Spanish Journey Part Two
12. The Doñana Nature Reserve

Narrator
To get away from the excesses of the Fair, what could be better than to head south, towards nature? The Doñana National Park is one of the biggest nature reserves in Europe. Only open to organised groups, many people arrive there by boat. But today Inka has a very privileged invitation. She is accompanied by Mauricio González, director and heir to Gonzalez-Byass, who has been coming here since he was a child.

[music]

Inka Martí
Mauricio, what does Doñana mean to you?

Mauricio González
Well, it's difficult to say because I've had direct contact with Doñana for more than 50 years. But maybe it is here I discovered nature in all its beauty, but not just the trees and the animals - the people of Doñana [too]. Doñana is a truly exceptional piece of nature and I may have had links with it for more than 50 years, but I still enjoy it as if it were the very first day.

Inka Martí
So much so that you spent you honeymoon here.

Mauricio González
That's right. We got married, went for a quick trip elsewhere and then came here to immerse ourselves in nature, and we spent a month here, Milagros and myself. We spent a wonderful month here, as you can imagine.

Inka Martí
Your grandfather too?

Mauricio González
Yes, my grandfather too, not my father, but my grandfather came to Doñana for his honeymoon.

Inka Martí
What are these lines for? It gets cut down and then never...

Mauricio González
Well, the point is to prevent fires, to stop the flames spreading. It's a fire break.

Inka Martí
Of course, a fire break. Mauricio, those pines are a curious shape, aren’t they, all twisted?

Mauricio González
Yes, they are twisted by the wind: there is a steady westerly wind blowing here, and it twists them considerably because they grow very slowly, so they never get to grow very tall. But they are used all over this area traditionally for boat-building as they have the right shape, what we call 'curved trunks'. They have the curve necessary to make the ribs of the boats. It is said that the old owner of this land, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who was Admiral of the Fleet, built many vessels with curved tree trunks from his estate.

Inka Martí
Was there a Doña Ana?

Mauricio González
Yes, Lady Ana was the wife of the 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia. He married the daughter of the Princess of Eboli, whose name was Ana Gómez de Silva y Mendoza, and she died here. She came to live in Doñana in a small palace her husband built for her and she lived here until she died.

Inka Martí
Mauricio, there are many species of bird in Doñana. Which are the ones we can see here?

Mauricio González
This is one of the most interesting spots, but it depends on the time of day because, of course, at dawn there are a lot more birds gathered than what we can see now. Over there we can see flamingos, and over there flying are two spoonbills. They say that 6 out of every 10 birds there are in Europe have been sighted here in Doñana at one time or another. I think I remember… it is roughly nearly one a day [of the year]: 361 different species have been spotted in Doñana in living memory.

Inka Martí
Do you think this reserve is sufficiently protected from human beings?

Mauricio González
Yes, I think that today it is safe, however there is enormous pressure. A big problem is the pressure of people who want to visit, for instance, which is the most natural thing in the world. It is a national park, a public thing, and people should be able to visit. The trouble is we have to control the visits. We mustn't forget that we have to protect nature for man but against man, in the sense that man remains nature's greatest enemy.

Narrator
There is something very Spanish about the fact that just when you could start to enjoy the silence and calm, the Spanish burst spontaneously into song and dance. People here shy away from silence as much as they shy away from empty spaces. [singing]