Attractions & Activities
- National Parks - Sierra de Tejada, Almijara and Alhama
Sierra de Tejada, Almijara and Alhama
It was designated a national park in 1999 and covers 40,663ha.
It stretches across the provincial border of Granada and Malaga.
Its western part in Malaga province is known as the Axarquía
and is famous for its attractive villages dating from Moorish
times. It is also superb hiking country and its numerous steep
mountainsides make it ideal for climbers. Its highest peak
is La Maroma, at 2,080m.
Geologically, the area has some distinctive features. The
Sierra Almijara has one of Spains's most important areas of
dolomitic marble, which gives the landscape its characteristic
grey and white hues where erosion has broken down the marble
into small stones. The main rock in the Sierra Tejeda is limestone,
which has been severely weathered leaving a lanscape riddled
with steep-sided ravines and plunging cliff faces. There are
many caves, the most famous being those at Nerja. Others are
near the sierras' highest peak, at La Sima de la Maroma, and
close to the village of Canillas de Aceituno. Its abundance
of caves make speleology a popular activity here.
Part of the park has been designated a game reserve, the Tejeda
y Almijara National Hunting Reserve.
Flora
The sierras contain an impressive variety of plant species,
many rare and/or endemic. One of the reasons for this is its
differences in altitude (ranging from around 100m to over
2,000m), climate variation and its southeast-northwest orientation.
The botanical importance of this park is surpassed only by
those of the Canary Islands, the Sierra Nevada in Granada
province and the Cabo de Gata in Almería province.
Its most notable flora includes the boxwood (buxus baleracica),
the Phoenician juniper (juniperus phoenicea), the joint pine
(ephedra) and the yew tree (taxus baccata). The yew used to
be widespread in this area and gave its name to one of the
sierras in the park, the Tejeda. It was valued for its quality
wood, which was made into furniture, and its medicinal uses.
But it was largely destroyed because of its toxicity to cattle
and sheep. Now all that remains of the yew is a few small
sections of woodland.
We can also find junipers, cork oaks, holm oaks, gall oaks
and Pyrenean oaks. There is a wide variety of pine tree species,
including Corsican pine (pinus nigra), Aleppo pine (pinus
halepensis) and maritime pines (pinus pinea). Also here are
dwarf fan palms, rowan trees, broom, maples such as the acer
granatense species, buckthorn (rhamnus cathartica), the savanna
shrub maytenus senegalensis, cneorum shrubs (cneorum tricoccom),
the white beam tree (sorbus aria), laurestinus (viburnum tinus),
cotoneaster (cotoneaster granatensis), goosefoot (adenocarpus
decorticans) and Pyrenean oaks (quercus pyrenaica).
The scrubland is dominated by mountain cherry (prunus prostrata),
hedgehog broom (erinacea anthyllis), the milk vetch astragalus
granatensis, the yellow-flowering echinospartum boissieri
and the mountain crucifer shrub hormathophylla spinosa.
Endemic plants that have colonised the dolomitic gravel and
sand areas are knapweeds (centaurea bombycina and c. prolongi),
saxifrages like the saxifraga erioblasta, the toadflax linaria
amoi, the wallflower erysimum myriophyllum, the kidney vetch
anthyllis tejedensis, hippocrepis eriocarpa, fairy foxglove
(erinus alpinus), silene boryi, the butterwort pinguicula
submediterranea, hieracium texedense, purple columbine (aquilegia
vulgaris), andryala agardhi, odontites longiflora, the milkwort
polygala boissieri and iberis grossi.
The sierras are rich in aromatic plants, like oregano, rosemary,
lemon thyme and other varieties of thyme, lavender (lavandula
lanata, l.stoechas), savory and sage. Its steep slopes and
poor soils have restricted agricultural use, although local
people have extracted pine resin, made charcoal from trees,
used trees for firewood and hunted.
Fauna
Raptors are most apparent here, with eagles being the most
common birds of prey, like the golden eagle and Bonnelli's
eagle which are both permanent residents. The short-toed eagle
and the booted eagle can be seen during migration periods.
Also here are the peregrine falcon, the goshawk and the common
kestrel. Woodpeckers can be heard in the woodland areas. Mountain
species include crag martins, rock buntings, rock thrushes,
blue rock thrushes and alpine accentors. In the poplar woods
by the rivers are golden orioles and nightingales in summer,
while in the streams and rivers are grey wagtails and dippers.
The sierras are well known for their population of mountain
goats, an endemic species that was under threat of extinction
a century ago. In the last 25 years, its numbers have increased
tenfold in the region and, with around 2,000 mountain goats,
it is now home to one of the biggest populations of its type
in Spain.
Access
The park is easily accessible from the Malaga side of the
sierras, via the villages of Alcaucín, Canillos de
Aceituno, Sedella, Salares, Canillas de Albaida, Cómpeta
and Frigiliana. North of Alcaucín is a minor, winding
road that leads to a picnic area called El Alcázar,
which is located by a stream of the same name and is inside
the park. East of Canillos de Aceituno, towards Los Olivos
on the MA126 road, is the picnic area La Rahige. East of Canillas
de Albaida is the Fábrica de la Luz picnic area.
There are a few options for access to the park from the coastal
N340. Either take the exit for Vélez-Málaga,
and follow the A335 north towards Alhama de Granada. From
this road you can turn off for Salares, Sedella, Canillas
de Aceituno and Alcaucín. For Cómpeta and Canillas
de Albaida, take the turning off the N340 to Algarrobo. For
Frigiliana, take the exit just before Nerja.
Villages nearby are Alcaucín, Canillos de Aceituno,
Sedella, Salares, Canillas de Albaida, Cómpeta and
Frigiliana, Nerja, Jayena, Játar, Fornes and Otívar.
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