PALMS & FLAMINGOS

You will visit town Elche and Palm Grove;the largest of its kind in all of Europe with over 200,000 palms, beautiful Santa Maria Basilica and El Hondo Nature Reserve- to see over 172 types of bird species.There you will be able to spot flamingos if lucky. The 2,469 hectare of the Salinas Nature Reserve, is situated in the district of Elche in the area of El Pinet and, for the main part, in Santa Pola. It includes an area of salt farms (Bras del Port and Bonmatí), some saltwater pools, a fringe of salt marshes and a swathe of beaches and dunes. This area, together with El Hondo, take in the extensive lagoon at the mouth of the Vinalopó River which continues to empty its scarce flow into the sea at this point. In the Salinas there are three different typical botanical areas: the salt marshs, the reed beds and the vegetated dunes. The salt marshes are the most widespread, constituting its most representative botanical area. They are populated by plant species which have adapted to the extreme environmental conditions, caused by the high levels of salts dissolved in the soil, and include marsh samphire, sosas and sea lavender. Among the many types of limonium present in this Nature Reserve the presence of endemic Alicante species, such as the limonium santapolense, is noteworthy. Flamingos are the most characteristic birds of the reserve, with colonies that sometimes exceed eight thousand in number. There are also scoopers, storks and great variety of ducks, amongst other species.