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Boipeba Island: Saving Grace

How to enjoy and at the same time look after a tropical paradise

words by Kat Joyce
pictures by Anna Batchelor and Suzana Latini
featured on JungleDrums issue 58 June 2008

It’s an undeniable fact that, for the most part, tourists are fickle guests. They arrive, they consume, they produce waste and they leave. Of course, they pay generously for the privilege of not having to think about much for a few days or weeks, but the impact of tourism soon mounts up, and within very little time, if unmanaged, every “untouched paradise” is spoiled and overdevelopment rapidly erodes fragile systems of ecology, economy and culture.

Boipeba – much-hyped in recent years as the hot, new, unspoilt Brasilian beach destination - certainly runs the risk of suffering this fate. One of the islands of the Tinharé archipelago, off the southern stretch of the coast of Bahia state, Boipeba is undoubtedly a paradise. Boasting over 15 miles of totally unspoilt, white sand, palm-fringed beach, and with a hypnotically simple island way of life, the promise of total relaxation, a perfect escape from urban Salvador.


Because of its remoteness, Boipeba has so far been spared the rigorous development that has, over the last 20 years, transformed nearby Morro de SĂŁo Paulo. Whichever route you choose, the journey is going to involve a long and complicated combination of boats, buses, ferries or four-wheel drives.