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L'eau, les fleuves et les rivières
Texte original extrait de la version en anglais.
Los Montes de Málaga, in the broad sense, are a succession of hills with their maximum rise on the Cerro de Santo Pilar (1,020 m), located above the Totalán village north of Rincón de la Victoria and about 10 kilometres in a straight line from the beach. Then the hills start waning away eastward as the summits gradually approach the coastline then to disappear in the Vélez river as the Peñon de Almayate.
This means that the river courses that are generated in the watershed of the Santo Pílar, all draining to the south, are longer and more substantial in the west at the beginning of this stage. And so the Arroyo (or Río) Totalán, its fork shared by Olías and Totalán villages, must be the largest river of this stage, if one can use that term considering how short the length of the valleys is.
Then there is still a good number of little streams which flow on schist and slates on extremely steep slopes. Here, since time immemorial, olive and almond trees thrive, also some remaining grapevines. Where the terrain and the availability of water allows, there are avocados, mangos, kiwis and papayas. This diversification of production, by adding non-traditional crops, is especially important for the economy of the valleys.
Direction east the Great Path of Málaga meets the Arroyos, or streams, of Las Piletas Los Villodres, Granadilla, Cuevas, Benagalbón, Santillán, Chilches, Cañuelo, Adelfa, Iberos, Almayate and del Búho among others. Although there is a profusion of streams, they lack in size. In general, the hiker will rarely manage to see them. Most of the time it’s more by guesswork than anything else that you can recognize the delta of one of these streams as they can be meagre puddles on the beaches. The deceptively tame nature of all of the streams leads to such sights as vehicles parked under the pedestrian bridges or even whole meetings of locals, but one must take into account that the Mediterranean climate is characterised by unusual storms, above all at the beginning of autumn, returning every year without fail. The final sections of the natural draining systems of Los Montes de Málaga cannot therefore, support vegetation other than some oleander and tamarisk, becoming in fact dry streambeds used by the locals as just another means of communication, and so does the GR-249. From time to time you will find dense populations of cane, which do not last long if they are near a town or a village.
The Vélez River naturally deserves a special mention. It is much longer but its waters are depleted by the Viñuela reservoir and irrigation ditches, it comes back each year but it expires again towards the summer. From the geological point of view it’s a wide delta of Quaternary deposits which has lost its dynamic character due to the above.
Despite being listed in the inventory of Andalucían Wetlands and being studied as a possible Natural Monument, the truth is that the real threats to the River are ongoing and alarming. High impact recreation, agricultural use and urban pollution, as well as industrial contamination being the main threats to this river, which deserves better treatment because of its importance to wildlife, especially the birds. The vegetation in the area where the river intersects with the walk is made up by one of the most impressive groves of poplars of the fi nal section of the walk, with some eucalyptus trees, dense reed beds and some
rushes. Recently the Diputación de Málaga, as part of the same project called “Idara” which sponsors this GR, has installed a birdwatching observatory on the left bank near the delta of the Vélez river, less than a kilometre away from the walk after crossing the river and planted native species of fl ora at the same time. It is an initiative that joins the numerous organizations and citizens who recognize the importance and value of the delta environment. The delta, as it holds islands, is suitable for nesting, resting and wintering of dozens of species of birds, some of them endangered.
The importance of water will be especially noticeable with irrigation channels at the end of Stage 2, and you will be walking next to some of the major channels bordering the rock of Peñon de Almayate. Other than the water being important for agriculture, its essential use for human consumption is evident in the urban and industrial water pipes running parallel to the path. This is the only place where they could have been laid out due to the shape of the terrain and the consequent stretched layout of the cities. While the origin of the drinking water is mainly the Viñuela reservoir, waste water management faces the same problems as it does along the whole coast. The latter have been corrected by means of the corresponding treatment facilities in Rincón de la Victoria and Vélez Málaga and numerous pump stations carrying water to the submarine emitters, after it has been treated. Thus an initially complex problem has found the right solution.
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Faune
Oiseaux
Sachant que jusqu'à Benajarafe on parcourt le littoral, les espèces côtières sont les protagonistes de la faune ornithologique de cette étape. On rencontrera aussi les espèces propres aux environnements humanisés, et aux zones de cultures. Dans cette étape la rivière Vélez est l’endroit le plus intéressant pour observer les oiseaux. La richesse du paysage et le rôle joué par la mer et l’embouchure du fleuve augmentent de manière considérable la diversité des espèces que nous aurons l’occasion d’observer.
Espèces Singulières
Dés le début nous verrons principalement des mouettes, des goélands, et des oiseaux urbains. Le goéland leucophée est le plus fréquent et peut se voir tout au long de l’année, même si, dès le début de l’automne, durant tout l’hiver et jusqu’au printemps, nous pourrons aussi apercevoir des goélands bruns (de la même taille mais avec le dos clairement plus sombre) et des mouettes rieuses (de taille visiblement plus petite que les deux précédents). Sur les plages de Benajarafe on pourra aussi voir des goélands d’Audouin à partir de la mi mai jusqu’en novembre, ainsi que des mouettes mélanocéphale et des sternes caugek durant la période hivernale ou les périodes de migrations.
Si nous décidons de nous attarder un peu sur les grands groupes de mouettes se posant tout le long de la rive de cette étape, nous aurons, avec un peu de chance, l’occasion de découvrir des espèces plus rares (par exemple un goéland cendré, ou un goéland marin, après les fortes tempêtes hivernales, ou encore la mouette pygmée pendant la migration).
A peine l’étape commencée, nous pourrons observer dans les tunnels de El Cantal des dortoirs d’hiver pour les hirondelles de rochers, qui, originaires des zones montagneuses de la province, et aussi probablement de latitudes plus septentrionales, descendent vers la côte à la recherche de nourriture et de températures plus douces. Il est aussi possible d’y voir le monticole merle-bleu. Les autres espèces typiques des littoraux, que l’on pourra observer pendant notre trajet seront, les bécasseaux sanderlings, sur la plage même, et les fous de Bessan, survolant la mer et à une certaine distance de la côte, tous les deux présents en hiver.
Parmi les oiseaux urbains on pourra observer le pigeon biset (espèce domestique), la tourterelle turque, la perruche moine, le martinet pâle, l’hirondelle rustique, le merle, la fauvette mélanocéphale, l’étourneau unicolore, le moineau domestique, et le serin cini, auxquels s’ajouteront, pendant les mois d’hiver, la bergeronnette grise, le rouge-queue noir et le pouillot véloce.
Une fois passé Benajarafe et traversé le ruisseau Ibero, et dès que nous nous éloignons de la côte, des cultures agricoles commencent à apparaître, ce qui provoque l’apparition de nouvelles espèces d’oiseaux. Les oliveraies abandonnées que nous traverserons pour monter à la tour du Jaral, ainsi que les vergers que nous verrons avant d’arriver au village de Almayate, seront parfaits pour observer le héron garde-bœuf, le faucon crécerelle, la tourterelle des bois, la chevêche d'Athéna, l’engoulevent à collier roux, le cochevis huppé, l’hirondelle de fenêtre, le pipit des prés, le rouge gorge, le tarier des prés, la fauvette à tête noire, la mésange charbonnière, la pie-grièche à tête rousse, le choucas des tours, le moineau espagnol, le chardonneret élégant, et le verdier d'Europe.
