Spain
Donana National Park
Doñana National Park comprises wetland and coastal ecosystems that are a major attraction for migrating birds.
The park covers a highly diverse area of lagoons, marshes, shallow streams, and sand dunes in the delta where the Guadalquivir River flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It’s one of the largest breeding grounds for herons in the Mediterranean and its wintering waterfowl number over 500.000. The terrestrial parts are a major habitat of the Iberian Lynx.
Community Perspective: What is and isn’t included in the core zone is a bit vague; Solivagant has tried to make it clear. Anyhow, the best bets are the guided tours (pre-book!) that are offered from the Visitor Centres of Acebuche and La Rocina and the boat trips from Sanluca de Barameda (like Ian did). There is also a way in on foot near Matalascaña (used by David, Clyde). Be aware that the park is closed during the yearly Romeria of El Rocio (several days before and after Pentecost).
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- Doñana National Park (ID: 685)
- Country
- Spain
- Status
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Inscribed 1994
Site history
History of Donana National Park
- WHS Type
- Natural
- Criteria
- vii
- ix
- x
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org/
Related Resources
- spain.info — Donana National Park
- andalucia.com — Good introduction to the park, describing the various ways of access
News Article
- April 17, 2023 spiegel.de — Plan to Allow Irrigation around Donana NP uary Sparks Outcry
- Sept. 6, 2022 theguardian.com — Over-consumption and drought reduce lake in vital Spanish wetland to puddle
- Feb. 9, 2022 theguardian.com — Illegal strawberry farms threaten future of Spanish wetlands
- June 26, 2017 abc.net.au — Forest fire in Spain threatens Donana
- Sept. 15, 2016 wwf.panda.org — Drying Doñana in danger of losing World Heritage status
- May 2, 2016 wwf.panda.org — Doñana Wold Heritage wetland is under threat from illegal water use
- March 7, 2015 wwf.panda.org — Spain's Supreme Court has ruled against plans to dredge a new shipping channel in Doñana National Park
- June 29, 2013 guardian.co.uk — Strawberry growers are draining water away from wildlife-rich wetlands of Doñana region
Community Information
- Community Category
- Wildlife habitat: Fauna
- Natural landscape: Rivers, Wetlands and Lakes
- Secular structure: Military and Fortifications
Travel Information
Recent Connections
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Centres of Plant Diversity
EU5 Guadalquiver Estuary and Coto Donan… -
Olive Tree Landscapes
"Donana's remnant Mediterranean-forest … -
Eagles
Spanish Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalbert…
Connections of Donana National Park
- Individual People
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Charles V
was the favorite hunting reserve of Charles V
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- Geography
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Estuary
"Doñana National Park in Andalusia occupies the right bank of the Guadalquivir river at its estuary on the Atlantic Ocean." (Official description) -
River deltas
Delta of the Guadalquivir River -
Guadalquivir River
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- Ecology
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Flamingos
"In spring its lagoons become a feeding habitat for about 10,000 Phoenicopterus ruber (greater flamingo)." -
Otters
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Swamps and Marshes
"Doñana contains the last marshes of the Guadalquivir unaltered by agriculture or development." (OUV) -
Dunes
fixed and mobile dune fields (AB ev) -
Bird Migrations
Eastern Atlantic Migratory Flyway, Birds -
Turtles and tortoises
Habitat of spur-thighed tortoise -
Eagles
Spanish Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti (VU)) -
Over 300 bird species
The most notable element of the property’s fauna is its avifauna, with more than 419 species having been recorded (UNEP-WCMC, 2011) -
Feral Animals
Marismeño -
Seals
monk seal
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- World Heritage Process
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Minor modifications after inscription
2005: Brought in line with the extended National Park. Including West Triangle, Flood plain of the Partido stream and Los Caracoles.
