Reserva Natural do Sapal de Castro Marim e Vila Real de Santo António

The complex system of marshy places, salt-pits, canals, puddles, creeks and charcas (big extensions without vegetation), located in the Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo António municipalities, was the first Natural reserve of the Portuguese territory. Land, river (Guadiana) and sea mix together, giving origin to a strange but beautiful miscellany, stretching to the mouth with Ayamonte, on the other side, as background scenery. The grounds are fertile in original flora (limelight to the halophytic species) and, specially, in an exotic fauna (avifauna, fishes, crustacean, molluscs, amphibian and reptiles). More than an natural area, Castro Marim is also an important archaeological area.