the views from the top of this hill are exceptional, offering expansive panoramas of arpoador, ipanema, leblon, morro dois irmãos, pedra da gávea, lagoa rodrigo de freitas, the parque da tijuca, christ on corcovado, copacabana, pão de açúcar, and finally, the forte de copacabana, and the cagarras islands.

If a resident or visitor were to meander up one of the paths in the community, they would find themselves firmly inside a patch of lush and fresh mata atlântica - a typical example of the exceptionally diverse carioca landscape.

since 2008, cantagalo has been home to a pioneering museum project known as the museu de favela - muf, which is the first territorial and living museum of and about the world's favelas, collecting stories, narratives and artifacts from 20,000 people in rio de janeiro.

amongst a wide range of community and social initiatives in the favela, is criança esperança, the children's hope space, which provides full-time care and attention to more than 7,000 children and adolescents - the organization arranges complementary school activities, in order to promote education, culture and inclusion and social development in brazil.