Rio Parnaíba

Rio Parnaíba

Teresina is linked with the town of Timon by two bridges over the Rio Parnaíba, the only large river between the Rio Maranhão and the Rio São Francisco which does not dry up during the arid season and is navigable for much of its 1716km/1066mi. Its great 60km/37mi wide delta, which splits up, fan-like, into five arms (Igaraçu, Tutóia, Carrapato, Caju and Camarias), and the periodic floods which deposit highly fertile mud on its banks have earned it the name of the "Brazilian Nile".

Visitors who want to see something of the delta of this immense river can take a trip from Parnaíba - a river port on the Igaraçu, the largest arm of the Rio Parnaíba, 366km/227mi from Teresina and 30km/19mi from the coast - on a