EXCERPT FROM SARA’S JOURNALMarch 23, 1999
Mazagon
Parque National del Coto Doņana
The National Park of Coto Doņana is ranked among Europe’s
greatest wetlands. Combined with its adjoining protected areas, it covers over 75,000
hectares of sand dunes and marshes. Coto Doņana used to be hunting grounds (coto)
belonging to the Dukes of Medina Sidonia and was never suitable for settling. Wildlife
flourished and in 1969 the land became officially protected. Given its geographic
location—the fact that the park is so close to Africa and affected climatically by
both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean—Doņana is used as a rest stop by thousands
of African and European migratory birds in winter when the marshes become flooded. Doņana
is home to a wealth of endemic species including Spanish lynx (of which there are 60
pairs), wild boar, Fallow and Red deer, as well as flamingo, heron, wild duck, coot and
the very rare Spanish Imperial Eagle.
El Acebuche Visitor’s Centre is crowned with a stork’s
nest. The pair stands in the blustery wind, ducking rain droplets. Inside, the bar is
crowded, and a pack of schoolchildren stand shoulder to shoulder at the reception desk.
Behind the centre is an open courtyard. Our plan is to catch a magic hour Jeep tour
through the protected areas of the park, inaccessible by foot. Numbers of visitors to the
protected areas are controlled very strictly. Official tours along rough tracks ensure
minimal environmental impact. As it turns out, these tours with knowledgeable guides are
booked well in advance and today Doņana is crowded with a busload of Spanish elderleys,
the school children, and a constant stream of serious ornithologists. We make a
reservation for the beginning of May.
A smooth boardwalk from the centre’s courtyard takes us through
several kilometres of paths around the Acebuche lagoon, with a low-lying forest of
shrub vegetation. Lavender, Rock Rose and Monte Blanco (white scrub) carpet the
sand. There are snakes to encounter if one steps from the boardwalk. Bird blinds dot the
edge of the lagoon, roofed with grass and netting that is replaced each year. From within
the blind we silently look out at the marsh: Spoonbills, Kingfishers, swallows, herons and
hawks.
Further into the park is the Palacio del Acebron, where another
footpath follows the circumference of a large pond, skirted with forests of Umbrella Pines
and Corks. The trees thrive in the wild dune belts, planting their roots deep within the
shifting sand. The dunes are sometimes up to 30 metres high and can bury the trees
completely. The dunes fringe the Doņana’s coastal edge, and ribbed by prevailing
Atlantic winds, shift constantly, about 6 metres every year.
A blind overlooking the pond is silent with the exception of bird-talk.
"Check the book, I think it’s a Pheonicopterus ruber". Gasp. Sigh. A
rainy wind shuffles the grass hut. The pond exists without us. A Cabbage White flutters,
tripping disoriented, homing sunshine. The dim, musty bird blind is patterned with
light-rectangles—slits of windows for looking out. A bony, young cat sits
attentively, comfortable with her ringside view of the pond. Her face, striped tabby and
umber, reflects the afternoon. The rest of her remains hidden in the dark of the blind.
