Saturday, January 12, 2008

La Camargue

La Camargue is the salt marsh landscape of the Rhône River delta on the Mediterranean. It was designated a National Preserve in 1928 and a Regional Natural Park in 1970. The marsh is a stopover for myriad migratory birds and home to many other water birds.

A water bird wades through the marsh.

It's a beautiful environment, if not a little harsh, and is criss-crossed with trails for hiking. Agriculture, livestock, and salt production share the land with recreation and nature. We weren't prepared for any rigorous hiking, so driving and parking for quick looks was all we were able to do.

I only caught the back end of some kind of heron in this shot.
These birds are not the cooperative posers they ought to be.


As always, we didn't spend much time there before moving on to the next destination on our trip. We had driven through the Camargue back in 1989 so this was our second peek.

Horses are a common sight in the Camargue.

5 comments:

  1. Very good photos of a salt marsh landscape, similar to what we see in Nova Scotia. It's a return to unspoiled nature to visit a migratory bird sanctuary. The scenes, the smells, the sounds are a revelation to city people. I bought a tape, "Listen to the loons", which I use when Toronto gets me down. It helps a lot!

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  2. I'd love to visit Nova Scotia one day. I grew up with loons (the birds) in upstate New York. Ken told me that some people in the south eat them. Ick - I'd never heard of that...

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  3. It's fun to go on your Tour de France. I've been to a lot of the places back in my traveling days (cf. my post about Paris that you commented on...) The Camargue has never rung my bell, though.

    I didn't realized you had posted every single day in 2007! What a feat! I would love to try that -- divided over the three blogs of course. Maybe I could start in February?

    Bon dimanche!

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  4. Is that where Camargue rice comes from? It is such a treat.

    Walt, I'm sure we crossed paths and all at Berkeley but this is too strange. I too grew up in Upstate NY. I was born just outside of NYC but moved to suburban Syracsue NY when I was 1 and lived there until I was 18 and moved to Berkeley. Don't tell me you lived across the street or something.

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  5. betty, thanks. Why not start in February!!

    owen, no, not across the street. I grew up in Albany.

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