Wilder wildlife holidays in the South of France!

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A new partnership between the Mercantour's Alpha Wolf Park in Le Boreon and the
Biological Reserve of the Monts d' Azur has just been forged. 

Alpha - as readers will know - houses wolves from Europe and most recently has taken delivery of three Canadian wolves (pictured above).   

The Monts d' Azur Reserve is just 30 minutes from Grasse, near to Thorenc.  

It is a huge reserve where guests can explore on foot or in a horse drawn carriage, and get up close and personal to European bison, Przewalski horses, deer, chamois and other species.  It's also possible to stay on site and enjoy various "packages" offered by the reserve.

In the first instance, visitors presenting a proof of purchase from one site will be able to gain a discount off their entry to the other site!!

A great day out for families.


Accommodation in the Mercantour - spacebetween in Berthemont les Bains


Image - courtesy of Alpha wolf park

WOLVES - and wildlife holidays in France

WHO is afraid of the big bad wolf????

From April 2014, for the new spring season, there are three new residents in Alpha, the wolf park near to Saint-Martin-Vésubie, in the Mercantour National Park, France.

Hoona, Healy and Galena arrived at Alpha last Tuesday - long legged, short eared and granite eyed they are a very different "kettle of fish" to the current incumbents of the wolf park.  They are easily distinguishable - Hoona, with fur black enough strike fear into the heart of anyone who enjoys the myth of the wolf, Galena with a small white "goatee" under her chin, and Healy with a white patch on her chest.

This handsome trio of Canadian wolves, brought in from Mulhouse in Eastern France are about a year old, and have been introduced as part of the continuous development of Alpha, according to Sophie Barberis, Deputy Director of the Alpha Park.  A facility such as this certainly has "teeth", being based on the perimeter of the Mercantour National Park in larch forest at about 1500m, where despite the current warm temperatures - there is still snow to mess around in.

Official opening this weekend - April 12th - and apparently if you say CANADA to reception on arrival - you may get a surprise!!

For more details 

Alpha Wolf Park - Le Boreon - Saint Martin Vesubie.  Facebook

Accommodation and holidays

spacebetween - self catering accommodation in Berthemont les Bains (25 minutes away), walking holidays and adventure holidays in the Mercantour, France.
Wolf watching holiday with late availability on April 22nd and May 15th. Facebook

Restos

Good eating near by at "O a la Bouche" - open all day but not in the evenings

Accommodation

Chalet accommodation in Le Boreon - L'Arberc
Chambre d'hote accommodation - Grand Chalet - in Valdeblore (20 minutes away)
Gite d'etape - Gite du Boreon in Le Boreon

Activities

Horse riding with Denis Longfellow from the middle of June to end September
Fishing - season just started, snow shoeing at altitude, fantastic walking and climbing!
 

Images courtesy of Alpha

Furry/feathered fauna in the Mercantour

It is excellent to see the cross border collaboration between the French and the Italians striving to achieve UNESCO world heritage site status for the National Parks and for other areas in the Alpes-Maritimes and Liguria/Piedmont.

In addition to the French Mercantour National Park web site there is also a site for the combined Parks,

with some English.

Even here in “sunny” – I wish – Berthemont - it has been very interesting recently to see a whole host of tracks left in the snow – badger, fox, deer, roe deer, wild boar and all manner of birdies…..owls a hooting too of course…..and currently all fed up of the Ark weather that the United Kingdom and Europe have been having….

Further afield in the Park itself, there is the equivalent of the Big 5 in Africa – if not quite so prestigious – but hey I’m happy to see ibex, chamois, wolves, golden eagles and lammageias – not bad for starters.  

The diversity extends to the micro too, with the presence of many hundreds of insect/invertebrate species which have been lurking around since the Ice Age and many of which are threatened.

Fun to spot a ptarmigan in the Northern stretches of the Park, as well as green lizards on its Southern boundaries…..

For anyone particularly keen on learning more – look here for a page in English about various topics relating to both National Parks – from where you can download pdf files – currently in French  and Italian only – am sure that Google translate would give a not bad version if your language skills are not tip top.

