Crossing Lençóis Maranhenses on Horseback: Patricia’s Solo Adventure in Brazil

One traveler, four weeks, and a horseback crossing of Brazil’s most surreal desert—told in her own words

Some of the best trips are the ones you never planned. Patricia George, 31, a physiotherapist from Germany, was supposed to be surfing in Bali. A week before departure, her flights—routed over Abu Dhabi—were canceled because of the war. She wanted somewhere warm with good waves; a friend from São Paulo told her to go to Brazil, and that was that. It was her first time in the country and her first time in South America—solo for four weeks.

She started in São Paulo, surfed for 5 days in Ubatuba, then worked her way through Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, and Ilha Grande before flying north to Lençóis Maranhenses National Park—a 155,000-hectare stretch of white dunes and rainwater lagoons in the state of Maranhão, recognized as a national park by ICMBio. Of every place she saw in Brazil, this was her favorite. “It was really, really impressive,” she said. “Nothing like I've ever seen before.”

Patricia ventured through the dunes and lagoons on horseback, an experience organized and led by PlanetaEXO’s team and local partners. Now, we share her story to show you what a horseback crossing of Lençóis Maranhenses really feels like. Check it out below!

A rider since age 10 (but never on sand)

Patricia didn’t pick the horseback crossing as a novelty. She’s been riding since she was a child, so the saddle was familiar territory. The terrain was not. “I've been riding since I was 10,” she shared, “but riding on the sand is very different.”

Crossing the dunes is nothing like circling a field at home: the ground shifts, the horse works harder, and the route runs for hours between lagoons rather than around a fenced ring.

For an experienced rider, that contrast is exactly the point; the skill carries over, but the setting turns a familiar activity into something new.

👉 Read more: Best time to visit Lençóis Maranhenses

Days in the saddle, with no signal and no rush

What stayed with Patricia most was the remoteness. The group was out on the horses all day, far from cell phone reception, with nothing pulling at her attention.

“We were out on the horses all day long, and you just had the time to think,” she reflected. “You don’t have that a lot in your normal day.” In a park where the rainwater lagoons sit between dunes that reach as high as 40 meters, the landscape does the talking. There’s no playlist, no notifications—just sand, water, and the pace of the horse.

That kind of disconnection is part of why the horseback riding in Lençóis Maranhenses lands so differently from a typical day trip. You don’t just visit the dunes, but you connect with nature and live inside them for a few days.

👉 Read more: How was Lençóis Maranhenses formed: understanding Brazil’s sand dunes and lagoons

The guide who reads the landscape

In a place with no roads, no signs, and no signal, the guide is everything. Patricia’s left a strong impression.

“I was very impressed by my guide, by how he could read the landscape and knew exactly where to go,” she remembered. “Without my phone or Google Maps, I would have been totally lost.”

He had been doing the route for years and knew everyone along the way, which gave the whole trip the feel of a small, working community rather than a tourist circuit. As we told Patricia, a guide can make or break a trip, and in a place like Lençóis, they’re truly essential.

Traveling solo as a woman

Before leaving, Patricia heard the usual concern. “People said, ‘Are you sure you want to go? Brazil isn’t the safest place, especially for a woman.’” Despite the warnings, her experience ran the other way.

“I honestly always felt safe in those four weeks,” she said. Because the trip was so spontaneous, she arrived without rigid expectations and stayed open to whatever came. That mindset paid off, especially when considering how every booking was last-minute—she made the best of all of it.

That’s not to say every night was easy. On the first one, she stayed in a large open-area lodge and noticed she was the only woman there apart from the host. Patricia felt a bit scared, but since no one bothered her, she felt comfortable fast.

The second night was less unnerving and more absurd: her house sat elevated off the ground behind a fence meant to keep animals out, but the pigs were too strong, broke through, and held a noisy turf war underneath the floorboards all night. The situation was definitely a rush, though everything turned out fine in the end.

👉 Read more: Ecotourism in Brazil boosts solo travel for women through planning and support networks

Friendly, distant, and fully present

Traveling without Portuguese had a cost. Locals were warm, but the language gap kept conversations short. “It was friendly but distant,” Patricia confessed, and if she comes back, learning some Portuguese is at the top of her list so she can actually ask questions and connect.

Even at a distance, one thing landed clearly. “The people seem like they’re actually living life,” she told us, describing how the locals were always present in what they were doing, far less hectic than the countries she’d visited before.

Low season meant her crossing was just her and the guide, but the lodges still brought company: she met two French travelers doing the same route on foot and played cards with them in the evenings.

👉 Read more: How to get to Lençóis Maranhenses?

Why simple was the right call

Patricia knew going in that the accommodation would be basic. She wouldn’t have it any other way. “I knew it would be simple, but I think that’s what makes the trip authentic. Any kind of luxury would just feel out of place.”

In a setting this raw, comfort isn’t the selling point, but honesty surely is. The reward was personal: the trip, she said, “made me more confident,” which is no small thing for a first long solo journey across an unfamiliar continent.

She’s already eyeing a return, this time to the Amazon, drawn to the jungle lodges and river cruises deep in the rainforest.

Ride Lençóis Maranhenses with PlanetaEXO

Now that you’ve seen Patricia’s crossing through her own eyes, you know what the dunes ask of you—and what they give back: days in the saddle, total disconnection, and a guide who knows the sand by heart.

PlanetaEXO is an ecotourism platform specializing in Lençóis Maranhenses tours. Working alongside experienced local guides and operators, we handle the logistics so you can focus on the ride, from your first booking to an unforgettable crossing of one of Brazil’s most surreal landscapes. Contact us now!