Most birders have heard of La Janda and now with the help of Google Earth and Digital Globe we can fly across those rice-fields and get an idea of this and many other great wildlife areas before actually setting foot or driving down their bumpy tracks!

La Janda today is just a fragment of its former glory. The birding is still excellent throughout the year but could be stunning as it was years ago. Draining the marshlands in the 1950's and '60's destroyed a good part of one of Europe's largest wetland refuges. The geographical location of La Janda, so close to Africa, on one of the busiest migration routes on Earth makes this an area of outstanding natural importance - even today. Please visit La Janda and write to the Spanish Government and the EU, asking why such an important area has no protective status whatsoever.

Below are two satellite photos  with explanations on how to enter the area from the main N340 road. Specific navigation co-ordinates are to be found on the bottom left of each image if you have a GPS.

This is an image of the dirt track that leads through some of the area known as La Janda. Bottom of the picture shows the main N340 road running left to right. The junction - beside the "Google" logo is for Zahara de los Atunes. Coming on to the N340, turn right for Tarifa - Left for Vejer de la Frontera or Cadiz. The white sandy track, straight ahead from the main road junction, is a public right of way which descends down to what are rice-fields (dark green). This area is pretty much at sea-level and in some parts, dips below sea-level and can be quite flooded in wet winter months. At the bottom of the straight line of the track it splits right and left at a small junction. This also shows the track continuing straight ahead. Both right and straight on are private, so left is the only option. Follow this for a few kilometres to another junction where you will see a bridge on the right. All the way along the track the main collector canal runs parallel on your right hand side. If you take the track on the right at the bridge you will eventually head towards Benalup. The crop choice changes from the lower-lying rice or paddy-fields to cerials, sunflowers and cotton, then to pasture before returning to a smaller area of rice-fields near the town of Benalup. If you continue on the track all the way along to the very end, ignoring the right turn at the bridge over the canal, you'll eventually re-emerge onto the N340 road, closer to Vejer de la Frontera or Cadiz. (Turn right for both)

The track is difficult during the winter and early spring months for a normal private car. If it has been heavy rain - don't risk it - you may get stuck or damage your car.

Remember Local Guides can show visiting birders special sites where the birds are and can gain access to private land .

Here is another image, this time from the west side - that is to say nearer to Vejer de la Frontera, on the N340 road. With the canal on your left hand side, the bridge in the distance is the junction that will take you over to Benalup. Again out with summer and autumn the track can be pretty potholed and car-hire companies in Spain now check the underside for damage!

Incidentally, the canal, which is still the Río Almodovar, runs under the N340 through two illegally built tunnels that carry the water to the Río Barabte. The water is run off the low-lying rice fields in winter continuously throughout the rainy season effectively keeping the area dry as possible which limits any plant growth. This makes planting easier (and obviously more profitable) in early summer allowing no vegetation to grow which of course would be a haven for wildlife. The rice is planted in May and harvested in October/November.

The greed for maximum profit from intensive agriculture and the mismanagement of precious water in this sensitive area surely is a crime. The cotton, sunflower and maize fields are irrigated in the height of summer in the middle of the day when a good percentage of the water evaporates in high easterly (warm levante) winds. To return just a small part of this huge area to its natural wetland state would be such a boon for all kinds of wildlife.

After saying all that, the place has a special magic all of its own and no two days are the same - Enjoy it!