Regional Nature Parks, reserves and protected sites
How can we present this particular heritage?
Geographically, it runs from the Peat Bogs* of Vendoire in Périgord in northern Aquitaine to Domaine d’Abbadia in Hendaye, just before the Spanish border.
The best-known site internationally must be either Domaine d’Arjuzanx, France’s biggest hibernation site for common cranes, or the Dune du Pilat, a giant sand dune 104 metres high overlooking the Bay of Arcachon.
But perhaps more out-of-the-way sites are worthier of your attention?Â
In that case, try the Marais de Bruges natural reserve near Bordeaux, the Courant d’Huchet and its gallery-forest and the Etang Noir with its prehistoric look, both in the Landes, or the pottok reserve (the word means “little horse” in Basque, and is pronounced potiok) in the Basque Country. 
But you should also know about Vulture Cliff in Ossau Valley, the Arguin Sandbank with 1000 hectares of land and sand modelled by the tides of the Bay of Arcachon, and the spawning ground for shad, the region’s emblematic fish, near Agen…
And so on, all over Aquitaine, not to mention the caves and gardens, two other natural riches of the region…
Exceptional sites to see, and memories to treasure.
* Peat bogs are particular ecosystems, places saturated with water (often former marshes) with plants which grow and then slowly decompose to form peat. Peat is a vegetal rock which, once dried, is an excellent combustible.
