Rediscovering Our Humanity Through Nature With Renato at Ibiti Project, Brazil

Written by Rebecca Woolford, Senderos

Author Sensei Ogui once said “A flower does not think of competing with the flowers next to it, it just blooms.” The natural world lives in cooperation, collaboration and in ecological balance. 

At a time in which most people have lost sight of the lessons from the natural world and increasingly removed from it (56+% of people now live in cities), the places which see mother nature as ‘the teacher’ deserve our attention most. 

Back in 1982 Renato started buying degraded agricultural land around the Ibitipoca State Park in Brazil. Whilst the initial vision was to create a greenbelt by planting trees, it soon became clear that the reserve needed to evolve towards a socio-environmental initiative in order to survive.

Thanks to Renato and his team’s efforts to revive 15,000 acres of farmland with indigenous Atlantic rainforest, Ibitipoca has become one of Brazil’s leading rewilding success projects. 

Today Ibiti project is a blueprint for ecotourism. A place where people and nature exist in harmony, where people from around the globe visit to pay witness to a different kind of existence, an alternate path, a new world. 

Senderos’ stories celebrate the positive impact tourism can bring to both nature and communities, and Ibiti is a leading example of exactly that. Enjoy the interview with Renato below!

On the left Renato, founder and visionary. On the right the school project at Ibiti Project in Brazil.

First visiting the region about 50 years ago as a young boy, how close was your initial vision for the land to the way it looks today? 

“I first came to the area at the age of 13. My family are from Juiz de Fora in Minas Gerais, just over 30 miles away from Mogol, where Ibiti is located. Our cousin owned some property here, and my brother and I enjoyed visiting with our friends to escape the city. It was where we could be wild, free and reconnect with nature.

The project all began as a personal passion. I bought run down ranches that had become unprofitable from elderly farmers who were ready to retire, and some younger people who had set their sights on the city lights. 

After purchasing 200 properties, amassing some 16,000 acres, I dreamt of creating a greenbelt around Ibitipoca State Park and reintroducing species that had become extinct due to habitat loss from development and agriculture. The Atlantic forest which had once covered these mountains was logged about 200 years ago. 

By wiping out the Atlantic forest the area lost its topsoil, once protected by the trees it was washed away into the rivers and this had a negative impact on the local communities who were connected to the land. 

The moment we began to plant trees as part of a reforestation effort, the land dropped dramatically in value. I quickly realised that replanting forests on its own was not enough. For the region to thrive, and for the land to be protected, the reserve also needed to be a social and cultural initiative. We now have more than 300 people working here. 

My father passed away a few months ago, he always said to me ‘dream big because it takes the same work to dream small’. My dream is that in 1,000 years, we don’t need to talk about sustainability because the planet has rebalanced and humanity has changed.

What we are doing here is beyond sustainability, we are living through a regenerative lens. Sustainability – defined by maintaining – this is no longer an option; humanity passed this point a long time ago. How we communicate environmental and climate change is key, it doesn’t help to talk in stats and graphs because we are not rational as humans. That’s why we have lots of beautiful art at Ibiti and throughout the grounds, to communicate messages that touch the heart.”

Mogol village and the unique art sculptures at Ibiti Project in Brazil.

Can you walk us through Ibiti’s project as there are many elements and facets to it, 200 farms, a revived village, accommodations for guests, and a school for the team’s children? 

“It began as a rewilding project, it was only later that we incorporated an ecotourism element. 96% of the entire area has been left untouched for nature to heal and restore. 

Experts from the academies say that it’s going to take about 2,000 years to get back to what it was once before humans cut down the forests. This long term thinking and vision is the key. 95% of the regeneration is done by mother nature who has far more wisdom than we do and moves at a very different pace to humans. 

In the remaining 5% of this land we are developing something unique within tourism. Building small conscious-led lodges, and restoring a village, similar to a mini Tuscany, but with a much lower density of visitors. We produce our own wine here and over 100 different kinds of vegetables. 

There is also a school for the employees’ children, a vegetarian restaurant, nursery gardens, a line of organic produce from honey to coffee, a renewable energy scheme, a recycling project, and wellness programmes. 

Gastronomy is one of the core pillars of this project, I believe it’s the most sacred element of our existence. To provide delicious, honest food, locally produced, organic (void of any chemicals and pesticides) created by artists, this is how to celebrate life and living. It’s this simplicity that we need to return to.

The Ibiti community lives alongside 5 core values, I know them in Portuguese, let me see if I translate it. The first is kindness, then gratitude, excellence, spirituality and generosity.”

