The Wild Delta.
Where the Rhône River meets the Mediterranean Sea, the Camargue forms a vast saline expanse of salt pans, lagoons, and marshland.
The Camargue is a Brackish system. It is one of the few places in Europe where the environment is dictated by the precise balance of riverine freshwater and Mediterranean saltwater. This salinity gradient creates specialized habitats, notably the pink salt pans (salins), which owe their color to salt-loving micro-organisms.
Avian Crossroads
The Camargue is the only breeding ground in France for the Greater Flamingo. Their distinctive pink hue comes from the carotenoid pigments in the brine shrimp and blue-green algae that thrive in the hypersaline lagoons. It serves as a vital stopover for millions of migratory birds traveling the East Atlantic Flyway.
[Image: Illustration of the brine shrimp to flamingo pigment transfer cycle]The Guardians of the Salt
Unique to this region are the Camargue horses—one of the oldest breeds in the world—and the black Camargue bulls. These animals have adapted to the marshy, salty terrain over centuries, becoming symbols of the human-nature coexistence that defines this protected Biosphere Reserve.