The Alcornocales Natural Park is made up of a series of sierras or small mountain chains which hold the largest and best preserved cork-oak forest in the Iberian Peninsula and one of the most important in the world. The attraction of this park does not end here, as it comprises exceptional gallery forests which can transport us to subtropical regions currently non-existent in the European continent. They are made up of species which we associate with other more tropical climates but which have found small niches here that allow them to flourish. These areas are called “canutos”, deep and narrow valleys excavated by streams.
The 1677 km2 that make up the park are situated in the provinces of Cádiz and Malaga and form a strip of vegetation that leads from the inland hills and sierras to the golden beaches of Tarifa.
These hills and mountains contain a great variety of birds of prey, a total of 18 different species. Those best adapted to this type of forest are the booted eagles, short-toed eagles, buzzards, goshawks, sparrowhawks and tawny owls.
Hunting is one of the main economical activities of this park. The main trophies are the roe deer, which lives here in its most southerly area of distribution, the common deer, which was introduced recently, the fallow deer and the mountain goat.
The diversity of this park, its scenery and its traditions, which include the harvesting of the cork from the cork-oaks, make this area a must to visitors.
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