Los Alcornocales Natural Park, Natural park in Andalusia, Spain
Los Alcornocales is a protected area in Andalusia spanning Málaga and Cádiz provinces, featuring deep valleys and sprawling oak forests. The landscape alternates between steep slopes, moist gorges, and plateaus where dense vegetation mingles with rocky outcrops.
People have lived in this region for over 30,000 years, as shown by cave paintings and Neanderthal-era finds. Over the centuries, Romans, Moors, and Christians used the forests as a border and resource.
The cork oak forests here have supplied raw material for bottle stoppers and crafts for generations, and visitors notice the typical ochre-coloured scars of harvest on the trunks. The peeling is done by hand with an axe, with each tree following its own rhythm and being tended over decades.
The three visitor centres are located north of Algeciras, near Alcalá de los Gazules, and in Cortes de la Frontera, offering maps and information on hiking trails. Many paths are unpaved and can become slippery after rain, so sturdy footwear is advisable.
The park shelters forty fern species, including Psilotum nudum, which occurs nowhere else outside the southern hemisphere. This small plant grows here in moist rock crevices and reveals how unusual the microclimate is in some gorges.
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