Discover this wonderful place
The territory of the Ribeira Sacra e Serras do Oribio e Courel Biosphere Reserve covers the middle stretches of the Miño and Sil river basins, together with tributaries such as the Lor and the Cabe, and is structured in three major landscapes: canyons, plains and valleys, and mountain ranges.
The canyons of the Sil and the banks of the Miño stand out as exceptional elements, combininga spectacular landscape of rock formations, forests and terracedvineyards with a rich cultural heritage, including monasteries, churches and historic villas.
The reserve covers 306,535 hectares, equivalent to 10% of Galicia's continental territory, distributed in 23 municipalities in Lugo and Ourense.
It is home to 9 protected areas: the Courel Mountains Geopark (core zone), the Campodola-Leixazós Fold Natural Monument and several Special Conservation Areas (SCA) such as Canón do Sil and Monte Faro.
The confluence of oceanic and Mediterranean climates, together with factors such as seasonal thermal variations, limestone outcrops and the complex orography, make the Ribeira Sacra e Serras do Oribio e Courel Biosphere Reserve an enclave of great natural wealth. Here we find 1,214 floristic species, representing more than half of the diversity of Galicia and more than 60% of its total flora.
Almost a quarter of the territory is covered by forests and devesas, with more than 50 species of trees and shrubs, highlighting priority habitats such as heather, alder, ash and yew. In the Serra do Courel, the diversity is especially remarkable with 22 species of orchids.
The variety of habitats favors a high faunal biodiversity, with almost 300 species: 169 birds, 62 mammals, 20 reptiles, 14 amphibians and 12 fish. This territory is home to emblematic species such as the wolf, the wild cat and the brown bear, which finds here one of its last refuges in Galicia.
The Ribeira Sacra e Serras do Oribio e Courel Biosphere Reserve preserves a historical heritage of more than 2,500 years, with traces of megalithism, the Bronze Age, the castreña culture and the Roman presence in this western end of the Empire. It also stands out for its monastic importance, being the area with the highest concentration of rural Romanesque architecture in Europe.
In its territory there are castles, churches, bridges, mills, pazos, reservoirs, terraces, Roman mines and medieval villas, which enrich its historical and cultural heritage. In addition, it is crossed by the Pilgrims' Roads to Santiago de Compostela, such as the French and Winter Roads, declared World Heritage by UNESCO in 1993.
Ribeira Sacra combines the beauty of its surroundings with its historical legacy. It is a living territory, inhabited by more than 75,000 people who keep its natural, cultural and landscape values intact.