Taim
South of Rio Grande, the BR-471 enters the Estação Ecológica do Taim, a federal reserve between the Atlantic and the Lagoa Mirim. Established in 1986 and later a Ramsar wetland site, it protects banhados, dunes, lagoons, and grassland sheltering over 250 bird species and thirty mammals — capybaras, caimans, otters, maned wolves. The black-necked swan, cisne-de-pescoço-preto, is its emblem.
A stop at Estacionamento Capilha marks the trailhead of the Trilha da Capilha, passing a fishing community, a stretch of the Estrada Real, and the Capela de Nossa Senhora da Conceição, older than the reserve itself. Even the drive alone is flat, wet, and alive with birds.