t Greater flamingos fishing on a marsh in the Parque Nacional de Doñana at dusk
Doñana National Park is ranked among Europe’s greatest wetlands. Together with its adjoining protected areas, the park covers over 50,000 hectares (185,000 acres) of marshes and sand dunes, and is home to an abundance of wildlife.
t Greater flamingos fishing on a marsh in the Parque Nacional de Doñana at dusk
Experience Huelva and Sevilla
t A squacco heron, with a bright blue bill during the breeding season
The area used to be a hunting ground belonging to the Dukes of Medina Sidonia. As the land was never suitable for human settlers, wildlife was able to flourish and, in 1969, this large area became officially protected. In addition to a wealth of endemic species, such as fallow deer (Dama dama), red deer (Cervus elaphus) and the imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti), thousands of migratory birds, including the squacco heron (Ardeola ralloides) and the greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber), stop here in winter when the marshes become flooded again, after months of drought.
Softly rounded dunes, up to 30 m (100 ft) high, fringe the park’s coastal edge. Monte de Doñana, the wooded area behind these sand dunes, provides shelter for lynx, deer and boar, and the number of visitors to the park’s interior is strictly controlled. The only way to access the area is on a tour (www.donanareservas.com).
INSIDER TIP
The park has three self-guided paths: La Rocina to Charco de la Boca is 3.5 km (2 miles) long, Charco del Acebrón is a 1.5-km (1-mile) route and there is a 1.5-km (1-mile) circuit around Laguna del Acebuche.
Experience Huelva and Sevilla
The lynx is one of Europe’s rarest mammals and is only glimpsed with patience. In Doñana about 30 individual Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) have found refuge. They have yellow-brown fur with dark-brown spots and pointed ears with black tufts. Research is under way into this shy, nocturnal animal, which tends to stay hidden in scrub. It feeds mainly on rabbits and ducks, but might catch an unguarded fawn.