Welcome
A warm welcome to the Virtual Tour of the La Resinera Information Point, located in the heart of the Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama Nature Reserve on the Granada side, where you can learn more about the treasures of this Nature Reserve, which is part of the Network of Protected Natural Areas of Andalusia (RENPA).
At the centre you’ll find a reception area where visitors are welcomed, a gift shop where you have the opportunity to purchase products connected with the surrounding area, and a zone with information about the Network of Protected Natural Areas of Andalusia (RENPA), all together in a central space. The building also has a room for meetings, exhibitions and events, which is also where a video on the treasures of the Natural Area is screened.
In these links you can find more information about this Protected Natural Area with downloadable material such as trails, opening hours, how to get there, map with all the facilities for public use, etc.
La Resinera Information Point: lajunta.es/3p0gl
Natural Park Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama: lajunta.es/3sq8e
Complete your visit with ecotourism experiences with local companies. You can check the offer in the following link: ecoturismoandaluz.com
For activities aimed at the educational community, associations of people with functional diversity and local population, you can access through the link: reservatuvisita.ecoturismoandaluz.com
The Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama Nature Reserve stretches from the high Mediterranean mountains as far as the Costa ‘Tropical’
This Nature Reserve is located between the provinces of Granada and Malaga, and constitutes a stack which has always been a natural frontier, and now comprises two neighbouring regions: Axarquia in Malaga and Alhama in Granada. Covering an area of 40,633 hectares, the park is home to a series of Mediterranean ecosystems, where the forests of cluster pine on dolomitic marble stand out for their singularity, and for their wealth of endemic flora and fauna.
Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama is an extraordinary area, where water, collected by the mountains, helps to create an unusual topography, producing a diversity of environments and landscapes with exceptional geological features that are home to endemic species; a geography that has supported human settlement throughout history, and where the resources of the mountains have been exploited. A region full of life, and one that has a rich cultural heritage.
Rivers, streams, waterfalls and torrents
Water is a constant presence, and numerous rivers and streams criss-cross the Reserve, many of which carry large volumes of water. A reserve of a limited resource, which also filters through the limestone and carbonate soils, creating an important aquifer for the Axarquia region and supporting life in all its diversity.
Spectacular landscapes
The great difference in altitude within a relatively small space accounts for the steep slopes and deep ravines, jagged peaks and precipitous slopes that suddenly interrupt the serenity of the horizon. This is the most outstanding dolomite massif in Spain. The landscape is very unusual; it looks dry, dominated by white and grey tones, and with distinctive vegetation that’s home to a multitude of endemic species.
Narrow valleys and deep ravines
Crystal clear waters flow down from up on high, winding their way through dense Mediterranean scrubland crossed by warm rivers and streams that have created vertical walls of rock.
Cold peaks: the high mountains of Andalusia
Lower down, at heights of between 1,400 and 1,700 metres, grow trees such as maple, yew, black and Scots pine, and Pyrenean oak which dominate the slopes, forming small groves that are both beautiful and unusual.
Refuges for biodiversity
Dense forest clinging to the slopes
Portuguese oak, holm oak, and sometimes Pyrenean oak or cork oak grow on some of these mountain slopes, although it’s primarily the forests of black and cluster pines that dominate here, occasionally accompanied by Phoenician and common juniper. What’s more, these very poor soils are also home to many extremely rare species of plants that are unique to this area.
Exceptional forms of life in the park. Rare, endemic, endangered, and emblematic species.
The most precious of trees: The yew, witness to other times, is one of the oldest of trees; some have been growing on Earth for millions of years. This is the most southerly point on the Iberian Peninsula where yew is to be found; here, groves and individual trees survive in isolation, giving their name to this mountain range [tejeda means yew grove in Spanish]. Yew provides food and shelter for a multitude of species during the coldest part of the winter. This conifer, more common in colder, more humid climates than those of the Mediterranean, arrived here during the ice age, taking refuge in these mountains after the return of the ice.
Botanical gems: The rich flora of the park is one of the botanical gems of the Iberian Peninsula. Abrupt changes in altitude, together with the influence of the sea, create isolated plant communities and are responsible for the enormous diversity of flora in this area, which is home to more than 1,500 species of plants.
Pine forest and resin
Making the most of the forest resources
Experts in collecting pine resin journeyed through these mountains in search of black pines in order to extract the resin, once one of the main traditional uses of these sierras. Many “resineros” and their families spent long periods of time in the mountains, in small houses or huts scattered around the slopes, such as those in Monticana.
