El Fondo Natural Park is a protected wetland between Elche and Crevillent, with lagoons, boardwalks over the water and bird hides. It is home to flamingos and herons, as well as the threatened white-headed duck and the marbled duck, whose main breeding site in the Iberian Peninsula is here.
El Fondo Natural Park (El Hondo in Spanish) covers wetlands on the boundary between Elche and Crevillent, in the south of Alicante province. Together with the Santa Pola salt pans and the surrounding area, it was once part of the Albufera of Elche; in the 17th century the park area was filled in by natural sedimentation and deliberate silting to create new farmland. The two largest lagoons, Poniente (about 650 ha) and Levante (about 450 ha), are man-made reservoirs dammed to supply water for irrigation and fed by the Segura river. The park was declared in December 1988, and a year later it was listed as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. It is also a Special Protection Area for birds (ZEPA). El Fondo is the main breeding site of the marbled duck in the Iberian Peninsula and holds one of the world's most important populations of the white-headed duck. Herons also live here, including purple and squacco herons, along with avocets, black-winged stilts, ospreys and marsh harriers. Flamingos come up often in reviews, and visitors also mention grey herons, coots and glossy ibises, among others. The waters are home to the endemic Spanish toothcarp. The vegetation is made up of reed beds, rushes and salt marsh with sea lavender, seablite and glasswort. The yellow route starts by the visitor centre: a loop of about 1 km on a wooden boardwalk, suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs, with a viewing platform. The green route (about 3.7 km) leads to hides and towers over two lagoons, while the blue route is a long cycling trail. The red route, with boardwalks over the water and more hides, can only be walked with an advance booking. There is also a botanical garden and a picnic area with tables. The information centre has a museum with an indoor hide, and in the middle of the wetland there is a raised hide with benches and shade. Visitors praise the quiet and the observation points, although one reviewer writes that only a small area with the hides is worthwhile and the rest is concrete canals.
Bring binoculars.
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