LA CAMARGUE

Large, flat and marshy delta region of the River Rhône; parc naturel régional ZICO, World Heritage Site, Ramsar, MAB 100,000 ha (250,000 acres)

The Camargue has a romance and a haunting appeal matched by few other areas. A flat, windy, barely inhabited land of tall, swaying grasses, this lonely, bewitching place puzzles, astonishes, excites and even alarms the unaccustomed eye. In all its immense area the highest point is an imperceptible 'peak' just 4.5 metres (15 feet) above sea-level, a vestige of some former dunes.

The Camargue is one of Europe's major wetlands, with extensive areas of marsh and shallow étangs providing an unusually salty environment and a haven for wildfowl and sea-birds. The birds come in all shapes and sizes and they attract a similarly diverse bunch of tourists. Hundreds of binocular-toting naturalists and bird-lovers stalk about the edges of the Etang du Vaccarès, a national reserve within the regional park, while scores of hunters come here as well - for outside the central protected zone hunting is legal and extremely popular. Other tourists take guided tours, riding the native white horses; buses pour into the area on daily excursions; and even larger numbers of people deposit themselves on the beach at the old coastal town of Les Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer. Indeed many visitors confine their exploration of the Camargue to the main road that plunges southwards across the delta from Arles to Les Stes-Maries.

While this route prevents them from appreciating most of the area's natural habitats, it also serves as a form of protection for the Camargue's abundant wildlife. For although the Camargue attracts tens of thousands of tourists each year, most of it remains essentially unvisited and unknown. At first sight it reveals nothing of itself: almost everywhere tall, bamboo-like reeds, growing from roadside drainage ditches, act as a curtain drawn across the view. For a while you sense rather than see the throbbing wildlife that thrives behind this veil.

To escape the tourists and experience the wildlife properly, it is essential to get away from the Arles-Ste-Maries road by following one of the long, straight back roads and tracks which delve deep into the flat, almost eerie, emptiness of this strange land.

Once you have left the hustle and bustle of the main tourist spots, you will be able to observe the animals more closely. The famous white horses of the Camargue, though nearly all privately owned and branded, are left for the most part to live as wild. Do not, however, imagine proud, snow-white herds galloping exuberantly across the salty plains. The horses are small, docile and cautious, and only acquire their handsome white coat when five to seven years old. Even more wary of humans are the herds of bouvines, or native black bulls, which also live wild. Until the 19th century, the pure Camargue species was simply domesticated for farm work or killed for meat, but since then has been cross-bred with Spanish bulls and periodically rounded up to perform in bullfights; it was Napoleon III's Spanish wife, the Empress Eugénie, who popularized the idea of the fighting bull. The bullfights of Languedoc and the Camargue, called courses à la cocarde, involve trying to pluck coloured ribbons from the animal's horns. The spectacle has perhaps less grandeur than the Spanish corrida, but the bull is not killed in the course. For Spanish-style bullfights, which are also popular here, larger bulls are imported from Spain.

Such local traditions and customs are part of the Camargue's appeal. The herds, whether of bulls or horses, are called manades, the ranchers are manadiers and the men - Camarguais 'cowboys' whose work revolves around herding and branding - are known as gardians. Traditional gardian dwellings, or cabanes, dot the landscape: long, low, whitewashed houses, with a cross raised at one end of the roof. But perhaps best known of all the Camargue's attractions is its Gypsy population. Swarthy black-haired Gypsies - the women clothed in vivid, multi-coloured long skirts and adorned with gaudy gilt bangles and bracelets - throng the commercialized lanes of Les Stes-Maries.

In many ways, though, the Camargue is not an ideal place to visit. It is too windy in winter, too shadelessly hot and sunny in summer, when busy with visitors. The worst of its disadvantages, especially in summer, is the incredible abundance of mosquitoes, flies, horseflies and other irritating insects. The only really enjoyable time to visit is spring - from say March to mid-May - when tourists and insects are both relatively scarse, temperatures are pleasant and colourful wild flowers abound in the drying salt-water marshes, wild irises flourishing beside the freshwater marshes and ditches.

