The Backlands

Brazil's Northeast is divided into several climatic zones ranging from the coastal region and remnants of the Atlantic Rain Forest to the semi-arid scrublands of the sertão in the interior. The sertão is characterised by desert-like conditions, hot temperatures, erratic rain falls, and extremely challenging living conditions. Serious droughts are recurrent, the most recent of which occurred in the late 1990s and threatened the lives of millions of inhabitants. The Rio São Francisco which cuts through parts of the sertão -- one of the few rivers which doesn't evaporate during the dry season -- offers some limited relief, but overall, life in the scrub is pretty challenging. These photos were taken in the interior of the state of Sergipe last weekend, the first on the way to the Xingó Canyons and the second on the São Francisco itself.