Cabañeros

The Cabañeros National Park is situated in the mountains of Toledo between the provinces of Toledo and Ciudad Real in Castilla la Mancha. In 1995 it became the first Spanish national park dedicated to the preservation of Mediterranean forests and scrubland. Oak and cork trees with their underbrush of rock roses and heather are only a few of the many species of Mediterranean flora adapted to the harshness of the interior of the Iberian Peninsula. The park’s wide range of unique plants includes laurel trees from the tertiary period and small wetlands with peculiar carnivorous plants. Some of the last well-preserved rivers and streams of the Peninsula run through the park. The geological substratum of the park, mainly consisting of quartzite and slate, holds fossils that date back more than 400 million years to a time when the area was under the sea.

Today, the hallmark of Cabañeros is its forested mountains and massifs, as well as extensive plains and wooded pastures that are found in this area of Castilla la Mancha. It contains a mosaic of ecosystems that give refuge and food to prominent members of the Iberian fauna, such as the Black Vulture and the Spanish Imperial Eagle

In mid-September, one of the most important events of the Iberian natural calendar takes place: the bellowing of the deer. It is the rutting season and the males abandon the protective thickets of the mountains and can be seen on the partly wooded plains of the park. Here, they fight between them for the right to mount as many females as possible. The season is preceded by the first autumn rains, and the males announce their presence with loud bellows which can be heard at a great distance and resonate over the plains of the park. The herds gather in certain areas of the park. The males clash their antlers against each other again and again until one of them is exhausted. Some of the fights last for hours, and a male can lose up to 20% of his body weight in this season. Another very important inhabitant of the park is the rabbit. The population had been decimated by Myxomatosis, and the park management decided to intervene. They constructed artificial warrens that contained all the requirements needed to sustain a rabbit population, protected from larger predators. As the populations reached the desired density, the rabbits were released into the wild in different areas of the park. Rabbits and hares form an important part of the fauna of the park in their role as prey. Apart from being the food of choice of many birds of prey, they are also hunted by foxes, beech martens, genets, mountain cats, and even Iberian lynx. The larger proportion of the natural park is occupied by mountains which reach as high as 1,448 MASL. The quartzite and slate substratum is covered by forests and scrubland which are excellently preserved. The woods are populated by oak, cork tree, gall oak, strawberry tree, and turkey oak, and there are forests along the banks of the rivers. As far as bushes are concerned, the most abundant are rock roses, heather, and mock privet. Traditionally, the area was used for producing charcoal, the oak trees and heather supplying the ideal materials for this process. The extraction of wood for charcoal and the production areas have always been ruled by strict provisions, and this has facilitated the emergence of today’s forests in Cabañeros.

The mountains of Toledo have witnessed the history of the region. From the first human settlements 700,000 years ago, through the Roman, Visigoth, and Arabic occupations up to the 18th century when the city of Toledo brought part of the region from King Fernando III, in order to supply the population with wood, coal, and firewood. Thanks to very strict rules for the extraction and use of materials, the preservation of the mountains has been ensured throughout the centuries. Cabañeros owes its name to the cabins (cabañas) used for shelter for centuries by shepherds and coal workers. The cabins have existed since the Bronze Ages, and they were in use up until the middle of the last century. They were three and a half metres tall, conic shaped, and with a ceiling made from the vegetation in the surrounding countryside. The structures consisted of wooden poles covered with rock rose and heather to insulate against the weather. The cabins could be inhabited by entire families, and they were often constructed in groups of up to 10 or 15 units. Today there are still a few cabins in existence which have been restored, and in other places you can see groups of marks from the foundations of past settlements of cabins. In the 19th century, disendowments on a large scale converted the old agricultural, forest, livestock, and hunting operations into landed estates which were owned by private individuals. These led to the present day’s large estates in the mountains of Toledo. In 1982, Cabañeros became headline news when plans were revealed to create an air force manoeuvre and shooting practice area there. The Ministry of Defence bought part of the Cabañeros estate, and they announced their plans to turn it into a goal practicing area for the air force and NATO, amongst other things. The popular opposition led to it being declared a Natural Park in 1988 as a first step towards its preservation. It was declared a National Park in 1995.