Rock formations in El Torcal – El Tornillo, El Sombrerillo, Las Meninas and more There are rocks in El Torcal that look as though they’ve been placed there deliberately. Not by chance, not through growth – as if someone had…
Reptiles in El Torcal: where lizards soak up the sun Anyone hiking the Ruta Verde or the yellow route will spot them sooner or later: a brief shadow flitting across a sunlit rock slab, a blue-green streak vanishing between the…
Montpellier maple in El Torcal: where stone casts shade Astonishingly few trees grow across 17 square kilometres of limestone. Anyone hiking in El Torcal first sees rock, cushion plants and shrubs, then a few oaks — and suddenly, often at…
Birds of prey in El Torcal – golden eagle, Bonelli’s eagle, eagle owl, peregrine falcon and more Anyone who tilts their head back for more than ten minutes in El Torcal de Antequera will almost always spot one: a shadow…
Bird protection area El Torcal: where 82 species are protected Anyone studying the map in El Torcal will sooner or later come across four letters that are explained nowhere: ZEPA. Behind the abbreviation lies a European protection concept that has…
El Torcal geomorphology: where karst has four faces Anyone looking at El Torcal on a map sees, at first glance, a continuous karst area of around 17 square kilometres. Anyone walking through it quickly notices that this area is not…
Water in El Torcal: where the mountain stores the rain At first glance, El Torcal seems very dry. Anyone climbing onto the plateau in high summer sees fossilised rock layers, sharp-edged lapiaz, the occasional hedgehog broom — but no stream,…
Peonies, hedgehog broom and Antequera catmint – endemic karst plants in El Torcal Anyone hiking through El Torcal in April expecting nothing but rock is in for a surprise. Wild peonies bloom among the limestone towers, cushions of blue-violet hedgehog…
Paraje Natural El Torcal de Antequera: Andalusia’s geological masterpiece There are landscapes that can be described. And then there is the Paraje Natural El Torcal de Antequera. Limestone blocks rising from the ground like stacked slabs, rock sculptures with names…
Karst erosion in El Torcal: how 200 million years shaped a landscape Anyone standing in El Torcal and looking at the stacked stone slabs is looking at a piece of Earth’s history that can genuinely be read. The horizontal layers,…
Ammonites & belemnites in El Torcal: what 150-million-year-old fossils tell us about the Tethys Sea There’s a moment on the Grand Circuit that stops some walkers dead in their tracks. At the trail’s edge, in a pale slab of limestone,…
UNESCO World Heritage Antequera Dolmenss Site: why building and nature are protected together here There are UNESCO World Heritage Sites for historic old towns. There are some for unique buildings. And there are some for untouched nature. What sets Antequera…
The Griffon Vulture in El Torcal: when Europe’s largest birds of prey circle over limestone You hear it before you see it: a quiet rushing sound, almost like wind, but steady and rhythmic. Then the shadow – large enough to…
Iberian ibex in El Torcal: emblem of the karst world – and where to encounter it There are encounters in El Torcal you simply can’t plan. You walk along a rock passage, turn round, and suddenly, ten metres further on,…
Wild Orchids in El Torcal: Karst Flora Between Orchises and Bee Orchids Anyone walking the Ruta Verde in spring encounters an El Torcal that has little in common with the dramatic rock formations seen on postcards. Between the grey limestone…
Caves and Shafts in El Torcal: Where the Depths Begin What becomes visible on the surface of El Torcal — towers, columns, rock sculptures — is only the upper half of the story. The other half lies beneath. Several hundred…