5 - Urdaibai

Urdaibai is the most valuable protected natural area on the Basque coast. This space was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1984, being the first protected area in the Basque Country.

The Reserve is about 20 kilometres long and has a maximum width of 12 kilometres. This accounts for one tenth of the province of Biscay, and includes 22 municipalities. The territory is delimited by the basin of the rivers Oka and Golako.

These two rivers create a broad valley which opens up to the sea, passing from the interior mountains to a broad estuary, that begins in Gernika-Lumo and ends in Mundaka, and running by a great variety of landscapes: mountain pastures, countryside, forest planting, Cantabrian holm oak forests, meadows and marshes. The final stretch of the river is characterised by sand dunes, beaches and coastal cliffs.

It is precisely this landscape mosaic that makes the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve such a unique place. In fact, the Reserve has one of the highest biodiversity rates in the Basque Country.

Considering its relatively small size, we can enjoy the observation of such a broad range of habitats, each one with its characteristic fauna and flora.

At the seaside, we will marvel at the sea birds and discover a unique flora, the result of adaptation to extreme environmental conditions. The impressive cliffs of Ogoño drop steeply into the sea, and are the home of many sea birds and cliff-nesting birds, standing out among them the peregrine falcon.

In the estuary, the muddy flats of the marsh are flooded and drained regularly by the tides. There the tireless waders search continuously for worms, crabs and small molluscs.

Going upstream, it is a pleasure to walk by the wide countryside where scattered Basque farms appear, with their green and fresh fields full of birds, which inundate all the corners of the reserve with their song in spring.

The limpid streams are home to several dipper, the kingfisher and many species of dragonflies typical of running water habitats.

The thickly forested hills are home to the wild boar, genet and roe deer, and there are also plenty of forest birds such as the woodpecker, whose drumming can be heard from far away.

You are standing at a natural paradise, a mosaic of colours and sensations; the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve!