Natural park on the edge of the desert

#21 Cabo de Gata

Cabo de Gata is a small natural park located about 50 kilometers east of Aguadulce by the sea. The coastline of this area, which is about the size of five football fields, is highly rugged. Steep rocky cliffs alternate with beautiful sandy beaches. Cabo de Gata is famous for its diverse bird life. Although we didn't see many birds, we did see some that were flying...

Right next door is the Tabernas Desert, which has served as a backdrop for numerous films, including Indiana Jones, Lawrence of Arabia, and (T)Raumschiff Surprise. Cabo de Gata is the driest place in Spain and in all of Europe. It receives 2,900 hours of sunshine per year and an average of only 130 milliliters of rain spread over 25 days. Per square meter! That's not even a cup of coffee. Only well-adapted grasses can survive here.

Our route took us along the A-7 through the villages of El Toyo and Cabo de Gato, past salt pans that were already built here during Roman times. Many of the originally whitewashed houses along the roadside have taken on the color of the gray-brown soil over the years. Like almost everywhere on the coast of Andalusia away from the tourist hotspots, the barren fields are littered with garbage. Something else that stands out here: there are garbage cans in many places, but most of them are empty. People simply throw their trash next to the road and the wind spreads it around. Since most of the trash is plastic, future generations will surely thank us for that...

We drive until we reach the Faro de Cabo de Gata, the lighthouse, which is a security zone and is extensively fenced off. The eye-catcher here are the wild rocks directly in front of the coast, against which the waves measure their strength in calm sea conditions. There are a dozen motorhomes here with us, all of which have found their place on the spacious pitches all around.

After an hour, we set off again. Our destination is one of the abandoned beaches opposite the salt pans. While Icke looks for nice round stones to paint, the dogs can run freely - and I follow them. Suddenly Berry stops and looks back. I follow his gaze. Icke should be somewhere around here... Icke has disappeared! Suddenly we see someone digging themselves out of the sand and crawling out of the water. The four of us run to her and are relieved when we see that she is laughing. "I wanted to rinse off a stone, and suddenly a monster wave came and carried me away." Ah, I see. A monster wave. I look out to the sea, where small foam caps crawl towards the beach at heights of 20, 30 centimeters. Alright then!

Icke is soaking wet. Fortunately, we have the motorhome here. She quickly changes clothes. In her white dress and bright green slippers, she stands in front of me and raises her hands to the bright blue sky with her disarming smile. "Well, how do I look?" I see the inscription Exotic Journey and a white tag sticking out of her neckline. She's wearing the dress backwards. My heart warms up. That's my Bridget Jones...