Natural Park. Doñana national Park

All of the municipalities have a rich cultural and ethnic heritage that you can follow in various monumental sites and the enchantment of any of the towns with whitewashed houses, tiny squares and patios. Also shaping the culture of Doñana are various vibrant historic traditions such as the romería (pilgrimage) del Rocío, first celebrated in the 15th century, and a vast range of ancestral activities whose practice is harmonized with environmental sustainability, the most recent of which is nature tourism. Agricultural cultivation, horse and cattle rearing, charcoal and other woodland industries, salt extraction and hunting, which, in their origin in the Doñana, are just some of these practices. Of equal importance is the harvesting of pine cones for fuel and other purposes. On the other hand, seasonal and particular to its zone, fishing and shellfish harvesting, such as the collection of coquinas, clams, is a hard chore usually carried out in winter.

Landscape

Before it debouches into the Atlantic, the rio Guadalquivir meanders through 140,000 hectares of the neighbouring provinces of Huelva, Seville and Cádiz. The tributary systems to this, the Guadiamar and the Madre de las Marismas, as well as the dynamic system of the coastal sands and the intervention of man, have come to make this natural space unique in the world; a wetland region whose privileged situation has transformed it into the ultimate European link in the migratory routes of birds moving between Europe, Africa and Asia.

The marisma, marshland, is an ecosystem with very marked differences between its image in winter and in summer. As well as the marisma, in Doñana it also coexists in perfect harmony with other ecosystems with their own distinct structure: the dunes and the pine forests. Among these well diferentiated landscapes we include those with semi-desert ‘mattoral’ vegetation, denominated here as monte negro (black carob) and monte blanco (white carob) and riverside landscapes. All of this natural richness has come to coexist in recent years with the development of rice fields and other intensive cultivation schemes which have made the marisma an international paradigm of sustainability.

Gastronomy

The mixed small fish dishes, the shrimps and king praws of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, best known of the regional dishes, are complemented with game meats such as venison, duck and goose, as well as the ‘cordero marismeño’, marshland lamb, from Moguer or Almonte. Excellent wines to accompany these are the mostos, fermented grape drinks, the young white wines and the fruitier older wines produced in El Condado, as well as the excellent delicate manzanilla sherry, made in its ‘home town’, Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

Artisan culture

The baskets and hampers made from palms in the numerous artisan workshops around the region are rightly famous, and the region’s leatherwork culture has a thriving industry in harness making and the ‘botos rocieros’, quite literally Rocio boots, thanks to the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who take part in the yearly ‘camino’, walk, to the El Rocio pilgrimage site on the edge of the Doñana.

Situation

Northeast of Cádiz, southwest of Huelva and southeast of Seville. Area: 53,709 hectares corresponding to the Natural Park. Other areas: 50,720 hectares corresponding to the National Park. Altitude: between 0 and 80 m above sea level. Average monthly temperatures: 11ºC (January) to 25ºC (August). Average annual rainfall: from 500 to 700 mm. Municipalities:
Cádiz: Sanlúcar de Barrameda.
Huelva: Almonte, Hinojos, Lucena del Puerto, Moguer and Palos de la Frontera.
Seville: Aznalcázar, La Puebla del Río, Isla Mayor and Villamanrique de la Condesa.

Activities

• Cycle touring
• 4x4 vehicle routes
• Boat trips
• Horseriding
• Aquatic sports
• Sport fishing
• Birdwatching: The zone of the marshlands and the Laguna del Tarelo are ideal places for these. A visit in either spring or autumn is particularly recommended.