Parque Natural Las Lagunas de la Mata y Torrevieja

The Natural Park of the La Mata and Torrevieja lagoons is between the municipalities of Torrevieja, Guardamar and Los Montesinos. It is considered one of the most important European wetlands, which is why they are part of Lista Mar, a list of natural areas created in 1960 in France. Qualified "of international importance", they have the status of SPA and since 1994 it is a Natural Park. Located in a depressed area closed to the sea, the lagoons communicate with the Mediterranean through channels such as the Acequión; the water enters by gravity and floods the La Mata lagoon that acts as a preheater. In turn, the two lagoons are linked through another channel, so that the water previously heated in La Mata passes to the Torrevieja lagoon where the salt is extracted once it has crystallized. The Visitor Center is located in the old Forest House of the hamlet of La Mata (Torrevieja), located about 400 m from the N-332 Alicante - Cartagena, at km 64.5 point. Access to the Visitor Center is made from the national road by a paved road. Staff: 2 environmental educators. 1 Technical Service of Management of Protected Natural Areas CITMA. Hours of attention to the visitor: From 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (Monday to Friday) From 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (Saturdays, Sundays and holidays) Days that the center will remain closed: January 1 and 6 and December 24, 25 and 31. Walking route: The Route on foot, has an itinerary in which most of the ecosystems of the park are present. The route allows to contemplate a wide panoramic of all the park, the fauna and the flora, the typical vegetal formations and the birds, true protagonists in any humid zone. The Acequión is an artificially open channel to allow the entry of sea water that constitutes a small representation of the marine habitat. There are species of marine fauna and flora such as crabs, algae, actinias, posidonia, worms, polychaetes, fish, etc. Water enters La Mata by gravity, because the lagoon is lower than sea level. From here you can observe the salt marsh vegetation, located on the banks of the lagoon. These plants have internal juices with high salt concentrations in order to withstand the high saline concentration of the soil and the high temperatures without dehydration. Some of them eliminate the excess of salt by the leaves, which gives them a whitish color. From the Observatory you can see the different waterfowl of the lagoon. According to the time in which the traveler makes the visit, you can see different types of birds, since some of them stop at this place to rest and feed on their long trip to Africa, while others spend the winter because where they live , the Arctic tundra, normally has uninhabitable conditions in this epoch. In spring they return to their usual home. Other birds, on the other hand, live throughout the year in the Park. They are sedentary. At this stop you can see gulls, plovers, stilts, avocets and terns, flamingos and black-necked grebes. The silence at this point must be total to avoid frightening the birds. The third stop on the road occurs in Pinada. From the distance we can already see the reed, a typical plant in this type of zones whose presence denotes the existence of fresh water. In this last stop there is an important set of Aleppo pine and stone pine as well as eucalyptus trees. The latter are the result of artificial repopulation. Also in La Pinada you can see an important salt marsh area. The visitor can look for the signs left by the animals in their path, try to differentiate the different types of pine trees or, simply, rest under a shadow. In any case you can enjoy your stay in the Park. The fourth stop is the El Zampullín observatory. In the Natural Park, concentrations of thousands of Grebes have been counted, becoming the main wintering point of the Iberian Peninsula. The Mata is an area of ​​rest and feeding during the migration of the birds.