The Petite Camargue (Little Camargue), on the West side of the actual Rhone delta, consists in an area that was formerly covered by dried arms of the Rhone, that flowed through the Languedoc, southly from the town of Beaucaire. Properly speaking, the Petite Camargue is a coastline triangle made of lagoons and salt marshes, running along the sea from the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer to the Gulf of Lion, with Port-Camargue and Le Grau du Roi, and expanding into the lands, to cities such as Aigues-Mortes, Saint-Laurent-d'Aigouze, Vauvert and Saint-Gilles.
It is a short-cut salted land where tourism hardly troubled the wild side, and it is as appreciated for the Sun in Summer and thalassotherapy as for wanderings by foot or, even better, riding Camargue horses. For horses and bulls live there in breeding communities (the so-called “manades”), and a great variety of birds come there looking for food in the ponds, especially huge colonies of flamingos.

Far enough from overcrowded Côte d'Azur, each curious tourist there can discover the pretty little villages in the land or, as (s)he calls, just easily enjoy the long sand beaches that make such a wonderful Mediterranean shore.

Site :

Le Parc Naturel de Camargue

As a representative of the land of Camargue, as the Camarguese bull does be, the Camargue-bred horse, smaller than the Arabian horse, legitimately brings great pride to its breeders, the so-called “manadiers”. The Camargue horse is definitely raised in a “manade”, that is to be, a wide, wild space of earth or marsh, where it enjoys complete freedom. Authentical passion for the inhabitants of that land, the Camargue horse is widely appreciated for games, Camarguese fairs and “bull runs” (courses de taureaux), when the beasts run traditionnally with Camargue horses all around them, for the field the the arena, and then from the arena to the field. For those who would be eager to buy one, of course the breeders sell horses to anyone being able to take care of them.

Its picture stands as a visible ornament in each house, and most often on walls and doors, and you still may find some as a harnessed team pulling a cart. For it is a perfect companion to wander with, it is easy for tourists who may enjoy horse-riding to go for a stroll on a saddle, as the summer comes, and to gallop on a long sand beach.

Even more than the Camargue horse, the Camargue-raced bull (also called “bioù” or “Toro camarguais”) is the proud symbol of a whole region. As a remarkable result of a long work of selection, it is under most consideration and admiration, and is the core of any authentic local festival : above all the “courses camarguaises” in ending Spring, but also the “ferrades”, the day when young animals are branded.

Lighter and more agile than its cousin from Andalusia, the Camargue bull is not promised to tauromachy events, and the goal of a “course camarguaise” is neither to subject the most beautiful actor of the festival, nor to kill him, of course. A bull that would show its power and its grace may be celebrated as a hero, and that is mostly the bull that gets the applauses, not the men. Many “mas” (farmhouses) present a bullhead above the door, as, in a way, the protector of the house.

Half-free in the Camargue plain and in the Petite-Camargue, in the thick grasses to the North, bulls live in manades, breeding communities, under discrete but careful supervision of the first masters of the land, the gardians. These little herds naturally take place in this vast southern landcape, and highlight it in the best way. Usually very calm in their natural space, they move slowly to places where they can find more food, or more shadow in summer, often very hot. They follow the “simbeù”, a castrated bull bringing the “redoun”, a bell guiding the manade.

The Camargue bull is also the object of a controlled term of origin (Fr. “AOC”). It gives very tasty meat that composes many gastronomic specialties of the Camargue.