Las Salinas - Santa Pola

Wetland declared of international importance to be included in the list RAMSAR, likewise protected as a Natural Park, and declared by a European Directive Area of ​​Special Importance for Birds. The visitor center is located in the same building as the Salt Museum: Av. Zaragoza, 45. Postcode: 03130 Santa Pola (Alicante). The Salinas de Santa Pola Natural Park has an area of ​​2,470 hectares, located in the coastal area of ​​Santa Pola Bay. The salt exploitation since the late nineteenth century, has allowed the survival of Las Salinas, where the presence of flamingos and stilts is constant. The dynamics of Las Salinas consists of circulating sea water through a circuit of rafts to obtain the concentration of salts as a consequence of evaporation. Birds feed on fish and invertebrates that penetrate into salt flats, while salt production It benefits from the mineral wealth provided by the avifauna. Yellow route: The Pinet 3.8 Km. Estimated time: 2 h. 15 m. Not suitable for cycling. This itinerary is located in the SE part. of the Natural Park where we can observe some of the most representative environments of the Natural Park, such as the salt marsh and the dune ecosystem. This starts in old salt ponds now in disuse for exploitation but that maintain the water circuit and with it its great biological richness. Following a narrow path between the banks of these and parallel to the dune cord and the beach line, visitors can see on their left the old pre-concentrating rafts with their abundant population of birds such as flamingos, avocets, stilts, common egrets, redshanks, plovers, black-and-white needles, charrancitos, etc. The abundance or presence of the different species of birds will depend on the time of year. On its shores grows an important salt marsh vegetation with species such as bogs, barley plants and limonios or saladillas which develop curious adaptations to the great concentration of salt in the soil, being easily observable in the naked parts and especially in summer a crust of whitish salt covering the floor. Along this path runs the entrance channel of sea water to the rafts, formerly to obtain salt and today to ensure the life there is in them. To the right of the path, the slopes of the last dunes are reached, appreciating how the vegetation changes when you go from a saline soil to a sandy soil, this way you can see the progressive change of a salt marsh vegetation to an intermediate vegetation of albardín, bufalaga, junco, reaching a proper dune vegetation formed by cuernecillo, esparaguera, creudeta, etc. and another one of repopulation formed by piteras, carpobrotus, pines, pines and eucalyptus. A kilometer from the start, the itinerary turns right into the dunes, crossing you until you reach the beach. In this section the visitor will make a tour of the different kinds of dunes. In the first place you will find the fixed dunes named for the repopulation of pines and eucalyptus that was made in the early s. XX in order to control the progress of the sands, the semi-fixed dunes, where the vegetation is scarce and smaller in size, where dune species such as the cuernecillo, baró, marine thistle, sea caterpillar, etc. predominate. to the first line of dunes where you can see some of them mobile which are not covered by any type of vegetation and are easily transported by the wind. The fauna that inhabits this area is represented mainly by reptiles such as ocellated lizard, lizard coliroja, lizard colilarga, bastard snake; mammals such as shrews, shrews, field mice, rabbits and hares; small birds such as tarabillas, shrikes and cogujadas; The presence of beetles is also important. From this point you start the return to the beginning of the itinerary through the first line of dunes enjoying a nice panoramic view with the sea in the background from where you can see the cape of Santa Pola with the city at your feet, the island of Tabarca, the mouth of the Segura River and the entire coastline to Cabo Cervera in Torrevieja.