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Description:
The Tucum Network is a pioneer project of community-based tourism in Ceará intended to build a relation between society, culture and nature aiming to socio-environmental sustainability.
Whether it’s for the national or international market, Tucum offers a genuine and good quality tourist product, designed to enhance interaction between peoples and cultures, attentive to protecting and valuing cultures and territories, economically integrating the traditional activities and aiming to generate continuous benefits for all the community.
Tucum is formed by communities located on the coast of Ceará and is being built by many hands. Currently, it counts with the participation of ten coastal communities, amongst indigenous people, fishermen and women, rural settlers, two solidarity-based accommodation facilities in Fortaleza, besides three NGO’s that institutionally supports the Network: Terramar Institute (Brazil), Tremembé Association (Italy) and Friends more... of Prainha do Canto Verde Foundation (Switzerland).
The Network seeks to strengthen the community-based tourism proposal, offering beautiful landscapes allied to social commitment. Together, each community grows strong, fostering the exchange of experiences and cooperation, taking into account the sharing of knowledge and the development of collective strategies for overcoming challenges to be faced.
Rede Cearense de Turismo Comunitário
Quando nasceu o projeto de turismo comunitário na Prainha do Canto Verde em 1998 várias comunidades de pescadores do litoral do Ceará participaram do evento de 3 dias na Prainha. Depois a nossa comunidade deu uma mão para os nossos amigos de Ponta Grossa e ajudamos para levar o Turismo Comunitário para là com a ajuda dos Amigos da Prainha do Canto Verde.
Agora em 2008 na ocasião do II Seminário Internacional de Turismo Sustentável tivemos a grande felicidade de ser padrinho mais uma vez, desta vez na apresentação da Rede Tucum.
São 12 comunidades que resolveram de se unir para promover o turismo comunitário no litoral do Ceará: Tatajuba (Camocim), Curral velho (Acaraú), Caetanos de cima (Amontada), Flecheiras (Trairí), Jenipapo-Kanindé (Aquiraz), Batoque (Aquiraz), Prainha do Canto Verde (Beberibe), Assentamento Coqueirinho (Fortim), Ponta Grossa (Icapuí), Tremembé (Icapuí), Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST-Fortaleza) e Conjunto Palmeiras (Fortaleza). “A tucum é uma junção de comunidades que sonhavam sozinhas e resolveram sonhar juntas”, declarou Jefferson Souza do Instituto Terramar na noite de apresentação na noite do dia 13 de maio na casa de forró Kukukaya., revelando a emoção desse momento para todas as comunidades que compõem a rede.
Reunindo desde comunidades que ainda estão estruturando-se para receber os visitantes até aquelas que já praticam o turismo comunitário há vários anos, a rede tem o objetivo de fortalecer e dar visibilidade às experiências de turismo comunitário desenvolvidas no Ceará. Por meio da articulação, as comunidades obtêm formação, melhoram suas infra-estruturas, ampliam as possibilidades de captação de recursos e trabalham conjuntamente uma estratégia de marketing, ampliando, assim, a capacidade das comunidades em oferecer os serviços turísticos.
Attractions
Here are only a few of the communities involved:
Jenipapo-Kanindé
Jenipapo-Kanindé, one of the nine indigenous ethnicities recognized in Ceará, live by the Encantada lagoon; set in the midst of a great field of dunes, from their top you can appreciate the green of the woods and the blue of the sea at the background.
Its basic income comes from family farming, fishing from the lagoon and the production of traditional arts and crafts. Gradually, community-based tourism is gaining economic importance among the locals, already prepared to carry out different tracks in the woods and offer meals to the visitors in a straw-thatched hut of collective management.
Always when possible, the groups are welcomed by Chef Pequena, who blesses the departure for the long walks in the dunes. Among the walking tracks, the Morro do Urubu deserves special attention because it provides a panoramic view of all the indigenous land and of its surrounding environment – sea, dunes and different uses of the area. After climbing a dune of more than 90 meters of altitude, there’s nothing more refreshing than a swim in the relaxing waters of the Encantada lagoon. All this is mediated by local guides and inspired by myths, beliefs and stories of the Jenipapo-Kanindés.
EAST COAST
District of Aquiraz
40 km from Fortaleza
Prainha do Canto Verde
Opposed to the official model of development that keeps ignoring the environment, the culture and traditions of the natives, Prainha do Canto Verde has a history of 30 years in defense of its territory and the rights of artisanal fishers for a different kind of development in search of a better quality of life through community action.
