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Land of salt and sands, the Camargue is this triangle of wild country between the two main arms of the Rhone : the Petit-Rhone (west) and the Grand-Rhone (east). This homeland of “gardians” (horse and bull breeders), and of their proud beasts, the delta is under official protection since 1970, due to the diversity of its flora, and an exceptional variety of birds. The Camargue mainly consists in flat planes, marshes and ponds, on the lands of the towns of Arles and the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, the two widest ones in France. Protected for a long time from big human communities by the toughness of its lands, it is nowadays under control thanks to a whole net of canals and dikes, and it is exploited for salt, in Salin-de-Giraud, and for rice of Camargue, origin-controlled designation (AOC) which legitimately makes farmers very proud. Obviously open onto the sea, that covered a large part of its lands up to the Middle Age, the Camargue presents a shore of quality for sea tourism, as well in Beauduc, where you may find long sand beaches and open-air entertainment, as in the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (thalassotherary). To the West, in the “Petite-Camargue”, Port-Camargue and Le Grau-du-Roi, as the alliance of the Sun of South and the most charming salt-water ponds.
Longtemps protégée des communautés humaines par la rudesse initiale du milieu, elle est aujourd'hui contrôlée grâce à un réseau de canaux et de digues, et exploitée pour le sel de mer à Salin-de-Giraud, et pour la culture du riz de Camargue, AOC qui fait, non sans raison, la fierté des agriculteurs du pays. Naturellement ouverte sur la mer, qui en recouvrait encore une grande partie au Moyen Age, la Camargue offre une côte privilégiée pour le tourisme balnéaire, que ce soit à Beauduc pour ses longues plages de sable et ses sports de plein air, qu'aux Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer pour ses centres de thalassothérapie. Plus à l'ouest, en Petite-Camargue, Port-Camargue et le Grau-du-Roi allient la chaleur du sud aux charmes uniques des étangs d'eau salée. |