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- Religion and Belief
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Atlantis
In 2011, a team led by Richard Freund claimed to have found strong evidence for the location in Donana National Park based on underground and underwater surveys, and the existence of what they characterized as "memorial cities" rebuilt in Atlantis's image (Wiki)See en.wikipedia.org
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- Human Activity
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Royal Hunting Grounds
Coto Donana was once commissioned and preserved as a hunting park for over 500 years. ... It was the favorite hunting reserve of Alfonso X, Ferdinand II, Charles V, Phillips II and V and also Alfonso XIII -
Olive Tree Landscapes
"Donana's remnant Mediterranean-forest of cork oak, wild olive and pistachio are an additional attraction" (AB eval)
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- WHS on Other Lists
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Natura 2000
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IUCN Green List
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European Diploma of Protected Areas
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Centres of Plant Diversity
EU5 Guadalquiver Estuary and Coto Donana - "Mentioning only the best-known kingdoms, more than 1,400 species of flora have been identified, representing 114 families of superior plants, some endemic and new to science." -
World Biosphere Reserves
Part of Doñana (1980) -
Ramsar Wetlands
Parque Nacional de Doñana, 1982 -
Biodiversity hotspot
Mediterranean Basin
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- Timeline
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Miocene
The marshes result from a subsidence of the continental plate in the Upper Miocene and Lower Pliocene, which caused a depression later filled by fluvial and aeolic deposits. (AB)
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- WHS Hotspots
- WHS Names
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Named after individual people
The name of this land is consolidated a century later, with the construction by the seventh Duke of Medina Sidonia a palace for his wife, Dona Ana Gomez de Mendoza y Silva, in the heart of the mountain. The surrounding land soon begin to be known as the Forest of Dona Ana, Dona Ana Coto, etc. Until finally the name was shortened to know today.
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- 18
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Poetic Quotations
Antonio Machado, as part of his book Platero y yo: «There were the smiling marshes, girded with gold, with the sun in their broken mirrors, that doubled the closed mills. Between the hard round trot of the horses»
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News
- spiegel.de 04/17/2023
- Plan to Allow Irrigation around Do…
- theguardian.com 09/06/2022
- Over-consumption and drought reduc…
- theguardian.com 02/09/2022
- Illegal strawberry farms threaten …
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.Community Reviews
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I visited this WHS in July 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic I had to cancel my trip initially planned for May and although I had already paid in full for a morning tour with Doñana Reservas, they duly refunded me the full amount within days. So this time round, I was glad to book a 4 hour morning tour inside the fenced off core area close to El Rocio.
Solivagant did an excellent job in his review to meticulously describe the subtle yet very confusing difference of the inscribed or non-inscribed areas as well as the discrepancies between the Spanish maps and the UNESCO maps. So when preparing for my trip, I made sure to print the UNESCO map and keep a digital copy of it on my mobile phone for reference, just in case.
I immediately noticed that the inhabited sandy beach town of Matalascañas was obviously not part of the inscribed area, but there was a freely accessible trail starting from the sand dunes area. These trails are readily accessible from the Playa del Coto beach right at the edge of Matalascañas and are fenced off. So after parking my car in the shade at the nearby Gran Hotel del Coto, my better half went for a swim while I registered my name with the national park ranger on duty and braved the scorching heat of the afternoon sun, glad I was back inside the inscribed area. Even though the early afternoon is not the …
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March 2017- for our honeymoon we went to Andalusia. After the First nicht at the coast, we went to the deserted Hotel town, just West of the NP, parked the car and went on an 1 hour hike along the coast, in the way back went walked through the wonderful dunes. The nationalpark seems to Stretch way beyond the Horizont, but hard to visit other parts, since there are no roads. Looking at the shrubs, just behind the dunes, we saw footpaths of the famous lynx but could not spot any Cats.
That was a wonderful experience already. We continued our journey to Rocio, a Western town, all in Sand with Gauchos riding on mules. There was a festival going on, very lucky, for us since the atmosphere was great.
In rocio you can book numerous bird sighting tours to the wetlands, but since it is bordering the Nationalpark, we had a glimbs at the Fauna at the Lake from el Rocio.
If you want to go further East you have to go almost all the way back to Sevilla to cross the River Guadalquivir. It take a few hours of driving to a small ferry. We stopped at deherto de Abuelo and recommend it to everybody. Never seen that many storks at one place, not even in Masurian lakes in Poland. All in all we had a wonderful experience in Donana.
