Travelling to see natural parks is one of my favourite activities, both locally and abroad; and I have a long list of overdue want-to-write-about-visited-places posts. So here goes one about a very nice location in southern Portugal: meet Parque Natural da Ria Formosa.
This park is located in Algarve, the southern portuguese region; it spreads over the eastern part of the region, closer to the spanish border, and it's one of our most important wet areas: here you can find sea, a lot of small islands, a ton of lagoons, dunes, pine forests... well, a ton of different habitats! With these caracteristics, it's also a very important place for wildlife, especially birds; so if you are used to visit this blog, you can guess why I love this location.
The sheer amount of ecossystems wouldn't fit on a single post, and I'll focus here on one of the must see places if you see this region: although the natural park itself is huge, there's a small delimited area open to visitors with an interpretation center - that is actually known as Parque Natural da Ria Formosa, albeit being just a small part of it.
It's located near Olhão's camping, and quite easy to find: I'll leave the official link here, that has a lot of useful info. It has decent parking place, and as you enter you can see a plaque with the park's symbol: the western swamphen, Porhyrio porphyrio, a rare bird that can be found here.
Mind that the entrance is payed, but it's a tiny fee; I think it was around 3€, definitely worth it. As you enter and pass the parking lot, you can immediately find well placed signs, and the map of the park.
As you can see it this last photo, the suggestion is a circular trail, that is only around 2km; there are no elevations, so it's basically an easy and quiet walk in nature. And you can easily see by the map the kind of places you'll pass by, which are a good display of the diversity of habitats: you start in the pine forest, overlook the sea, and encounter lagoons on your way!
I chose to go to the right, and leave the pine forest part for last; seeing the lagoons and the bird observatories was what I was interested in the most.
You'll find a ton of natural flora as you walk along the trail, both flower and typical mediterranean bushes and trees; pine forest is the prevalent forest here.
A short walk to the right, after the parking lot, is the interpretation center, where there is info about the local fauna and flora, and explanations about the different ecossystems; unfortunately, it was closed when I visited.
After a little more, finally the blue sea and the lagoons!
Although some marks in the path were missing, there's not that much error you can do; it's a small park! And there is a decent amount of infographics with useful info. I love seeing well organised parks, and this one seems to have a decent amount of into throughout the path.
Arriving at the lagoons, I found two of the common species in this area: a stork, filling her bellie, and an army of fiddler crabs!
From here, the bird observatoris were just a very short walk away. You have two different observatories, each one overlooking a different lagoon: one bigger, to the sea side; and a smaller, interior one.
Yes, I spent more time than the average tourist here! :) It was breeding season, and especially the interior lagoon was full of juveniles. I won't bother you with the dozens of bird photos (I'll leave it to the #featheredfriends community), but here's a sneak peak:
After going crazy mode on the birdwatching, it was time to continue the path. For the history lovers, some roman ruins can be seen right after the observatories.
You star moving away from the water, and you'll pass by a place that is very dear to me: the wildlife recovery center! During my college years I volunteered at wildlife recovery centers, and visited this place in more than one ocasion; it's great to see that it's still fully functioning.
The path continues between bushes and trees, moving further and further away from the seaside.
And before arriving at the pine trees, an invention very important to agriculture, that was used in the old days to bring water from the wells and distribute it to the fields; it's called nora in portuguese, but I couldn't find an english translation.
Passing the structure, we arrive to what for me is the "least interesting" part of the park: a very short part near the train line, with the camping on the opposite site, and then turning inwards again to the park entrance, passing in a small pine forest filled with bushes.
This area does have a VERY interesting component: it's one of the best areas in the park to try and find the most beautiful reptile of our faune: the chameleon!
Actually, it was in this park that I was able to see them in the wild for the first time, many years ago. This time, I did search for them, but lady luck wasn't on my side. They are camouflage masters, after all; maybe I was right next to one and missed it!
A few more meters, and you're back at the starting point. There's a small area with benches, perfect for a picnic or just to sit with friends, have a chat, and enjoy the surrounding nature.
Between admiring the flowers, searching for chameleons, delighting at the birds and the crabs, and having a walk in nature... there's plenty to do in this park! And it has the added bonus that is a small area, so it's perfect for a small family trip, or if you want to take a glimpse of the natural park and don't have that much time to explore: it's all condensed here! :)
Enjoy the week ahead!
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