Resin and La Resinera, almost a century of prosperity
The excellence of these mountains for the extraction of resin led to the establishment of an entire industry focused on the collection and distillation of resin in 1902, and to the construction of the factory known as La Resinera. Located in Arenas del Rey and close to the town of Fornes, it had houses, a school and a chapel for the use of the employees and their families. Nearly 300 people from the surrounding villages came to live here, and to take up jobs connected with resin and La Resinera.
The place where we are now was once a resin distillation plant that became one of the largest producers of turpentine in the whole of Spain.
Rosin was obtained in the past, which was used for making ships and roofs watertight.
It began to be used industrially in the 18th century: the pine resin was distilled using different boilers to eliminate all the impurities and produce turpentine, which was used as a solvent in the varnish and paint industry. Today, turpentine is obtained through the chemical synthesis of other products.
The forest in flames - And the end of an era
On 20 August 1975, a fire broke out that devastated 5,000 hectares of pine forest over a period of 6 days, and this, together with the low profitability of resin production when compared to the chemical synthesis of turpentine, led to the closure of La Resinera. This was followed by the exodus of the “resineros”, who were forced into farming. In the meantime, the Regional Government of Andalusia took over the ownership of the La Resinera site, which became the largest publicly owned estate in the region, and set in motion a socio-labour project aimed at the restoration of the forest landscape of these mountains.
Management and conservation programmes in the Reserve
Forest fires
In the areas with a Mediterranean climate, such as the sierras of Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama, the natural world and the ecosystems are threatened year after year by forest fires. Fire can result in the loss of natural and economic assets over a prolonged period of time. At La Resinera there is a forest defence centre aimed at preventing forest fires (CEDEFO).
The Iberian ibex, and the management of hunting
Hunting is one of the most important resources of the whole region, with the Spanish ibex being the most important big game species in these sierras.
After almost a century of intensive, uncontrolled hunting, in 1973 when the Sierras de Tejeda y Almijara Nature Reserve was established, efforts were made to protect the species, and these have led to an increase in the population from around 200 to more than 2,000 animals over a period of twenty years.
In addition to organising and regulating the exploitation of natural resources, the management of the Nature Reserve aims to make its natural treasures more accessible for society to enjoy, as well as promoting their conservation. To this end, the protected area has a range of facilities: recreational areas, a network of trails, information points, etc., which help to raise public awareness of the Reserve.
A space for memory, human settlements over time: A rich historical and cultural heritage
Legacies of the past
Since Neolithic times and up to the present day, the abundance of water in these rocky mountain ranges has encouraged the settlement of numerous different peoples and cultures in the region, peoples who have for centuries adapted to life here by practising mountain agriculture, grazing sheep and goats, hunting game both large and small, and charcoal making. Timber and firewood, esparto grass, resin, aromatic plants, honey, cork, minerals, stone and even snow, have also contributed to local livelihoods.
Cultures, particularly that of Al-Andalus, have left behind a rich legacy of custom and tradition, art and beauty. One example is the origin of the name “Almijara”, which probably comes from the Arabic Almihyara, which might mean stony place or quarry, and also vessel, drainage, slope. Alhama means hot waters of baths.
Heading for the hills
A land of boundaries and frontiers, mountain ranges where the passes are few; crossing and trade routes frequented by muleteers (and sometimes smugglers) who transported goods from one side to the other, fish and sultanas from Malaga, and wheat from Granada, for example. An inhospitable place, a no man's land; home to those who either decided or were forced to "take to the hills", like the maquis, the guerilla fighters who opposed the Francoist dictatorship between 1940 and 1950, who used these mountains as one of their main battlegrounds in Spain. Civil Guard barracks are common here, scattered across the hills and peaks of the sierra.
Whitewashed mountain villages
Little villages of brilliant white houses dot the steep mountainside, rock and water, steep vineyards, hardy cereals and sober olive trees all add beauty to a landscape where life is dominated by the rhythm of the seasons, and whose isolation has favoured the conservation of the natural surroundings and the traditional architecture.
Some traditional activities still persist - livestock farming, forestry and hunting - today combined with irrigated farming in the valleys and plains, and the gathering of honey, cork and wild mushrooms in the mountains. And new tourism and leisure activities are increasingly emerging, such as hiking, canyoning, camping and cycling, as more and more people seek contact with the natural world.