Flamingos & Mosquitos!

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Went to the Camargue today in search of flamingos! The Camarague is a large area of marshland to the south of where we are staying. It is very unlike the rest of Provence as it is so open and flat. It stretches all the way to the sea and as well as being a haven for bird life it is also full of mosquitoes. For some reason I read the bit in the book about mosquitoes and decided to ignore it rather than thinking “I must pack the DEET”. Needless to say this was a foolish mistake!

We headed to the Parc Ornithologique du Pont du Gau which is an area of the Camargue which has been set up with birdwatching in mind. There is a 7km loop path and lots of hides and signs (but only in French) along the route.

The park was great and right up my street. There were flamingos everywhere and I took a photo of most of them! They are very funny to watch, especially when they are standing on one leg with their neck folded onto their body at a funny angle. Whenever I see them it always makes me think of that bit in Alice in Wonderland when the Queen of Hearts is using them as croquet mallets.

There were loads of other birds too including egrets (of two types I think as they had different coloured bills), herons, storks and various types of ducks. We also saw lots of fish and these otter/water rat like creatures called coypu. They were very cute and would swim by every now and again.

After we had finished at the park we drove to Stes Maries de la Mer which was a few km down the road and right on the coast. It is a fairly small village but seems a popular holiday spot with lots of people making the most of the sunshine and sunning themselves on the beach (no sign of the dreaded Mistral today). It seems surprising that it is so popular with the tourists as it is pretty isolated from everywhere and a lot of the main tourist sights in Provence are quite a distance away. We enjoyed a walk along the sea front, an ice cream (pistachio - my favourite) and the obligatory paddle in the sea (the water was pretty chilly but there were plenty of people swimming.)

After all that it was time to head back to the apartment and relax, and discover that I am covered in mozzie bites (Tim only has one, it is so unfair!)

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