Punta Entinas Sabinar, Nature reserve on the coast between El Ejido and Roquetas de Mar, Spain
Punta Entinas-Sabinar is a protected coastal reserve near El Ejido featuring sand dunes, beaches, freshwater lakes, and salt marshes. The site spans multiple kilometers and combines different natural habitats typical of this Mediterranean shoreline.
In the 1970s the saltworks at Cerrillos were still worked by Unión Salinera, while the dunes were mined for sand sold to greenhouse growers, stripping their vegetation. The Grupo Ecologista Mediterráneo, formed in 1977, obtained provisional protection two years later, and in 1980 the pre-autonomous Junta de Andalucía listed the site. It became a Paraje Natural and Reserva Natural under Law 2/1989 of 18 July.
The names come from the plants: sabinar from the sabinas de las dunas (Juniperus turbinata) and entinas from the lentiscos (Pistacia lentiscus). Until the 1970s the Salinas de Cerrillos were worked by the company Unión Salinera, which also sold dune sand for greenhouse crops. The Grupo Ecologista Mediterráneo, formed in 1977, campaigned for the site's protection.
Visitors can walk marked paths through different areas of the reserve, from salt marshes to dunes and lakes. Wear sturdy shoes since terrain varies from sandy areas to muddy sections depending on which route you take.
The reserve's dunes are named after the juniper (sabina) and mastic (entina) that grow on them, and its salt flats are among the westernmost in the Mediterranean for Posidonia oceanica seagrass. A parasitic plant, the red-flowered Cynomorium coccineum, also grows here. The ant Goniomma compressisquama is endemic to the site.
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