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Parque Nacional do Cabo Orange - Pororoca

Pororoca

Pororoca is an onomatopoeic Indian word for the noise produced when the waters of the Amazon, surging down at the rate of 240,000cu.m/53,000,000 gallons per second, meet the Atlantic. The clash is particularly violent at the spring tides.

In the first phase of the encounter the water of the Amazon drives hundreds of2mi into the ocean.

Must-see attractions nearby:
Then the tide hurls the river back towards the

mainland and floods the beaches and lower-lying islands. The river is thus, as it were, dammed and prevented from pouring its water into the sea, while the immense pressure of the water prevents the tide from advancing any farther. Suddenly, however, this unstable equilibrium gives way, and the rising tide forces its way up the estuary of the Amazon. The waves grow into breakers 4m/13ft high, the crash of which can be heard2mi away.

This impressive natural phenomenon can be observed at many points in the Amazon estuary, but it is at its most striking on the largest arm of the river, on the Amapá coast. Boats take visitors to the mouth of the Rio Araguari, which is also flooded; the trip from Macapá takes 15 hours.
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