Europe’s Wildest Heritage
Each year, tourists flock to stunning sites, while hidden stories of local wildlife unfold nearby. Mont Saint-Michel, the Loire valley châteaux, Alhambra or Bastei Bridge… Every year, these breathtaking sites attract tourists from across the world. But hidden in the meanderings off the beaten track, fascinating and unexpected stories unfold: the stories of the wildlife that inhabits these places. Today, the preservation of these exceptional sites can no longer be done without taking into account the wildlife. And after several centuries of ignoring each other, these two worlds are finally coming together to show that natural and historical heritage can become allies!
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A religious building, then a bastion of defense, and today a UNESCO site visited by the whole world, the Mont Saint-Michel is a true standard of our heritage. For 1300 years, the great history of this mythical place has been mixed with a more confidential history, that of the Bay’s wildlife. From the top of the Statue of the Archangel to the sand dunes, crossing the immense salt meadows, the Mont-Saint-Michel Bay is a real hotspot of biodiversity punctuated by the tides. Reckless gulls, lazy sea-calves, courageous sheep and playful dolphins, chattering colonies of egrets on the island of Tombelaine, whispering ballet of starlings, short-eared owls on the schorres, nurseries of fish and crustaceans on the foreshore, upwelling of salmon and eels, spectacle of orthopterans on the cliffs of Carolles-Champeaux... Through the eyes of its feathered, furry and scaly inhabitants, this wildlife sanctuary reveals its fragility and undeniable richness.
When approaching the Pyrenees, this jagged wall of snow-capped peaks, one of them immediately catches your eye: the Pic du Midi. Scientific sentinel and emblem of the Pyrenees, it is the witness of a long natural history and a formidable human adventure. However, the best kept secret of the Pic does not reside inside the Observatory, where scientists carry out the most advanced research, but on the slopes of the massif, from its foothills to its summit, where an unsuspected wild life abounds. Seas of clouds as far as the eye can see, deafening storms or merciless winters, we are here in the front row of an incredible wild spectacle.
Architectural masterpieces, the Châteaux of the Loire Valley are symbols of the French cultural power of the Renaissance. But, not far from the hordes of tourists, a completely different population has taken up residence in these royal domains... From Chambord to Chenonceau via Villandry, from the majestic forests to the very heart of the old stones, and from the emblematic species to the most mysterious, we will reveal the wild secrets of the Châteaux of the Loire Valley.
The Alhambra is one of the masterpieces of Spanish-Arabic architecture. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, this «city within a city», symbol of the Muslim West, welcomes more than 7000 visitors every day. This prestigious monument is not only a place of history, it is also a hotspot of biodiversity, a true oasis teeming with wildlife in the heart of arid and mountainous landscapes! From the gardens of the Alhambra and their astonishing luxuriance to the walls of the fortress that turn red at sunset, more than 150 species of animals live in the Andalusian city.
There is a region nestled on the border of the Czech Republic whose landscapes are as grandiose as they are mysterious: Saxon Switzerland. In this mineral setting, a true "German Grand Canyon", where imposing sandstone cli s rise up, is perched a witness to the history of the region: the Bastei Bridge, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. The Bastei Bridge and the Elbe Sandstone Massif are not only cultural heritages, they are also natural heritages, havens of peace for numerous species that hibernate, nest, hunt, and shelter from formidable predators.
