About

Montes de Málaga, just five kilometres north of the city, displays a very uneven massif, where valleys and plains hardly exist, crossed by countless river beds, streams, steep paths and impossible steps.This natural space occupies the eastern slopes of the Guadalmedina River basin, a jagged massif, mid-mountain and steep slopes, whose curious geological features (waterproof rocks), climatic (torrential rain) and intense human exploitation (vines) were historic cause of the regular and virulent floods of Malaga. During the first third of the 20th century, the final decision was made to resolve this problem through a serious of initiatives, like the construction of the El Agujero regulation dam, channelling the River at Malaga and the mass reforestation of the area with conifers after the phylloxera had ended the mass cultivation of vines (1878).To date, it is a magnificent pine forest, the lung of Malaga.

Fauna and flora

The Aleppo pine is the star of the nature reserve, although the northern area, at Los Frailes, it shares the stage with black pines and stone pines. There are also small copses of holm oak, like in the Ballesteros, El Cerrado and Las Contadoras streams, that in many cases alternate with pine, wild olive trees and crops. In this atmosphere, mostly forest, the birds of prey are the dominant fauna -short-toed and booted eagles, black kites or tawny owls- although accompanied by small birds linked to the conifer.

At higher levels and deeper, more humid soils they share the stage with cork oaks and gall oaks -Castillejos, Puerto del Viento, Puerto del León and Pocopán-. You will then come across a varied undergrowth, with the presence of matagallo, gorse, rosemary, and thyme, among others; on slopes, these will give way to fan palms, asparagus plants and broom. Next to water courses appear rosebay, cane, bramble, honeysuckle and tamarix with trees comprising willow, poplar, ash and elm trees that shelter common nightingales, grey wagtails and kingfishers. Linked to these water curses are several amphibian and fish species classified as vulnerable, the colmilleja, which has resulted in the declaration of a major part of the Guadalmedina River as a Site of Community Importance (SCI).

Worth highlighting is the presence of the chameleon, one of the most unique reptiles of the European continent, and the existence of a type of cave cricket) (Malaga Petaloptila, endemic that lives only in some of the mines of the area and surroundings of Malaga <http://www.andalucia.org/es/destinos/provincias/malaga/>.