In the past, one of the Camargue's most important features was that sea-water extended far inland, mixing with the silt-laden freshwater of the river. Since the late 19th century, however, large tracts of the region have lost their salty character due to construction of a dyke to keep the sea-water out and the drainage and reclamation of vast spaces for arable farming.

In the northern part of the Camargue, closest to Arles and St-Gilles, completely drained areas support cereal and vegetable crops, while small rice paddies have been constructed within high banks. Farther south, you find wider areas of flat, uncultivated, marsh. Some is freshwater marsh, where poppies and other wild flowers flourish in spring, but the most common is sansouire, formed by salt-water submersion every winter. During the rest of the year the surface dries out and becomes white with salt, supporting a vegetation adapted to such strongly saline soil and able to withstand the annual flooding. Here bird life is profuse: squacco, purple and night heron, marsh harrier, little egret, glossy ibis, coot, bittern, great crested grebe and many other marsh birds are regularly sighted. The night air resounds with the grunting and croaking of frogs and toads.

Another common terrain, the Camargue pelouses, are almost-dry expanses of sparse, low vegetation adapted to a salty soil that is not submerged. These areas, dotted with tamarisk and inhabited by wandering bulls and horses, are the haunt of a thrilling variety of birds. In addition to larks and an occasional rare stone curlew, pratincole, bee-eaters and rollers can be sighted. Usually, bee-eater colonies are sited in sandy cliff faces, but in the Camargue they are sited on the ground.

Everywhere, between fields, beside roads, the land is crisscrossed by drainage channels, called ronbines. Both insects and birds thrive near these ditches, which are several feet wide, sometimes brim-full, extremely soupy and crowded with plant life and fish. Along them grows a kind of tall, bamboo-like reed (Arundo donan), used throughout the region for fences and shed roofs. Water channels too deep for these reeds support masses of pondweed and water milfoil, and the coypu, a remarkably successful foreign immigrant, is well established here. The native otter, becoming rarer and rarer, struggles to survive.

Central southern Camargue - largely taken up by the huge (6,500-hectare/16,600-acre) Etang de Vaccarès - has been designated as a natural zoological and botanical reserve. All development is prohibited and access is restricted, but the étang which can be seen from various points on D37 (on the north side) and D36C (on the east). Herring gulls and black headed gulls number here in their thousands, and far out in the lake are numerous wading birds, especially huge crowds of pink flamingo. Herons are plentiful, too - all eight western European species, including the rare spoonbill, nest here - while avocets, with their distinctively curved beaks, may also be sighted. Come early in the morning to avoid the cars and buses which stop and disgorge on the lakeside, leaving their engines running and driving away all signs of the wildlife the tourists have come to see. Around the western and southern edges of the étang, footpaths - especially the walkway along the sea dyke - provide much better and quieter access.

BEFORE YOU GO

Maps: IGN 1:100,000, map No. 66; IGN 1:25,000, map (OT & ET) No. 2944.

GETTING THERE

By air: international airports at Montpellier and Marseille (see p193) give good access. Internal services go to Nîmes-Arles-Camargue airport, T: 04 66 70 06 88.
By car: head straight down the Rhône valley either on N7 (left bank), the busier N86 (right bank) or A7 Autoroute du Soleil. Beyond Avignon, minor roads continue to Arles and the Camargue.
By rail: SNCF TGV services run from Paris-Gare de Lyon to Avignon, Nîmes and Montpellier; Motorail services go from Calais to Avignon and Narbonne, AutoTrain from Paris to Marseille. Nîmes can also be reached on Le Cévenol, a train from Paris via the Massif Central - a longer but more scenic ride; change at Nîmes for Arles and Le Grau-du-Roi.
By bus: Les Courriers du Midi, T: 04 67 06 03 73, runs a service from Montpellier to Aigues Mortes via La Grande-Motte, continuing on to Les Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer in July-Aug. Les Rapides de Camargue, T: 04 66 29 52 57, operates between Nîmes and Les Stes-Maries via St-Gilles June-Sept. Les Cars de Camargue, T: 04 90 96 94 78, runs several services daily from Arles to Nîmes and Marseille. It also has regular services linking Arles with various points in the Camargue, including Les Stes-Maries and Port St-Louis.

