Doñana National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional de Doñana), also called Coto de Doñana, is a national park and wildlife refuge in southwestern Spain.

Description

Doñana National Park is located in Andalusia, in the provinces of Huelva and Seville, and covers 543 km², of which 135 km² are a protected area. The park is an area of marsh, shallow streams, and sand dunes in Las Marismas, the Guadalquivir River Delta region where it flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The original area was established in 1963 when the World Wildlife Fund joined with the Spanish government and purchased a section of marshes to protect it from the constant threat to drain the marshes, use the river water to boost agricultural production by irrigating land along the coast, and to expand tourist facilities.

The park, which has a biodiversity that is unique in Europe, contains a great variety of ecosystems and shelters wildlife including thousands of European and African migratory birds, fallow deer, Spanish red deer, wild boar, European badger, Egyptian mongoose, and endangered species such as the Spanish Imperial Eagle and Iberian Lynx. Camel were seen there as recently as the 1970s.

Ecological Risk

The park and its highly sensitive ecology were threatened in 1998 by a massive spill of metallic waste from a resevoir at the Aznalcollar mine into the Guadiamar River, which flows through the park; however, the spill was diverted into the Guadalquivir River, reprieving the park.

A quotation about Doñana

"Its proximity to Africa is one of the principal reasons for the wealth and variety of the Doñana's birdlife. Birds with large wingspans, such as the eagles and kites that abound here, cannot fly across water for long distances because they require thermal updrafts for the long glides that allow them to rest their wings during migrations. Hence they cross the Mediterranean at the three points — the Dardanelles, Gibraltar, and Tarifa — where the intervening straits are at their narrowest. For those making the journey from West Africa, the marismas of Doñana are a logical, indeed essential, resting place and hunting ground."

Frederic V. Grunfeld, "Wild Spain: A Traveler's and Naturalist's Guide", Sheldrake Publishing Ltd., 1988

credited to wikipedia and flickr: Tranbel