You may (or may not) have noticed that I posted only one article in October. That’s because I had a very busy month and because I went on holiday to the Bardenas Reales. If you’re in Europe and wish to see a desert like the ones in American movies, you might want to check out the Bardenas desert in Navarra, Spain. But, before you plan your trip, there are a few things you should know.
Not Your Typical Desert
While the Bardenas desert may look like a typical Western desert, you won’t find any sand there. Nope, and no cacti either.
This desert is made of clay, sandstone, and chalk. A long long time ago (about 10 million years ago), it was a sea. That’s why you can find beautiful pebbles, just like on the seaside. Ever since the site dried up, the landscape has been changing, its canyons carved by the rain and the wind.
During the last few years, with climate change, the desert has received a lot of rainfall, and it might not fit the characteristics of a desert anymore, at least not all year long.
The Bardenas Desert Smells Amazing!
The Bardenas Reales are also not a typical desert because you won’t find cacti or other plants you usually see in a desert. Since it was a sea before, its soil is a bit salty and there are a few waterways, and you’ll find plants that grow near the sea, like salicornia.
You will also come across a lot of plants that grow without much water, some of them smelling amazing like rosemary and thyme. Hiking there was like hiking in a box of mixed herbs!
Look Out For Traces Of The Local Fauna
Forget about camels, in the Bardenas desert, there are cats, badgers, boars, snakes and some insects and spiders.
During the day, most of them are hidden, so you’ll have to open both eyes if you want to see traces of their existence, like paw prints in the clay. The guide showed us those of a badger and later those of a cat, we wouldn’t have seen them without him.
There are also tarantulas, hidden in their nests. Everything is beige and is hard to see in the clay. To get the tarantula to show, the guide was agitating a piece of grass in front of the nest.
We saw a lot of millipedes and a whole path of boar prints in the mud. And we saw a shepherd with his 1040 sheep, can you imagine? What a sight in the middle of the desert!
There Are Three Mains Areas In The Bardenas Desert
The Bardenas desert is composed of 3 main areas:
- The White Bardenas (Bardena Blanca) is the most eroded and most famous area.
- The Black Bardena (Bardena negra) is like a forest of pine trees.
- The central plateau (El Plano) is used to grow (or try to grow) crops.
To see more photos of Spain, you can visit the gallery Spain.