WHERE TO STAY

In and around Les Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer is a lot of over-priced and pretentious accommodation, but the town is well situated for an early-morning visit to the étangs. A more pleasant base is Arles; try the modest Calendal, 22 pl Pomme, T: 04 90 96 11 89, F: 04 90 96 05 84, or St-Trophime, 16 rue de la Calade, T: 04 90 96 88 38, F: 04 90 96 92 19. Nîmes is farther afield, but well within reach.

ACTIVITIES

Walking: Arles tourist office has information on marked walks. The 7-km (5-mile) footpath along the Digue à la Mer - the sea dyke from Les Stes-Maries to the Gacholle lighthouse - gives the best views into the réserve naturelle. The GR653 long-distance path cuts across the northern part of the Camargue between Montpellier and Arles.
Cycling: the long-distance cycle route De la Camargue à la Crau passes through the park, running between Aigues-Mortes and Martigues before looping back through Arles. Cycle hire is available at Le Vélociste, T: 04 90 97 83 26, or Le Vélo Saintois, T/F: 04 90 97 74 56, both in Les Stes-Maries, av de la République.
Riding: Domaine de Méjanes, T: 04 90 97 10 62/60, F: 04 90 97 12 32, and many other Camargue ranches and activity centres offer riding holidays; enquire at tourist offices or contact the Association Camarguaise de Tourisme Equestre, Centre d'Information de Ginès, rte d'Arles, Pont de Gau, T: 04 90 97 86 32, F: 04 90 97 70 82.
Watersports: wide range of activities is available at Les Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer; for wind-surfing, sea-kayaking and sailing courses contact the Ecole de Voile, Capitainerie de Port Gardian, T: 04 90 97 85 87, F: 04 90 97 97 82.
Adventure holidays: contact Loisirs Accueil des Bouches-du-Rhône, Domaine du Vergon, 13370 Mallemort, T: 04 90 59 49 39, or UCPA centre in Port Camargue, T: 04 66 51 47 92.
Bullfights: gaudy posters in Arles and Les Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer give information about forthcoming bullfights, which are held frequently in summer.
Exhibitions: the information centre of the réserve nationale at La Capelière (see below) has a permanent exhibition illustrating the Camargue season by season; nearby are nature trails and three wildlife observation points; access from C134, open Mon-Sat 9 am-12 pm and 2-5 pm, entrance free.
Ecology: there is a parc ornithologique at Pont de Gau, T: 04 90 97 82 62, F: 04 90 97 74 77.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Tourist offices:
Arles, 35 pl de la République, T: 04 90 18 41 20, F: 04 90 93 17 17;
Les Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer, 5 av Van Gogh BP 16, T: 04 90 97 82 55, F: 04 90 97 71 15;
Aigues-Mortes, Porte de la Gardette BP 32, T: 04 66 53 73 00, F: 04 66 53 65 94;
and Nîmes, 6 rue Auguste, T: 04 66 67 29 11, F: 04 66 21 81 04.
Park offices:
at Mas du Pont de Rousty, on D570, T: 04 90 97 10 82,
or at Pont de Gau (Etang de Ginès), Les Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer, T: 04 90 97 86 32, F: 04 90 97 70 82.
The Centre d'Information Nature is at La Capelière, by the eastern side of the Etang de Vaccarès, T: 04 90 97 00 97, F: 04 90 97 01 44.