Spring is the best time to do the walk, since the river bank is clothed in colourful flowers. In Tabernas desert (Almería, Spain) is quite abundant. The most important observatory of its kind in Europe, it has high-power telescopes, taking advantage of some of the clearest skies in Europe for star-gazing. This is usually saline, so plants that thrive in these places - often forming dense patches of vegetation - are halophytes like saltwort. This is one of Europe's few refuges for trumpeter finches, a common resident of oases in the Sahara desert. The desert is located in the interior, about 30 kilometers (19 mi) north of the provincial capital, Almería, in the Tabernas municipality. There are also many springs, but the water emerging from these has a high salinity and is not good drinking water. Thus the climate, between 400 and about 800–900 meters, is semi-arid of "Syrian" type (see Georges Viers, Éléments de climatologie, Paris, Nathan, 1990) which means that the dry season occurs during the hot season (= 6 hottest months of the year). Remember to take plenty of water and sun protection with you. Concerts, festivals and discos are closed. The average annual sunshine is about 3000 hours. It is best followed outside of times when heavy rain is due. Tamarix spp .) Tamarix spp .) p.parentNode.insertBefore(s,p); The last stretch of the Rambla de Tabernas widens, until it reaches the end point, the Puente de los Callejones, which is a bridge for the N340. Booking.com There are no large settlements within the area's boundaries; the main village outside is Tabernas, southwest of the area. Change ), Animal diversity in drylands of southeastern Europe. Species such as the blue rock thrush, rock sparrow, rock bunting inhabit the rocky areas of the desert whereas warblers, goldfinches, golden orioles and serins prefer the ramblas near the dry river beds.[1]. It is a nature reserve (protected area) spanning 280 square kilometres (110 square miles). s.type = 'text/javascript'; Its features include sheer-sided gullies, carved out by the infrequent but torrential rains that only fall on a few days in the year. Gérgal has a well-preserved castle, but the town's best attraction is to the north: the hilltop Hispanic-German astronomic observatory, Calar Alto, which is at the highest point of the Sierra de los Filabres (2,168m). There are specimens of yellow scorpions (Buthus occitanus), tarantulas (Lycosa tarentulla) and black widows (Latrodectus tredecimguttatus) although it's not deadly as the American black widow. })(document, 'script', '//aff.bstatic.com/static/affiliate_base/js/flexiproduct.js'); The Tabernas Desert (Spanish: Desierto de Tabernas) is one of Spain's semi-arid deserts, located within Spain's southeastern province of Almería. There are no campsites in the area; the nearest is Camping La Garrofa, situated 34km south, 5km west of Almeria city. The tamarisk and oleander vegetation next to the ramblas are favoured by warblers, goldfinches, golden orioles and serins. In winter, the landscape of the desert turns white when the toadflax linaria (Nigricans lange) flowers. They hide themselves away in the numerous rocky crevices in this Spanish desert, along with the Sierra de Alhamilla and the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park. Any providers of Travel Insurance to Spain despite the FCO advise. The Tabernas Desert (Spanish: Desierto de Tabernas) is one of Spain's semi-arid deserts, located within Spain's southeastern province of Almería. Photo about The desert of the Tabernas in Almeria. [1] Due to its high altitude and inland location, it has slightly higher annual rainfall (more than 200 mm per year) and lower annual average temperature than coastal areas of Almeria. It is a nature reserve(protected area) spanning 280 square ki… In the steppe region, including former areas of cereal cultivation, are stone curlews, black-bellied sandgrouse, lesser short-toed larks, Dupont's larks and little bustards. The area of Tabernas is 281 square kilometers. Although the desert may look like it has scarce vegetation, it in fact harbours a fair variety of xerophyte flora accustomed to surviving in semi-arid areas, including some plants that are unique to the Desierto de Tabernas. Come and enjoy the stunning views over the Desierto de Tabernas from this isolated spot. Among these species are the attractive sea lavender limonium insignis, in danger of extinction. Would you like to take a look at the wildlife of the arid southeast Europe? In Tabernas desert (Almería, Spain) is quite abundant. In certain places there are so many holes that they have a created a Swiss cheese effect. Rivers The water courses in the area are seasonal, only filling with water during the torrential rains that fall a mere three or four days a year, often creating flash