One of the pioneer experiences of community-based tourism in Brazil; tourism is an important source of income, which together with handicrafts and subsistence agriculture complements the main economic activity, fishing.
Prainha do Canto Verde is set among moving dunes. Motorized traffic is limited to the only access road to the beach, sandy streets without names and respectful of the environment form the community. Natives and visitors alike stroll around the town on the fluffy yellow sand.
An easy walking trail takes us over dunes and wetlands to the Lagoa do Corrego do Sal, a sweet water lagoon formed by the moving dunes. Ideal to take a swim or visit the typical manioc flour mill, that works on a seasonal basis.
A cruise in the green-blue tropical sea can be made on the traditional jangada (sailraft) or modern fishing catamarans getting to know the skills of artisanal fishermen of Brazil.
This easy-going, beautiful village on the beach can be the venue for encounters and meetings of social movements and institutions other groups. Prainha do Canto Verde can accommodate up to 45 people in double rooms, with meals, meeting rooms, audiovisual equipments and meeting assistants.
We offer accommodation in clean, simple and comfortable guesthouses and beach cabins, local gastronomy with fresh fish and seafood; locally produced handicraft and natural products from fair trade organizations. The interaction with the population, its community organizations and the natural beauty make your visit of Prainha do Canto Verde an experience in development, worthwhile to know.
EAST COAST
District of Beberibe
120 km from Fortaleza
Coqueirinho Settlement
Still in the 90’s, the current settlers of the Coqueirinho Settlement earned the right to live and produce in this place, previously spoilt by horse breeding. Along the way, they discovered new ways of farming the land. Nowadays, they grow organic gardens, practice agro-forestry, apiary and maintain a seed bank; besides, they are also an important articulator of the Bodega – Nordeste Vivo e Solidário (a socio-economics solidarity network of rural producers).
Since the turn of the century, they have been receiving solidarity tourists of projects from neighboring areas. In 2004, the first chalets are built and this activity becomes more important in the community. The main attraction of Coqueirinho is the contact with the simple life of the countryside and with the struggling & hard-working people that live there. The relation between visitors and settlers is reinforced with an exotic stroll by ox cart through the settlement, visiting the preserved woods, the places of organic farming, agricultural cultivation and animals breeding.
As it couldn’t be different, the regional cuisine is an attraction of its own. The delicious meals are prepared with the organic produce from the actual settlement. Besides this, to watch a theater group performance or folkloric dancing promotes a further integration with the customs and people from the place. The community also offers facilities for meetings and reunions of up to 40 people.
EAST COAST
District of Fortim
135 km from Fortaleza
Curral Velho
A community of fishermen and women shellfish collectors who maintain a thin and respectful relation with the environment; it is surrounded by a lush mangrove and the peaceful beach of Arpoeiras.
These brave people do not silence when faced by social and environmental aggressions. Their resistance against shrimp cultivation guaranteed the preservation of a vast mangrove area, the very last space of this ecosystem not occupied by shrimp cultivation in the region.
The Environmental Education and Community-based Tourism Centre “Encante do Mangue” is representative in this victory, a place of welcoming, good food and cultural activities of the community.
In Curral Velho, you can’t miss the stroll in the mangrove, learning with local guides the environmental dynamics and the main species found in this ecosystem so important for life. On the way, a little bit of the community’s history, their organization and resistance. Shrimp cultivation farms can also be seen.
Another equally interesting activity is the boat ride along the shore or even at sea. Leaving from the Imburanas Port, the landscape view is stunning; it’s a different way to get to know the environment, besides hearing a few fishermen tails and learning some traditional fishing techniques.
WEST COAST
Destrict of Acaraú
242 km from Fortaleza
Conditions
Please contact us for pricing
Togetherness makes Tucum a unique possibility to live different experiences of community-based tourism.
To facilitate your arrival in our communities, the Network’s coordination is available to arrange the destinations and build itineraries in accordance with your interest and time availability.
It will also be a pleasure to give more information to people that wish to travel alone amongst this tangle of people and nature that gives life to Tucum Network.
- Promote forms of local tourism offers to guarantee the continuance of traditional populations in their territory (for decades there has been an accented process of expulsion of coastal populations) and the continuity of traditional economic activities, particularly fishing and farming.
- Offer to responsible travelers from around the world, the opportunity to get to know these fascinating locations and the populations that live there.
In sum, living the Tucum Network and community-based tourism is an authentic experience of travel, knowledge and exchange. More than a moment of personal growth, it’s also a place of reflection about the injustices of the planet and about the model of development that feeds it.