A short-film about Ibiti Project hosted on You Tube

“In the past I’ve been inspired by unique hotels in Chile and destinations like Bhutan. Low impact stays with a different approach to tourism that deeply respects local people and culture. 

These days I am inspired everyday by our team and guests who visit, it’s so much fun to be a part of it. A lot of inspiring people choose to visit Ibiti because it’s unique. Mogol, the small village where the project is centred around, has a church and about 20 houses. It’s one of the most cosmopolitan cities around the world compared to its size of course. By seeking a different way to exist on the surface of this planet, in balance with nature, this attracts some fascinating people to this place. 

I’m also inspired by the efforts here to reintroduce some species that are now extinct in the area due to habitat loss, like the Muriqui, otherwise known as the Northern Woolly Spider Monkey. They are the largest monkey in the Americas, and the closest to us genetically. 

What’s interesting about this species is that they don’t have an alpha. What I often say is that if these monkeys were running the planet instead of humans we would be in a far better position than we currently are. 

What’s ahead? I believe there could be a real possibility of a complete disruption in civilisation and to the way of life as we know it. Big cities have the potential to collapse within two days. We want to inspire an alternate path. A new world where harmony exists between humans and nature.

That’s why in Mogol village we are working towards becoming 100% self-sufficient in terms of energy production through solar and hydroelectric, we have a sewage treatment system, we grow our own foods etc.”

Authentic home cooking by chefs at Ibiti Project and two local people in Mogol village

Ibiti’s conservation efforts to bring back the endangered spider monkeys are truly inspiring. Can you tell us how you approached such a mammoth task? What have been the results so far?

“97% of the Atlantic forest here, the monkeys’ habitat and home was destroyed by humans in less than 200 years. What was left were only isolated pockets. That’s us. 

I instantly fell in love with the Muriquis monkeys when we discovered a small group at Ibiti. There were twelve living in a small group. To avoid inbreeding the females of the group leave when they are able to procreate, to find another group of males. Once all the females had left the small group became isolated due to the habitat fragmentation. 

Across 20 years an initial group of 12 monkeys became just two males, two brothers. That’s when the government finally decided to support conservation efforts and it all began with bringing the monkeys in. 

This is in order to take blood samples and a lot of other things biologists do. The idea was to bring them to a huge, fenced area with plenty of trees, many of them with fruits. So the monkeys had a lot of restaurants to explore and enjoy. 

It’s extremely difficult to capture monkeys because the tranquilliser shot has to be perfectly aimed to avoid killing them. The monkey can also fall from high up, so we have to ensure there are people with a net waiting below. There is also a guy with ropes who is ready to go up into the high canopy to where the monkeys are as once sedated they can grip onto the branches.  

The first male, the first of the two brothers, was successfully caught and the other one took another four months, which shows the intricacy and complications involved in such a mission. 

When we finally brought them back to each other, they hugged for a total of 2 hours and 15 minutes according to the biologist. Can you imagine? It just shows you their character and way. They love connection. Maybe if we tried that, we would have less wars on this planet. 

We are excited to announce that a baby has now been born at Ibitipoca. We are all so happy. We have so much to learn from these incredible creatures. We are now bringing more isolated females here to centralise them all, the idea is then to split them into 2 groups for genetic diversity. 

These monkeys are just one example of reintroductions, but we come against many bureaucratic issues in Brazil which slow us down. I’ve been begging the government to release Macaws for the last 10 years. It’s completely insane that I still get a no. If I want to release 20,000 cows here tomorrow, I don’t need any kind of permit, yet releasing an animal which existed long before we were here is a long and slow process.

The Harpy Eagle which exists in the Amazon once called this area home – we want to bring it back here. But in order for that to happen we have to have a healthy ecosystem and food chain with plenty of monkeys and sloths, things that the eagles will naturally prey on.”

A woolly spider monkey in a tree and Brazil’s most iconic bird the Toco Toucan.

What’s next for Ibiti and your socio-environmental project? 

“What’s next in the short term? This week we are hosting a book launch event. The author is the grand age of 87 now, in his latest book ‘Radical Love’ Satish Kumar talks about the thing this world really needs right now.

Every day I’m in awe of what mother nature does to heal and rewild. Now we can start to see and feel the difference in the forests here but the trees we’ve replanted so far are still very young. 

This past month we planted some Araucaria, Brazilian Monkey Puzzle trees in our peace and love farm. They provide important food sources for wildlife and can last for more than 1,000 years. Most impressive is that they’ve been on this planet for 200 million years.”

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