Castro Marim, Faro, Portugal, June 20, 2025 (Lusa) - The area where Portugal’s first classified nature reserve is located, in the eastern Algarve, was used 50 years ago as a rubbish dump, but today it is home to 200 species of birds, including flamingos.
The Sapal de Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo António Nature Reserve, in the district of Faro, near the mouth of the Guadiana River, was created on paper in 1975, but it was not until 1988 that the first nature wardens took up their duties.
One of them was Paulo Monteiro - still a ranger in that protected area, now under the aegis of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) - who told Lusa that the reserve was created to prevent the advance of a rubbish dump.
According to him, the creation of the reserve would eventually contribute to stopping the dumping of waste in that natural area, at a time when there was little environmental awareness, even on the part of local authorities.
“Today, local authorities also look at nature conservation in a completely different way. Today we have mayors who see nature conservation as an asset, as added value. And this is clearly important for the enhancement of the protected area,” he said.
But before reaching this point, other ‘battles’ had to be fought to protect an area covering 2,300 hectares of salt marshes, brackish water bodies, salt pans and tidal flats.
“In addition to hunters, the landowners here in the reserve area saw the reserve as an impediment to development. Today, the reality is completely different,” Paulo Monteiro assured us.
According to the nature warden, in addition to banning hunting, the creation of the nature reserve was responsible for uniting the salt workers, who formed a cooperative and had to start working together, facilitating the organisation of the area.
“Of course, it wasn’t easy to convince them to work together, because people have completely different ideas. But there you go, it was a gamble that paid off and the results have been very positive,” he said.
Working in the reserve for about the same time as Paulo Monteiro, Rosa Madeira recalls how 37 years ago very few people were aware that there was a protected area there, and that has been her role: to publicise the reserve and raise awareness in the community.
According to the ICNF technician, it is the creation of the reserve that currently allows people to enjoy this area in a natural way, with flamingos being one of the most sought-after species by visitors to the protected area.
In 2020, the species nested for the first time in Portugal and the chosen location was the reserve that occupies areas of the neighbouring districts of Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo António, although this feat has not been repeated to date.
“It was also an atypical year, a year of [the Covid pandemic], when nature tourism was restricted and the area where they nested became much quieter because they are birds that nest in colonies,” she explained.
According to Rosa Madeira, the flamingos "have made a few more attempts" at nesting, but without success, a situation for which there is still no explanation. Projects are underway to try to get the species to nest there again.
Not far away, across the border in Spain, the Doñana National Park, one of the largest wetlands in Europe, is being seriously threatened by drought, leading some Spanish tour companies to look to the Portuguese reserve.
“There are nature tourism companies that are currently coming to Portugal because Doñana has had a very turbulent period, and companies have started to invest in nature tourism here in the reserve area because it is closer,” she said.
The nature reserve is currently managed by a co-management committee composed of the mayors of Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo António, the regional director of Nature Conservation and Forests of the Algarve and representatives of the University of the Algarve, non-governmental environmental organisations and local associations.
MAD/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
