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SOUTHERN ANDALUSIAN OAK FOREST
    By Dory Shakiba

Inland from the busy coast, Andalucía remains un-spoilt and relatively isolated with a history, natural history and customs that have evolved in semi-isolation from the rest of mainland Europe.

The Cork Oak trees together with the Holm Oak trees are the main component of Spain's lowland evergreen Oak forests. It is found mainly in mild, slightly humid, chalk-free areas of western Spain and also parts of Catalonia. The striking orange coloration of freshly stripped Cork Oaks in the setting sun is one of Wild Spain's memorable sights.

A Cork Oak in Spanish is un Alcornique and a Cork Oak grove is un Alcornocal. The "descorche" or removal of the outer portion of the bark is a skilled operation, which takes place every 8 to 12 years, normally in early summer. Cork Oaks also produce acorns for free-range pigs, tannins for the leather industry and high quality charcoal.

The appearance of Oak trees shorn of their bark still occasionally upsets visitors to these forests. In fact, the skilled stripping of the Oak tree bark for cork exploitation does no harm at all to the tree.

At the highly protected Los Alcornocales (Cork Oak forest) Natural Park there can be seen a mountain range where is located, at an excellent conservation state, the most important Cork Oak forest of the Iberian Peninsula and the world's largest Cork Oak forest. The Cork Oak, with it's Mediterranean character, is usually "naked", that means, without its bark, since the bark is used for cork, and is one of the most representative elements of this forest and has achieved an exceptional status due to the rational use of this natural resource, exploited since ancient times.

The natural attraction of this Park does not end there, because it offers some wonderful forests, able to transfer us to sub-tropical regions that do not exist nowadays in the European Continent. The natural species of that latitude have found at this place an adequate "hide-away" where to grow. These tropical trees are located at the called "canutos", consisting of deep and narrow valleys carved out by cascading rivers. There are also beautiful open areas known as "galerías".

The Natural Park covers an area of about 170.000 hectares being the limits Tarifa at the south of the province of Cadiz and Cortes de la Frontera, at the northwest of the province of Málaga. Most of the Natural Park consists of Cork Oak, and also wild Olives, Gall Oaks, Oaks, etc …. depending on its location, the humidity conditions and also the type of substratum. The Cork Oak is a typical tree of the Mediterranean, which has acquired several modifications for surviving at this climate. It has got deep roots for taking water easily and its' leafs have got a strong cuticle for hiding lots of transpiration, which would mean a loss of water by the tree's surface. The corks bark works as a shield against fire, which is important because in the Mediterranean region exists a high risk of fire during the summer.
The bushes colonizing the hills are usually the result of the original forest's degradation, which consisted of Oaks and Gall Oaks. Despite this, sometimes, the bushes grow in areas with strong winds or in very unfertile grounds, where the forest cannot survive. The bushes consist mainly of species typical of the Mediterranean, like rockroses, heathers and hawthorns.

The Cork's extraction is an old and well-known economic resource, which is worked today in a very similar way, which has been done for centuries. The time for the Cork's cutting has to be done at the time of the trees most intensive growth, just for achieving that the tree can then recover as soon as possible. This work is done by groups of people living in the forest until all the work is completed. Specialised workers do the "pela" (cutting the Cork Oak's bark) and make "panas" (groups of cork) that will be transferred on horseback later for weighing and classification. In addition to this economic resource the well being of the pigs, cows, goats and fighting bulls has to be considered.

In the Middle Ages, the Muslims cared for these woods, judiciously continuing the age-old removal of bark for the corks and corking. Ubrique is a large town to the northwest of the Los Alcornocales Natural Park; here the production of fine leather goods is well established. Alcalá de los Gazules, to the west, preserves an air of yesteryear with its historic town centre and its ancient mills, Cortijos and other buildings. Apart from cork exploitation, hunting is another source of revenue in the Park. Roe deer is the most common prey for hunters. The Park is, in fact, the southernmost reach of the Roe deer. Because the deer in this area have lost contact with the other Iberian Roe deer colonies, they have developed a different annual cycle, shedding their horns at the end of September resulting in a later start to the annual hunting season.


                                                                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                                                                        Page designed by Dory Shakiba

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