Around the Spanish Water, you’ll repeatedly see sections of the coastline covered in shrub-like plants with distinctive stilt roots: mangroves.
Their attractiveness, due to their many, rather bizarre, branching roots, isn’t exactly striking: no enchanting floral display, just a simple, green canopy of leaves. But these bare stilts are essential: the survival of the mangroves depends on the roots that grow vertically from the ground – only thanks to their spindly roots can the plant absorb the vital oxygen from the air; in doing so, they also perform an important service on land: coastal protection. The numerous pneumophores promote the deposition of sand and silt, thus protecting the coastal strip from erosion.
In Otraband, the Mangrove Park opened in 2024 – a park with wooden walkways and a variety of native birds and animals – a must-see for photographers.