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A few extra points to those made by earlier reviewers about visiting the Donana WHS.
a. There are still unanswered “issues” regarding the inscribed boundaries of this WHS which create a problem if you want to ensure that you not only see its “natural environment” but also actually cross into the inscribed area. The 2005 WHC agreed a “Minor boundary modification” which was said to “bring the boundaries of the World Heritage property in line with the extended National Park; thus the total area of the World Heritage property will be 54,251.7 ha”. The following map titled “Boundary as extended by the 29th session of the WHS” (sic) was then lodged with UNESCO. Nb the “shape” of the NW of the Parque around El Rocio – a straight line following the A483 to the coastal developments.
b. However, maps of the Parque Nacional (PN) which we saw at visitor centres did not coincide with these boundaries. These 2 examples of maps on the Web are the same as the ones displayed in the PN - first and second.
c. The "problem" area is the “panhandle” stretching NW from the La Rocina visitor centre. The UNESCO map doesn’t include it, but the Maps of the PN do! Furthermore, all descriptions of the current area of the PN describe its “Superficie total” (which presumably includes the “panhandle”) as being 54.252 ha i.e the same as the “extended” WHS!!! E.g from the same web site as the first …
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As reported elsewhere, this is a difficult site to access. I reached the entry point at La Rocina by bus from Seville via the sand dunes of Matalascanes. From this entry I follwed the boardwalks to hides along the Madre de las Marismas.
I returned from El Rocio to Seville via Almonte, but another time I would avoid the summer weekends when the buses are full of people going to the beach.
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We visited on a boat trip from Sanluca de Barameda, (I think this now means that all the main routes into the park are covered in reviews here) it was an enjoyable trip that gave a good over view of the importance of the park. It landed once in the National Park (WHS) for an hour tour and it landed once in the Natural Park (WHS buffer zone) for a spot of bird watching.
Like I said I enjoyed the day out but I could only really guess at the importance of the site. From the various hides in the national park we only managed to see one horse and a deer from a great distance. I guess that this is what is normal for visiting wildlife destinations, being brought up on David Attenborough documentaries you sometimes get spoilt and assume you will see the main attractions every time. In the natural park we managed to see quite a variety of birds: Herons, Spoonbills and Flamingos. This was nice although ornithology would not be one of my big passions so I perhaps didn’t get the most out of it.
The boat trip lasted about 3.5 hours and cost €17 (2008), it runs from the Donana Visitors centre in Sanluca which has some interesting exhibits on the park as well as some on the local sea faring traditions, Columbus and Magellan both set sail from here. Sanluca is also famous for its seafood and Manzanilla wine, though the town itself was …
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Access to Doñana is very restricted: there are a couple of visitor centres at the park’s edges, otherwise, you have to join a guided tour. I started my visit at the primary Visitors Centre, in Acebuche. I quickly found out that I would miss out on the guided tours that are conducted daily from here: between Easter and September, you have to pre-book a tour well in advance. So I went for a long walk instead, following the wood-paved trails that guide you along the best places for birdwatching. I did see a lot of birds that are common in Holland (also on the same flyway) – waterfowl for example. I heard more twittering than I saw species, but that probably is the curse of birding.
I stayed overnight in the funky little town of El Rocio, which could easily try for its own place on the World Heritage List. In El Rocio, a yearly pilgrimage takes place in the week before Pentecost. The town is full of houses of the Brotherhoods coming from all over Spain. Sand covers its streets, which has the fortunate side effect that it slows down the cars. In the evenings, locals go for a ride on their horses. This is real cowboy country, more so than the American Southwest which it resembles. More authentic than Santa Fe, and with an even more ‘oasis in the desert’ pilgrimage church than San Xavier del Bac (near Phoenix, Arizona).
The next morning I went to …
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In our travel around Spain we have been to the National Park of Doñana, situated on the right bank of the river Guadalquivir at its estuary in the Atlantic Ocean, important above all for its population of birds, with 5 endangered species. It is also one of the largest heronries in the Mediterranean region and the most important wintering site in Spain for waterfowl.
The first thing to say is that if you want to enjoy fully your visit to the park, you have to book one of the guided tours, starting generally from the Visitor Centre of Acebuche (the most important of the five), with which organized companies bring you with a bus to explore the inner parts of the park and to watch birds. There is one tour of the northern part of the park and one of the southern; there is also a boat trip on the Guadalquivir from Sanlúcar de Barrameda that shows you the right bank of the river, included in the park, staying outside of it. But we couldn’t do that because we didn’t know before our travel in Spain in which date we could arrive to the national park, because our itinerary wasn’t based on precise time planning.
If you want to visit places similar to those included in the National Park, you might visit the Natural Park (it surrounds the National Park in 4 sections and acts as a kind of Buffer Zone) that has 2 Visitor Centres and 7 Trails and …
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