The Play of Light
Lencois Maranhenses National Park, Brazil
Contours of light and shadow sweep and dance across the remote lakes and dunes of Lencois Maranhenses, one of the most surreal landscapes on earth.
This vast field of coastal sand dunes lies only 3 degrees south of the equator. Intense tropical thunderstorms gather over the dunes, cracking the silence while heavy rains fill the depressions in the dunes, creating thousands of crystal clear freshwater lakes. I was trekking through the dunes when I crested this high point and was treated to a dazzling show of light and shadow drifting and swirling over the contours of the dunes, accenting all of the fine details of the rippling sand and the intense aquamarine colors of the freshwater lakes. The silence was overwhelming. Photo © copyright by Michael Anderson.