A little-known French National Park — the Camargue

Borneo Post

3 days ago

The Roman Amphitheatre in Arles – the capital of the Camargue. – Photo by Alan Rogers
THIS low-lying delta region lies between the Petit (Small) River Rhone and the Grand (Great) Rhone in the French department of Bouches-du-Rhone (Mouths of the Rhone) covering an area of 780 square kilometres.
The River Rhone bifurcates at the city of Arles, which is at the apex of the delta triangle with its widest side at the debouchment of the two rivers into the Mediterranean Sea.
Thus, the Camargue is the Rhone delta.
With the very low tidal range of this sea, alluvial deposits have accumulated for millions of years and especially since 12,000 years ago with the melting of the European Ice Sheets to the north.
Extending along the Mediterranean Sea for 150km, with its beautiful unspoilt beaches, and reaching northwards for 100km, it truly is an amazing place and full of surprises in the variety of its fauna.
In the northern two-thirds of the delta, the land has been drained for thousands of years to create very fertile land on alluvial deposits for crop growing.
This land is irrigated in summertime with water fed from the two rivers.
In the south, affronting the Mediterranean, the highest point is the bell tower of the Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Sea located in the small coastal village of Saintes Maries de-la-Mer.
I have clambered up the winding stairs of this church leading onto the roof and sat on the roof to admire the sheer flatness of this region.
This church may be seen from up to 50km or more away so flat is this landscape.
For many decades this southernmost area has been one of France's National Regional Parks for decades and is distinguished by its marshlands and shallow lagoons, the largest of which is the Etang de Vaccares.
Gentle warnings to the public in the dunes between the sea and the lagoons stressing the fragility of the environment. – Photo by Alan Rogers
Sheer beauty of this national park
I have visited this area many times over the years in early September, but this year, I went there in late May.
It is a truly wild landscape and a blustery one this May as a strong wind, the Mistral, blew down from the northwest.
At certain times of the year this cold wind can lower temperatures by 5 degrees Celsius to 10 degrees Celsius, to nearly freezing point as it is channelled down the Rhone valley.
My Malaysian friend and I walked eastwards from Saintes Maries de-la-Mer along the beaches to the lagoons and we were amazed to see the proliferation of wildflowers, bird life, and animals and, apart from a few cyclists, the lack of visitors.
Flora
It was the season for the flowering cotton grass in the marshes with this white literally cotton-like plant stretching for miles and bending and rippling like waves as it was swept by the wind. On the embankments above the river are gnarled and wind bent low trees.
Many of the plants are halophytes thus able to tolerate the haline conditions. Species of bamboo growing in thickets can also be seen off the beaten tracks.
Cotton grass in the Camargue bending in the wind. – Photo by Alan Rogers
Fauna
The Camargue is famed for its white feral horses and black tareaux (cattle).
We saw a herd of horses drinking in one lagoon and much closer at a cattle ranch.
The cattle today are kept on free range ranches ending up on dinner plates, but the most aggressive bulls appear in the twice-yearly bullrings in the former Roman arenas at Arles and Nimes where they are despatched in bullfights by highly skilled matadors and watched by thousands of local people.
The bird life in this region is truly fascinating.
My Malaysian friend and I witnessed many varieties of sea gulls flying overhead and settling in the lagoons as well as egrets, cranes, ducks, and herons feeding in rivulets or standing motionless on the side of riverbanks.
However, the most amazing birds we witnessed were the flamingos, seen in large flocks feeding on the lacustrine deposits or flying above us in distinctive formations.
This species of flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber), which appear here, are in search of food whilst on their annual migrations from North Africa to Europe and back again later in the year.
Many of those we saw were resting on one leg with their long necks coiled around their bodies, others were feeding by stirring up the very fine lacustrine deposits with their webbed feet and swirling their heads and beaks to trap diatoms, algae, and various invertebrates such as molluscs and fiddler crabs.
Their pink colouration is derived from their diet which contains pigments of carotenoid.
Flamingos in a lagoon in the Camargue. – Photo by Alan Rogers
Life in the Camargue
With such a maze of rivulets and lagoons, it is not surprising that the population density is very low apart from the city of Arles and suburbs (population 60,000 plus) and the small seaside resorts.
Agricultural activities are the main and regular source of income cultivating vines, vegetable crops, cereals, lavender, and indeed rice farming.
Tree fruits and soft fruit growing also provides a valuable source of income during the summer months, let alone the grapes producing some of the best Cotes du Rhone red wines.
This region supplies France with about 60 per cent of its rice needs with the planting and harvesting of the crop done by machine.
In May this year, it was interesting to see the plants growing in large, irrigated fields ready for harvesting in September. The source of water comes directly from the River Rhone.
Several large rice mills may be seen along the main road south from Arles to Saintes Maries de-la-Mer. In about the second week in September, Arles hosts the Feria du Riz (Rice Festival) with thousands of people flocking there to see bull running in the streets and talented roaming musical bands and of course the Sunday evening bullfight in its famous Roman Arena.
The Camargue white horses grazing beside the Petit Rhone. – Photo by Alan Rogers
The most famous of all matadors, the Spaniard El Cordobés, fought there in the mid-1960s.
Steeped in history with its Roman arena, theatre, the Baths of Constantine and burial ground at Alyscamps, Arles more recent claim to fame lies in the fact that the now famous Dutch artist, Vincent Van Gogh, resided there with the artist Gauguin for just over a year in 1888.
Van Gogh admired the clarity of the Mediterranean skies producing over 200 paintings there in such a short space of time.
Today, in the Camargue, tourism has become big business, not only in the numerous hotels and guesthouses in the seaside resorts, but also on the relatively isolated farms and villages where former barns have been converted into holiday homes and spaces created for caravan parks.
In the very south of this region bordering the Mediterranean Sea, salt is extracted from the sea water in huge ponds, dried and processed in Aigues-Mortes and Salin-de-Giraud.
The Camargue is a natural national park unspoilt by man who has occupied this region for many thousands of years.
At points in the park, and especially along the shoreline sand dunes, there are signs (albeit in French) reminding people to respect this beautiful environment and its wildlife.
However, with worldwide rising sea levels, delta national parks will change as indeed will their beaches.
I only pray that the youths of today will have the wisdom to cope with the warnings affecting climate change and have the knowledge to address the consequences of such, unlike my generation who have ignored the red lights which have been flashing for many a year. France National Park the Camargue