Las Salinas de Santa Pola (Santa Pola saltworks) is a natural park in the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community, Spain.
The area covering 2,570 hectares was declared a natural park by the Valencian government on December 27, 1988, and it is located in the Bajo Vinalopó region, south of the province of Alicante.
This natural enclave is an example of industry-nature symbiosis since that its formation is due to the development of the activity of Bras del Port, some marine salinas that began to produce salt by solar evaporation of seawater in 1900.
At the entrance of the lagoon is the Tamarit Tower that was used as a coastal watchtower.
This natural park and that of El Hondo and its surroundings were part of the lagoon of Elche, which was filled in the seventeenth century due to natural contributions and landings to obtain new farmland.
The park is formed by dunes and beaches next to which the salt farm is located. To the interior, it is possible to find a zone of freshwater permanently dammed along with another zone that is temporarily flooded.
The park has a Mediterranean climate with semi-arid characteristics typical of the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula.
Without a doubt, one of the star species of the park is flamenco, which has 8,000 specimens during the breeding season. In general, all kinds of birds that take advantage of the park’s resources to feed such as the avoceta, the stork, the charrancito, the white jar, the teal, the spoon duck, the red duck, the seagull, the coot are very abundant or the water cock.
It is also noteworthy the presence of fartet, endemic fish of the Spanish Mediterranean region.
Matteo Damiani is an Italian photographer, author and motion designer. Matteo lived and worked for ten years in China. During his stay in China, he paid attention to social issues apparently of secondary importance, but which influenced heavily the Chinese domestic policies over the years.
