Comuna do Ibitipoca

The Comuna started in 1984 with the acquisition of the Fazenda do Engenho, today it possesses an area of 5.000 hectares that passes through three different cities, bordering all the extremities on south and east of one of Brazil’s most visited state parks, the Ibitipoca State Park.

We believe that tourism is a way to offer the guests a life-changing experience that will make them reconsider their relation with the environment, in addition to help making the project economically sustainable through ventures managed by the local community.

Our main focus is to assist in the creation of a fertile environment for the blossoming of happiness. We believe that this should to be done in a holistic manner, involving the fauna, the flora and the local community. Therefore, we work on a series of socio-environmental projects that continue to optimize our work of conservation and preservation of the Atlantic Forest. Among those, are included: rewild 99% of the Reserve area, re-introduction and management of species listed as endangered of the Atlantic Forest, prevention and combating of forest fires, environmental education, entrepreneurship as a way to empower the local communities, training, support and incentive to art and local celebrations, and more.

Seeking to become a replicable project by 2022, we are working to create and optimize processes that will make it possible in the future the dissemination of the initiatives here implemented. We hope, therefore, that other projects such as these arise in Brazil and around the world to assist us on the protection and conservation of the environment and in the development of communities nearby. Thus creating a laboratories network whose goal is to develop ways of making these projects economically sustainable and to amplify the positive impact generated by it.

My job when it comes to the Comuna is to bring volunteers all around the world. We always do our best to make the volunteers feel comfortable and really have a good experience during their stay. All we want is an exchange of exepriences, cultures and languages!