floods. Tabernas has a 14th-century ruined hilltop castle, which used to be the second most important in the province after Almeria's. It eats invertebrates such as moths, beetles and butterflies along the year and fruits in autumn. ( Log Out /  Due to its high altitude and inland location, it has slightly higher annual rainfall (more than 200 mm per year) and lower annual average temperature than coastal areas of Almeria. Spain's State of Alert finished on 20 June 2020, most things have returned to a new normal. s.async = true; The spaghetti westerns were shot at the three main studios, Texas Hollywood, Mini Hollywood, and Western Leone. It served as the refuge of Ferdinand and Isabel during the siege of Almeria. As a north African species, this is one of only several places, concentrated in eastern Spain, where it is found in the Iberian Peninsula. It also grows in dry river beds. With its poor soils, low rainfall and temperatures that range from -5°C to 48°C, the landscape has been little changed by agriculture or other human activity, with just a few pockets of subsistence farming. Mini-Hollywood is a mock-up of an American Wild West village, a set built for Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars and also used for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and the Magnificent Seven among around 100 other films. It has nocturnal behaviour and prefers to move under the shelter of dense shrublands (e.g. In the lowest areas of the Tabernas basin (about 400 meters above sea level), the average annual temperature is of about 18.0 °C. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. You can take a detour up here if you want to venture further into the desert. Birds of prey such as the Bonelli's eagles and peregrine falcons roam the desert's skies. Abundant rabbits, hares and dormice provide plentiful prey for the carnivores and raptors in the area. It has nocturnal behaviour and prefers to move under the shelter of dense shrublands (e.g. Marsh frogs, natterjack toads and terrapins inhabit the moist areas of the desert. Given the arid conditions, mammals are less common with around 20 species inhabiting the park, the most important being the Algerian hedgehog. In Tabernas, the Garden Dormouse is also prey of the Stone marten, Red fox, Eurasian Eagle Owl and Little Owl between others. The desert is located in the interior, about 30 kilometers (19 mi) north of the provincial capital, Almería, in the Tabernas municipality. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Film makers have long been attracted to its landscape, with its similar appearance to the North American Wild West, and so the desert has been the scene of many a spaghetti western. Restrictions for non-EU travelers are inline with EU policy. You can also do the route by bicycle. You can find it on flat land next to the Solar Platform of Almeria (a vast expanse of solar panels, installed to take advantage of the 3,000 hours of sun received in this area every year) near Tabernas, off the road north to Senes. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. The desert is well endowed with vegetation for a desert. The Tabernas Desert (Desierto De Tabernas) is considered the only true desert in Europe located in Almeria, Spain. [8], CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (, Learn how and when to remove this template message, List of Sites of Community Importance in Andalusia, "Soil–geomorphology relations in gypsiferous materials of the Tabernas Desert (Almería, SE Spain), page 4/30)", http://www.unique-almeria.com/movie-filming-locations.html, "Spain's incredible Game of Thrones filming locations", "The new Spanish settings for 'Game of Thrones, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tabernas_Desert&oldid=979547098, Articles needing additional references from August 2013, All articles needing additional references, Articles containing Spanish-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 21 September 2020, at 10:46. Arroyos formed by torrential rain harbor the scarce vegetation, as well as fauna such as swifts, hedgehogs, jackdaws, pin-tailed sandgrouse, blue rock thrushes, stone curlews, trumpeter finches, and crested larks. Above about 800–900 meters the precipitation increases, thus reducing the dry summer season, while the temperature drops. Visit Mini-Hollywood 7km south of Tabernas, where many westerns were filmed. The annual average precipitation is between 15-22 cm (depending on the zone, see same source pages 1 & 4/30) with only 1/3 falling in the hot season (May to October). It leads up the Sierra Alhamilla to a summit where there is a TV transmitter. It eats invertebrates such as moths, beetles and butterflies along the year and fruits in autumn. Here you can see reeds, oleanders and tamarisks. [CDATA[// >