It Looks Like A Desert. But It Has Thousands Of Lakes

November 26, 2025

Imagine walking into a desert… only to find crystal-blue lagoons shimmering between towering white sand dunes. That’s Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in northeastern Brazil — a place so surreal, travelers often say it looks like it belongs on another planet.

For much of the year, the landscape resembles a vast, rippling sea of sand. But when the seasonal rains arrive, something magical happens: the dunes transform into thousands of perfectly clear freshwater lagoons, each one a different shade of turquoise or emerald.