Wild Olive Trees Of Rocío

The wild olive tree or acebuche is a tree that formerly, together with cork oaks and carob trees, formed part of the existing Mediterranean forest in these lands. These are trees well adapted to high temperatures and periods of water scarcity. Its fruit is called acebuchina and it is an olive with a very large bone and is not very fleshy. Since ancient times the culinary, medicinal and cosmetic properties of its fruit have been known. In fact, throughout history, man has been crossing this species looking for specimens with more fleshy fruit until obtaining the different varieties of olive trees that have survived to this day.

The importance of these olive trees lies in the fact that they are preserved as a redoubt of the native Mediterranean forest and some of them are very long-lived, such as the one called El Abuelo, considered the oldest living being in Doñana with an estimated age of more than six hundred years.

Very close to this square is the marsh that the people of Almonte call the Mother of the Marshes. This is where the Doñana National Park begins and, except in the summer when it is normally dry, it is an excellent place to observe the birds that populate this natural area. The visit to this area can be completed with a walk through the streets of El Rocío and the entrance to the hermitage of the village.