Warning: Table './sunshine_imh2/cache' is marked as crashed and should be repaired query: SELECT data, created, headers, expire, serialized FROM cache WHERE cid = 'variables' in /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/database.mysqli.inc on line 128

Warning: Table './sunshine_imh2/cache' is marked as crashed and should be repaired query: UPDATE cache SET data = 'a:1314:{s:13:\"theme_default\";s:11:\"a3_atlantis\";s:13:\"filter_html_1\";s:1:\"1\";s:18:\"node_options_forum\";a:1:{i:0;s:6:\"status\";}s:18:\"drupal_private_key\";s:64:\"5ddf8335b212958291d21fab1076e409a463ed9256d2338c81821b5cf8821e86\";s:10:\"menu_masks\";a:33:{i:0;i:127;i:1;i:126;i:2;i:125;i:3;i:63;i:4;i:62;i:5;i:61;i:6;i:60;i:7;i:59;i:8;i:58;i:9;i:57;i:10;i:56;i:11;i:48;i:12;i:31;i:13;i:30;i:14;i:29;i:15;i:28;i:16;i:25;i:17;i:24;i:18;i:22;i:19;i:21;i:20;i:15;i:21;i:14;i:22;i:13;i:23;i:12;i:24;i:11;i:25;i:10;i:26;i:7;i:27;i:6;i:28;i:5;i:29;i:4;i:30;i:3;i:31;i:2;i:32;i:1;}s:12:\"install_task\";s:4:\"done\";s:13:\"menu_expanded\";a:1:{i:0;s:17:\"menu-taxonomymenu\";}s:9:\"site_name\";s:19:\"INDIAN CHIEF TRAVEL\";s:9:\"site_mail\"; in /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/database.mysqli.inc on line 128

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/database.mysqli.inc:128) in /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 636

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/database.mysqli.inc:128) in /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 637

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/database.mysqli.inc:128) in /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 638

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/database.mysqli.inc:128) in /home/sunshine61/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 639
The Camargue, France Travel Guide, touring the Camargue, visiting the Camargue - Indian Chief Travel
FRANCE  |  Camargue, France Travel Guide
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
images

The Camargue, France

Flamingoes in the Camargue, France (cc)
 

The Camargue: Where Land & Sea Merge

Broad, flat and sunburnt, the Camargue is an almost surreal web of shallow, lakes (étangs), meandering rivers, canals, marshes and dunes. Part-desert, part-irrigated plain, part-grassland, part-nature reserve, it is an area of France truly unlike any other.

A rough triangle, bounded on the north by Arles, the west by Aigues Mortes and the east by the desert-like Crau and the industrial suburbs of Marseille, the Camargue has an elemental, almost primitive ambiance.

And, despite the lively resort towns of Les Saintes Maries de la Mer and Aigues Mortes, it is a virtually empty area, dotted with traditional stucco and thatch cottages (called cabanes). Fewer than 7,500 people occupy its 330 square miles – much of it protected wetlands. A map of the region resembles nothing so much as a piece of lace, the land area a mere web.

Eco-tourism

Several different layers of environmental protection cover the region, considered to be Europe’s most important wetland. Any visit to the Camargue is, by its very nature, eco-tourism. Almost all of it, including its towns and hamlets, is protected or managed habitat. At the heart, the Réserve Nationale, created in 1927, covers 32,412 acres – about 50 square miles – around the shallow, salt lake, the Étang du Vaccarès. The area has been designated a UNESCO “Biosphere Reserve,” one of only 300 in the world.

For birdwatchers, this is genuinely paradise. There are more than 350 resident and migratory species. The Camargue is the only place outside of Africa where you can see pink flamingos nesting in their tens of thousands. The habitat also supports about 1,000 species of flowering plants. Most tourists in this small corner of France are French themselves. That’s because even they find the ancient traditions, pastimes and occupations exotic and fascinating.

A salty atmosphere and shifting wetlands make agriculture challenging. There is some farming – rice, fruit trees and, remarkably, vineyards – but for many inhabitants life revolves around the semi-wild, cream- and dust-colored Camargue horse and the small, clever native bulls. The animals forage and breed in the wild, grazing on the glasswort-covered sansouires, dried and cracked salt plains.

Elsewhere on the sansouires, the Camargue supports a major salt harvesting industry and has done so since the Roman era. More than 34,000 acres, on both the eastern and western edges of the Camargue, are devoted to salt production. Mountains of drying salt can be seen for miles. In May, the area hosts one of Europe’s most colorful festivals, when more than 8,000 gypsies from all over Europe converge on Les Saintes Maries de la Mer to celebrate their patron saint, Sarah.

Last updated March 15, 2012
Posted in   France  |  Camargue
No votes yet
Explore the Destination
Amenities and Resources
Trending Themes:

Guides to Popular Ski Resorts

  • Ischgl is a small mountain village turned hip ski resort, with massive appeal among the party-hearty young crowds. It is... Read More

  • Andorra la Vella is its own little world, and not just because it’s a 290-square-mile independent principality (a fifth the... Read More

  • Bariloche (officially San Carlos de Bariloche) is the place to be seen. It is to Argentina what Aspen is to the... Read More

  • Aspen is America's most famous ski resort. And that's an understatement. For, as a ski complex, Aspen is unsurpassed. Its... Read More

  • Zermatt is a small but glamorous mountain resort town, with a population of approximately 5,700. It is one of Switzerland's... Read More

  • St. Moritz is a glitzy, alpine resort town in the celebrated Engadin Valley of Switzerland, with huge notoriety as the... Read More

  • Lake Tahoe is the premier lake resort of America, and the largest alpine lake in all of North America. It is an absolutely... Read More

  • St. Anton, Sankt Anton am Arlberg in German, is Austria's premier ski-bum resort! It's actually a small village cum... Read More

  • Kitzbühel, a small, Tyrolian resort town in the Kitzbüheler Alps, comes with international renown and huge snob appeal, and... Read More

 

Copyright © 2010-2013 Indian Chief Travel Guides. Images tagged as (cc) are licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA license.