The Natural Park of Cabo de Gata-Nijar, with one of the most beautiful and ecologically rich coastal strips in the western Mediterranean, is the first Natural land and sea park in Andalusia.

With an area of 34,000 hectares, to which a sea strip a mile wide (12,000 hectares) is added, it is located in the southeastern point of the province of Almeria, to the south of the area of Campo de Nijar.

The fundamental nucleus of the Natural Park are the Cabo de Gata mountains, a volcanic mountainous massif whose southwestern flank falls directly over the Mediterranean sea forming abrupt cliffs interrupted by small coves at the mouths of the principal gullies which erode the sides of the mountain range.

The northwestern flank rises up over the neocene depression of the Campo de Nijar and is also deeply dissected by gullies whose alluvions have formed extensive alluvial fan-shaped deposits as they leave the mountains which together with the deposits from the mountain sides soften the contact between the mountain range and the depression.

The strong personality of this natural space is derived, in essence, from the volcanic origin of two thirds of its surface area and from the demanding conditions imposed upon it by a local climate which is exceptionally dry and from the obvious deficiencies in the land. As a consequence of its volcanic structure, forming part of the neocene volcanism of calcoalkaline character of the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula, the mountain range has ended up as a group of peaks, sharp points, crests and domes which give rise to a craggy broken up landscape.

The Natural Park includes, likewise, a coastal border of saltworks of 300 hectares which, due to their geographical location, are the obligatory stopping place between Europe and Africa for numerous birds on their migratory routes and they are also an ideal nesting habitat for other species.