To 2011, the State is trying to acquire a R$ 1.5 million partnership with SEBRAE in order to enable tourism to the countryside (Interiorization). From that amount 50% shall come from SETUR and the rest from the institution in Rio Grande do Norte, which remains unexplored, especially in Seridó Pole, The Government also wants to map ecotourism and adventure tourism.

"We are going to work with entrepreneurs and finalize with a fam tour, taking the agents to see the product. We also want to apply that amount in professional qualification for restaurants and hotels, both management and operational. We are going to promote several seminars and support production of advertising material," explains the administrator.

SERIDO POLE PART I

As I've been posted I was in a hurry, pretty busy that's why after the walkways' infrastructure I worked a lot guiding people on tour and also organizing the tourism in my town, well check it out how important is to develop the Sustainable Tourism in the Seridó Region, that's why the capital has more infrastructure of hotels, pousadas and restaurants. 

Almost seven years after starting the “interiorizing” of tourism in Rio Grande do Norte, the Project begins to bear fruit. Following the steps of the Program Roteiros do Brasil (Routes in Brazil by the Ministry of Tourism), the project created five poles of development, from which three have stood out: Pole Costa das Dunas, Costa Branca and Seridó. Investments of around R$ 114 million of the Tourism Development Program – Prodetur have been planned for those three niches alone.

The technical coordinator of the State Bureau of Tourism, Carmem vera Araújo, explains that this work used to be done from town to town, which ended up making more difficult to develop tourism in the towns. The creation of the poles proved to be great help to speed up the process creating managing resources in each one of niches.

“According to the Ministry, we had to have three pole which already had more or less developed touristic products and that would be more prepared to host visitors. We started with Costa das Dunas, Seridó and Costa Branca. To each one of them, local councils of tourism were created with members from all municipalities that were part of the pole. That makes decision easier”, explains the administrator.

Through a partnership between Mtur and SEBRAE, the State of government began to develop several actions in those poles, such as qualifications to business people and support to events held within the region. “We planned new touristic routes for commercialization, worked on the development of new business, preparing and qualifying them,” she lists. The work began in 2004.

The pole Costa das Dunas is the biggest among the five poles and is made up 20 municipalities. Focusing on sun-and-sea type of tourism, the region had already been developed, even before the beginning of the program Roteiros do Brazil (Routes in Brazil), Natl and Tibau do Sul are considered the destinations which triggered this pole and are amongst the 65 most desired in the country. According to Vera, the beauty of the dunes, cliffs and lakes is the best natural attraction in the region. 

Landscapes

If you have the opportunity to visit the countryside of Rio Grande do Norte you'll see beautiful landscapes and also take part of the history, culture and local gastronomy, in addition we will you with arms wide open, 'cause the Serido's hospitality is quite different, we always smiling and we open our homes for you. Check it out the headlines and fall in love for our region and neighbouring towns.

                                Rappel activity in Acari, for more info keep in touch with Vitoria Regia http://www.vitoriaregiaturismo.com/

                                We are the Caatinga Adventures on top of Cardao's mountain.

                         Beautiful rock art paintings (Indigenous inscriptions) of Furna do Messias, a beautiful rock art shelter.

                                Furna do Messias

                          Riacho dos Caboclos, Frei Martinho

                          Engraving in low relief, Tanques' river Carnaúba dos Dantas

                                Petroglyph, Picuí Paraíba State

                          Talhado do Gaviao's Shelter