Want to get to grips with the Mercantour – contact the only British holiday company to be based here in the Mercantour – in the fine Vésubie valley.

Accommodation only or self guided/guided  walking holidays in France  - plus adventure holidays for the adrenaline orientated!!

www.space-between.co.uk

Liz Lord & Mel Jones

Berthemont les Bains

Wolves in the wild in the Mercantour

Mollières – the only village in the central core of the Mercantour.  It remains a magic place accessible on foot by the Tinée valley – or from Millefonts via the Col de Barn or Col Ferier.   

The “authorised” – those who live in the village may take the 15km untarmaced road from Le Boreon in the summer months – in the winter it is strictly snow shoe or ski mountaineering access for the hardy.   

The village opted to be Italian in the 19^th century and regained its “Frenchness” after WWII, at the end of which the village was razed to the ground by the Germans.  Imagine then that the village isn’t Alpine pretty but its isolated location make it magic.  

 It is one of the areas in the Mercantour where wild wolves are most often seen, and if you are not lucky enough to see a wolf you are almost guaranteed to see deer and chamois.

The experience is heightened by a stay in the private refuge which is run by local piano and professional pianist Fred Chauvel – he and his wife Sarah are always delighted to share their passion for the village from their house here – the former presbytery.   

Don’t expect luxury – there’s no mains electric  but you can expect a hot shower and a home cooked delicious meal – followed by a glorious nights sleep….aided by a glass of genepy!!!

Descendants of the original house owners are gradually drifting back to the village to renovate their homes and to fish, nurture a veggie patch – plus if you go there - look out for a garden with a beautiful English style flower border which is alive with insects and even a hummingbird moth since once or twice.

To stay in the refuge you need to call Fred or Sarah – they will arrange to welcome you if you are say more than 6 people – the refuge sleeps about 16 in total. Contact spacebetween for more details.

Spacebetween walking holidays in the Mercantour – include a stay in Mollieres as part of their wolf holiday short breaks, or it can be an overnight stay on a horse trek.

Wildlife holidays in France...wolf watching in the Mercantour

The BBC have done the cause of the wolf a great deal of good in its recent excellent documentaries "Land of the Lost Wolves".

Anyone in the UK can still catch a look at the programmes via IPlayer - a service European mainlanders have yet to benefit from! Closer to home many people might not imagine that wolves could possible exist in our forests - aside perhaps from in Eastern Europe where their exotic myths link well to tales of Dracula in his lair, and Little Red Riding Hood!

However, the wolf is alive and well, thank you very much, in Western Europe, in France, and most certainly in Italy where the wolf has been less feared as a predator, thanks perhaps to the positive slant gained from Romulus and Remus and so forth. In the Mercantour National Park, there are allegedly 20 or so wolves that roam free. This, given that the park extends over 685km2 makes the sighting of a wolf a rare occurence, but they are kind enough to leave plenty of evidence of their presence in their wake, in the form or prints (very easy to spot in the snow), scat, dens, and kills.

Spacebetween do offer walking holidays in this beautiful National Park (which few people have still never even heard of - just an hour North of Nice!), which combined with a visit to the Alpha wolf park in the Vesubie valley is an excellent lupine experience. Unfortunately spacebetween do not have the funding nor the time to spend weeks crouching in the undergrowth.......as Gordon Buchanan must have enjoyed - lucky devil! The wolf here in the Alpes-Maritimes has had a particularly bad press, and was only seen again in the early 80s - in the area around which the Alpha park is now based. On the Italian side of the frontier in the sister National Park, the Alpi Marittime Park has also recently opened a wolf park - which spacebetween hope to be able to visit this spring. Wolf adventures are also offered further north in the Ecrins, which is sandwiched between the Mercantour and the Savoy to the North.

For more information about wolf orientated short breaks, or week long holidays - wolf watching holidays in France.

Image courtesy of Dave Willis - Mountain Sport Photography and Paramo.