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Donana National Park Review

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Doñana National Park

Fodor's Review:

One of Europe's most important swaths of unspoiled wilderness, these wetlands spread out along the west side of the Guadalquivir estuary. The site was named for Doña Ana, wife of a 16th-century duke, who, prone to bouts of depression, one day crossed the river and wandered into the wetlands, never to be seen alive again. The 188,000-acre park sits on the migratory route from Africa to Europe and is the winter home and breeding ground for as many as 150 species of rare birds. Habitats range from beaches and shifting sand dunes to marshes, dense brushwood, and sandy hillsides of pine and cork oak. Two of Europe's most endangered species, the imperial eagle and the lynx, make their homes here, and kestrels, kites, buzzards, egrets, storks, and spoonbills breed among the cork oaks. A good base of exploration is the hamlet of El Rocío, on the park's northern fringe. In spring, during the Romería del Rocío pilgrimage (40 days after Easter Sunday), up to a million people converge on the local santuario (shrine) to worship the Virgen del Rocío. The rest of the year, many of El Rocío's pilgrim-brotherhood houses are empty. Most of the streets are unpaved to make them more comfortable for horses, as many of the yearly pilgrimage events are on horseback or involve horse-drawn carts.

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