Parque Ambiental de
Vilamoura is partially home of other cache,
Cerro da Vila, which beeing a multi-cache starts somewhere else
but ends here. However I consider its location fails to attract
geocachers deep inside the park and showing its best. Therefore I
created a second cache which will demand some walk in order to be
found. The walking distance may vary accordingly to the chosen
paths but I would say average will be around 5 kms (considering
both ways).
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Parque Ambiental de
Vilamoura is not a real park, in a strict sense. It's more a bit of
well preserved south Portugal typical countryside.
A
number of strategically placed panels will explain a certain
aspects of vegetable and animal wildlife in the
region. |
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The
whole complex is a great place for family activities. Despite the
abundance of wildlife there are no dangerous species, and even the
shy snakes are perfectly harmless.
So,
a bycicle riding or joging session is highly advisable. Otherwise a
simple stroll will make it. |
The cache emphasize my
park's favorite feature: the bird spotting shelters. From these
places a visitor will have the chance to watch around twenty well
documentated bird species. And they are actually visible! In my
last visit, in a few minutes a good number of birds was spotted: a
few mallards (pato-real), a marsh harrier (águia
sapeira), a kingfisher (guarda-rios) a couple of
purple herons (garça vernelha), a grey heron (garça
real), a purple gallinule (galinha-sultana), a coot
(galeirão) a great crested greve
(mergulhão-de-poupa) and a group of little terns
(andorinha-do-mar-anã). What a sellection huh!?
And if you are not into this
bird thing or you get bored with it easly, you may bring a book or
some other kind of quiet entertainment and spend a good time in
those shelters. Above all, please respect the environment and keep
quiet.
The
Cache
It's pretty simple. You go
to initial coordinates and you will find a bird spotting shelter.
Inside there are a few posters depicting the species living
around.
- If you find there 2
posters, final coordinates are N 37º 05.116 W 008º
07.746
- If you find there 3
posters, final coordinates are N 37º 05.502 W 008º
08.558
- If you find there 4
posters, final coordinates are N 37º 06.250 W 008º
09.479