It was once just a small fishing village, but it is now being developed as an ecologically minded upscale beach resort. It offers diverse ecosystems, beautiful beaches traversed by rivers and estuaries, dunes, coconut groves, lagoons and mangroves, home to rare tropical wildlife.
The town of Praia do Forte has fine beaches, a beautiful castle fortress and a sea-turtle reserve. The castle, built by Garcia d´Avila, is now in ruins, completely overgrown with weeds and grasses, but it is still worth a visit. The TAMAR turtle reserve, which is open to visitors, is on the beach right next to the lighthouse. This is a project, jointly funded by IBAMA and the navy, stated in 1982 to protect several species of marine turtles that are threatened. They gather about 30,000 eggs a year from along the coast and bury them in the sand to incubate, then, when they hatch they are placed in feeding pools until they are big enough to tackle the Atlantic.
