Several years ago, I was invited to attend a meeting of the United States Golf Association, Turfgrass and Environmental Research Committee that was to be held in Southern Spain. I was a member of that committee for over 20 years and I worked with and met some great people during that time. One person who was on the committee, that has since passed away, was Jimmy Patino, who was the owner of Valderrama Golf Club in Spain. In fact, Jimmy funded all the Committee expenses to hold the meeting, which he hosted at Valderrama.
My entire family joined me on this trip, which we turned into a fantastic family vacation, by extending our stay in Spain and later traveled to England for an additional week. Jimmy had previously asked if there was anything special that I wanted to do after the committee meeting concluded, and I said that we really didn’t know much about that region of Southern Spain and just wanted to explore the country-side and experience the culture and the nature of the area. Leave it to Jimmy to arrange a field trip of a lifetime and arrange a 2-day adventure to Doñana National Park!
Along with a few other people who attended the committee meeting, some Valderrama members and the naturalist of Valderrama Golf Club, we traveled by minivan to the National Park. Jimmy had significant influence in Spain. So much so, that they actually closed the park so that we had a private tour of the area!
Doñana National Park is a natural reserve in Andalusia, southern Spain, in the provinces of Huelva and Seville. It covers over 209 square miles, of which 52 square miles are a protected area. The park is an area of marshes, shallow streams, and sand dunes in Las Marismas, the delta where the Guadalquivir River flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It was established as a nature reserve in 1969 when the World Wildlife Fund joined with the Spanish government and purchased a section of marshes to protect it. The eco-system had been under constant threat by the draining of the marshes, the use of river water to boost agricultural production by irrigating land along the coast, water pollution by upriver mining, and the expansion of tourist facilities. It is named after Doña Ana de Silva y Mendoza, wife of the seventh Duke of Medina-Sidonia. Doñana National Park is a United Nations World Heritage Site.
If you ever get the chance to visit Doñana National Park, or if you are looking for a unique natural area to visit, I highly recommend this region and park of Southern Spain.