A highlight at the end of our day yesterday exploring the Camargue area of Provence yesterday, was a visit to the Parc Ornithologique where we saw up close 100’s of flamingos – graceful and beautiful. They made a lot of noise “chattering” and gurgling as they pushed their bills through the water when feeding. Easy to sit and admire. Gorgeous colours as they open their wings and about 5 different breeds and colour variations. We saw a few flying – very streamlined and often in formation. Other birds in the Parc included ducks, egrets, herons, falcon and owl. Of interest too were a kind of beaver (my French was challenged here reading the explanation boards to discover exactly what it was!).
Earlier in the day we drove around the Camargue area – formed by the delta of the Great Rhone and the Little Rhone – wetlands of salt marshes, pastures and sand dunes and also took a boat ride up the Little Rhone. The highlights were the white Camargue horses which roam wild in the marshes and are also used as workhorses and the black Camargue bulls – used by professional bullfighters for different types of games in the arenas (not the gory Spanish bullfighting!!) The owners are known as Manadiers and the keepers as the guardians. The horses are black/auburn at birth and become totally white by about 7-8 years, they live 20-30 years so are the guardians friends for life when broken in.
The landscape looks very bleak but supports not only these animals (hardwork!) but also is irrigated to grow rice which grows between May and September – 1 ha produces 5-7 tonnes of rice. The filling and emptying of the marshes also allows salt to be harvested. Grapes and apples also grow in the area.
