The Pantanal Norte
South of the crossing, the SE-204 and SE-100 thread through a coastal world most Brazilians have never seen. The stretch toward Ponta dos Mangues runs through the Reserva Biológica Santa Isabel, managed jointly by IBAMA and the Projeto Tamar, which has monitored Olive Ridley turtle nesting here since 1998. The beach itself is wide, white, and almost entirely deserted. The road back toward Pirambu passes through the Pantanal Sergipano, a coastal wetland over 12,000 years in the making — flooded plains, mangrove islands, caiman, capybara, and abundant birdlife.