The Árvore do Amor on Barra de Maxaranguape beach is two native figs grown into one crown, and in mid-morning its shadow falls in the shape of a heart. Locally it is said to be over 300 years old, a figure nobody has documented. In February 2024 someone deliberately cut through several of its roots; it survived. It is free to visit, about 55 kilometres up the coast from Natal.
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Árvore do Amor
Fig (Ficus sp.) · locally said to be over 300 years · Barra de Maxaranguape, Maxaranguape
At the right hour of the morning this tree throws a shadow shaped like a heart, which is how a fig on a beach north of Natal became the Árvore do Amor, the Tree of Love.
Strictly, it is two trees. Both are gameleiras, the name Brazilians give to several native figs, and over the years their trunks and crowns have grown into one another until they read as a single tree with one obvious place to stand. The shadow does the rest, but only when the sun sits at the right angle in the middle of the morning. Come at noon and you get a large, ordinary patch of shade.
Everyone locally will tell you it is more than 300 years old. Every news report repeats the figure and none of them says where it comes from, so treat it as the beach's own tradition rather than a measurement.
In February 2024 somebody took a blade to it. Several of the exposed roots were cut through deliberately, and the case went to the police and to the state and federal environmental agencies. The tree survived. Officials said the cuts were unlikely to kill it, although open wounds can let disease in, so a report from anyone who has seen it lately is welcome.
It stands on Barra de Maxaranguape beach, about 55 kilometres up the coast from Natal: a day out by car or bus, free, with no gate and no ticket. Nobody has published its girth.
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