Reserva Ecologica Alcobaça is a relative recent addition to the ecological reserves found in Brazil, being established in 1989 in the central section of the State of Rio de Janeiro, roughly 60 miles north of the city of Rio, part of the municipality of teresópolis in the 2nd District of petrópolis.

With a little over 550 acres the reserve started out being part of the Alcobaça Farm in the early 20th Century and with the expansion of the area with the Petrópolis railroad and then the Washington Luiz Highway - the first highway in Brazil, it was only a matter of time before the area would become another example of Brazilian urban sprawl.