Wildlife Weekend in the Camargue

The Camargue


A bit of info to start us off...

On the Southern coast of France, a bit west of Marseille, is a marshland frontier/Regional Nature Park known as the Camargue.

Just north, at the city of Arles, the great River Rhône splits into two parts: the Grand Rhône and the Petit Rhône. Between the two parts is a giant triangular expanse of land, 2.7 times the size of the city of Seattle. This is The Rhône River Delta, aka the Camargue.

We're talkin' a lot of land.

The Camargue is compromised of a mix of salt water lagoons, fresh water marshes and reed beds, salt plains, dunes, and meadowland. The region has been defined between the battle between river and sea; as is reflected in the existing plant and animal life -- all of which must withstand both dry and wet conditions as well as extreme salinity.

The Camargue is known for it's long-horned bulls and white horses that run semifree throughout the region. It is also known as a great bird preserve; particularly because it is one of the only and largest flamingo nesting sites in Europe.

I had the awesome opportunity, thanks to my friends Raymond and Christine, to visit the Camargue with them last weekend! We stayed 2 nights at Raymond's nephew's home. Both Jean and his wife, Regine, have careers focused on sustaining the park -- finding the balance between human impact and natural sustainability. Needless to say, we had the best tour guides around :) Their family welcomed us to their home and we all went out together to explore the park and a couple small surrounding towns.

Where the Rhône meets the Mediterranean. The cloudy river water was quickly flowing into the small port, mixing with the blue sea water, when they opened the drawbridge (not in photo) to let a big ship through.

Here I am, cheeky as can be, perched atop the lookout over the "salins" -- the salt marshes in the lower Camargue, which have been designed to maximize sodium chloride concentration in the water. It is here where giant chunks of salt are collected with huge trucks, to be refined and exported. I actually saw a bag of Lays potato chips recently that had "salt from the Camargue" labeled on the front.

The salt marshes are rich in invertebrates have high levels of beta-carotene...helping our flamingo friends look their pinky best. As the salt levels intensify throughout the year, the color of the water changes from blue to a purplish-pink.

Part of the Camargue is a big, long beach. And a big section of the big, long beach is...you guessed it! A nudist beach!
The sign reads: "STOP - NUDIST BEACH, Here we live (in the) nude"
I though it'd be a funny photo to share, but aside from that, it was actually really interesting to see the way there were hundreds of campers and trailers parked all along the beach (nudist and non-nudist section). People were literally gonna be camped out (FOR FREE) for the entire summer. And, yes, it is a state park. It was interesting discussing with Jean and Regine the potential impacts on the wildlife and surroundings that this influx of humans are/could be creating.
Not goin' anywhere soon. Don't know why they're flying Old Glory, but there you go.

I was so excited about the horses! We stopped by the Domain de la Palissade, a part of the Camargue with a visitor's center and a few nature walking paths. And there were come Camargue horses, who (obviously) became my new best friends.
With Raymond and ChristineThe Camargue horses roam the park part of the year, grazing on reeds and grasses. Once a year, the "gardians" (more-or-less French cowboys) round them up and, apparently, go for a tour through the city streets. And yes, of course, plenty of tourist trail rides are available.

And here are those flamingos I was talking about! We actually have them here in Hyères during the spring, but they migrate over to the Camargue (as well as parts of Spain, Sardinia, and Northern Africa) to nest.

Finally! We saw the famed "taureaux"! And it was a very, very lucky sighting! The semiwild bulls were being driven through by the famed "gardians" -- right near the side of the road. We got an awesome view!

Some say it was Attila the Hun who brought these bulls' ancestors from Asia Minor, who were then were cross-bred with Spanish bulls. Nobody really knows for sure where they're from. But these "taureaux" are another important animal in the Camargue region, especially culturally speaking. The "bull games" take place in the summer in nearby cities, but unlike Spanish bullfights, the bull is NOT killed. It's apparently a game where the men try to unhook tassels from the bull horns and are awarded points accordingly.