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Desfiladero de los Gaitanes

Málaga · Andalucía

Photo: Millars · CC BY-SA 4.0

The Gaitanes Gorge is a canyon carved by the Guadalhorce river in Málaga, between Ardales, Antequera, Campillos and Álora. It was declared a natural site by Law 2/1989 of 18 July and covers 2,016 hectares. At its narrowest points it is barely 10 metres wide, between walls several hundred metres high.

Its rocks are vertical Jurassic limestones in the Sierra de Huma and Miocene conglomerates in the Almorchón massif, with karst relief. There are Aleppo pine woods and juniper stands, and wild goats, falcons and griffon vultures live there.

The maintenance path of a hydroelectric canal, known as 'Los balconcillos', became the Caminito del Rey after Alfonso XIII inaugurated it on 21 May 1921. It is more than 3 km long and reopened to the public on 28 March 2015. You get there from El Chorro, in the south, or from the Guadalhorce reservoirs, in the north.

Source of the information: Desfiladero de los Gaitanes (Wikipedia)

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