Avast park covering 170,025 hectares, it ranges from the south of the province of Cadiz up to the north-east of Malaga province, and is a refuge for many species of flora of huge biological value: willows, Portuguese oaks, wild olives, oaks, elms, poplars, briars, strawberry trees and sarsaparilla among others, not to mention the cork oak itself.
Cortes de la Frontera, in the province of Malaga, is the borough with the largest area of tree-covered land, although many other towns in the province of Cadiz owe their prosperity to the cork trade (Alcalá de los Gazules, Jimena de la Frontera, Castellar...).
One of the most distinctive features of Los Alcornocales are the so-called ‘canutos’: narrow river valleys concentrated in the southern region of the park, with a unique sub-tropical micro-climate only to be found in Spain and Turkey. They are busy with life, including species of flora such as the rhododendron, buckthorn, alder, ash and holly; and fauna which include otters, bee-eaters, blackbirds, kingfishers, robins, nightingales, swallows and swifts. It is also the chosen habitat of a wide range of birds of prey. Common sights include eagles, falcons, Egyptian vultures, goshawks, sparrow hawks and plentiful griffin vultures.
The variety of animals is such that it would be in possible to list all the different species in such a limited space. Examples of the fauna which roam the area would include wildcats, deer, polecats, weasels, badgers, roe deer, wild boar, fallow deer, mountain goats, foxes and mongooses..nd sentiment of his homeland.
CORK, THE KING OF THE FOREST
The Los Alcornocales Natural Park was given in its natural park status by the Regional Government of Andalusia in 1989. It is one of the largest in Spain, covering 17 different boroughs, with a total population of some 380,000 people. Almost the entire area is covered by native Mediterranean woodland, and is put to many different uses: forestry, livestock, farming, mushroom picking, brushwood... although the most significant is cork production.
Given the geographical location of Los Alcornocales Natural.
Park, the predominant climate of the region is, naturally, Mediterranean, although there are a number of factors which distinguish it. Firstly, the proximity of the sea moderates fluctuations in the temperature, which remains relatively mild and constant throughout the year.
This combines with annual rainfall in excess of 80 cm almost everywhere, and as high as 140 cm in some places, thanks to the atlantic ocean fronts which sweep in from west to east during
the autumn, winter and spring. The southern uplands are also known for their summer mists, referred to as the ‘Beards of the Levanter’, which provide humidity and extremely valuable horizontal precipitation.
All these factors serve to create a particular micro-climate very similar to that found in tropical and Macaronesian areas, favouring the development of fertile jungle-type vegetation, hence the epithet applied to Los Alcornocales: the last Mediterranean jungle.
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Useful information |
HOW TO GET THERE... There are many approaches. The main ones are: Along the N-340 from the coast, the A-381, the A-375 or the A-373.
MAKE SURE YOU TRY...Stews with Spanish salsify, wild game and mushrooms.
DON´T MISS... En la primera quincena de agosto, la feria local. A mediados de septiembre, la llamada feria de Cristo que se celebra con una gran romería donde participa toda la comarca. LINKS:...www.alcornocales.org
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