A Short Walk in the La Goya Nature Park, Puerto Pollenca

But you don’t need to head off on any long day trips or take a massive hike to commune with nature in Mallorca. If you’re looking to get your nature fix but cant or don’t want to wander too far from civilisation then La Gola natural park is the place for you. Situated in the centre of Puerto Pollenca only one street back from the beach, you can take a wander through a nature park, get your fill of wildlife and be back on the beach within the hour.

La Gola natural park is a small wetland centrally located in Puerto Pollenca town, small though it is, it’s a lush and beautiful spot to see and to walk around and is an area of ecological and ornithological importance being home to over 60 species of birds. Formed where the mouths of the two rivers the Siller and the Gommar meet this small wetland runs down to the sea which also flows back into the park making the water a mixture of salt and fresh and making for an area rich in bio diversity. Like the larger wetland areas Albufereta and S’Albufera, La Gola is an important feeding and resting for migrating birds and is also an oasis spot for birds during the hot and dry summer months in Mallorca.

A walk around the whole of La Gola will take you no more than 30 minutes as this small trail is only 1km long but there is no need to rush through the area, there are benches and look out points stationed along the trail which make for great spots to sit and to watch the birds or to come for a picnic lunch if you tire of the beach. If it's information you’re after then head to the Ornithological centre inside the park for displays and information about which birds you can expect to see in North Mallorca and keep an eye out for the information boards dotted around the park with pictures and information about the birds you are likely to see. This park is home to a plethora of ducks and sea gulls but you may also see Ospreys, Hoopoes, Herons and Crossbills and it’s not just birds you need to be looking out the river is packer full of fish and other river life and keep an eye on the ground for quick moving lizards as well as camouflaged grasshoppers and praying mantis’.

La Gola natural park is a great spot to take the family for a break from the everyday business of being on holiday, soak up some nature in this peaceful little spot with its over grown trails and back ground noise of babbling water and ducks quacking. The trails are easy to find, well marked and well maintained, and there are wooden bridges where needed to cross the streams. In some areas the path runs out and you are free to wander alongside the edge of the river bank. The park is easy to find, if you walk along the main beach front road of Puerto Pollenca you’ll come to a bridge that crosses the wetland stream, follow the road one street back and you’ll find the entrance to the park.

Unfortunately in places this nature park has taken on a somewhat urban jungle vibe, with graffiti and abandoned bikes and rubbish marring the scenery but for the most part it’s a beautiful place to spend an hour or two and hopefully the powers that be in Puerto Pollenca will get on the case soon to see that this park returns to its unspoilt state.