the tropical weather of rio de janeiro makes lush vegetation thrive, even in urban settings - and the city is home to the two largest and most famous urban rainforests in the world.

most well known among the two, is the tijuca forest, actually a hand planted forest that covers about 12 square miles inside the northern zone of the city - it once held the title of biggest urban forest in the world, but recently lost that title to its cross town cousin, the pedra branca forest.

the tijuca forest is home to hundreds of species of plants and wildlife, and was re-planted entirely by hand, to remedy the previous forest being cleared for farmland and coffee plantations, causing severe water shortages in the city.