Located in the Alps, between Provence and the border of Italian Piedmont, the Mercantour National Park is one of the 11 French national parks. Just 1.5 hours from the French Riviera coastline, it offers a diversity of landscapes and a fauna and flora of more than 10,000 species, unique in Europe. At the heart of this park, a treasure: the Valley of Wonders, with its 40,000 rock carvings. Portrait of a territory with magnificent landscapes that has fascinated for thousands of years.
From the coast of the Alpes-Maritimes, you can see the Mercantour National Park, which is called here “the last step of the Alps” or “the snowy balcony of the Côte d'Azur”. Renowned for being one of the wildest and most diverse in France, the Mercantour National Park offers a mosaic of landscapes: passes, gorges, lakes, forests and picturesque villages. This natural wealth is reflected in exceptional biodiversity, with more than 2,000 plant species, 200 of which are rare and 30 are endemic. Among them, edelweiss and Mediterranean rock roses, but also larch trees and olive trees. Not to mention the saxifrage with numerous flowers, which has become an emblem of the park. Its fauna is also impressive, with nearly 9,000 recorded species, such as the golden eagle, the ibex, the chamois, the marmot, the red deer, the mouflon, the hare, the vulture, and the gray wolf!
Nestled between sea and mountains, Mercantour is a real paradise for nature lovers. Its exceptional geographical location makes it a unique place in Europe, attracting more than 800,000 visitors from all over the world every year. They come to enjoy a multitude of outdoor activities, such as hiking, mountaineering or ski touring, and discover emblematic sites, such as the Valley of Wonders, with its rock carvings, Lake Allos, the largest natural high-altitude lake in Europe, or the valleys of Boréon and Gordolasque. At the heart of this massif, secret valleys still house a preserved heritage. Roya, Bévéra, Vésubie, Tinée, Var et Cians, Haut-Verdon, Ubaye... Each of them has evolved in its own way over the centuries, building extremely rich landscapes and cultures.
From royal hunting reserve to national park
In the middle of the 19th century, the territory of the current Mercantour National Park belonged to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. The reigning sovereign of the time, Vittorio-Emmanuel II, nicknamed “The Hunting King”, was the first to be concerned with the preservation of these lands. Noticing that the number of chamois was constantly decreasing and that the ibex had been decimated, he decided to create a royal hunting reserve in 1859 on the Mercantour and Argentera mountains. Unfortunately, this initiative will not be enough to stop their decline, and the Second World War will worsen the situation. The number of chamois will be reduced to around 300 and fewer than 50 ibexes will survive.
It was in 1979, after long negotiations with hunters, that this exceptional place became the Mercantour National Park, under the impetus of Jacques Florent, project manager to the prefect of Alpes-Maritimes, in order to protect this French natural symbol. Today, 28 municipalities in the park have adhered to the charter that regulates agriculture, biodiversity and pastoralism. The core of the park is classified as a category II protected area by the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCMAP) of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Since 1987, it has been twinned with the Italian Alpi Maritime Park, and both parks collaborate in the protection of animal species.
An exceptional human footprint
The human presence in Mercantour dates back thousands of years, and its history is forever etched in stone, especially on the exceptional site of the Valley of Wonders.
At the foot of Mount Bégo, culminating at 2,872 meters in the town of Tende, a mineral landscape shaped by glaciers 10,000 years ago is home to an archaeological treasure: 40,000 rock carvings, most of which date back to 3,300 years before our era. Spread over 4,000 rocks, they extend between 1,900 and 2,700 meters above sea level over an area of 17 square kilometers. Classified as a Historic Monument, the archaeological area of Mount Bego is one of the largest rock carving sites in Europe. It shows horned animals, weapons, grids, figures of deities and geometric shapes. Recovered and identified since the end of the 17th century, these engravings have been the subject of in-depth studies since 1967, in particular by the prehistorian Henry de Lumley in collaboration with researchers from the Prehistory Laboratory of the National Museum of Natural History and the Laboratoire départemental de Préhistoire du Lazaret. For Henry de Lumley, these pictograms were intended to write on stone certain sacred rites in relation to the agricultural and pastoral concerns of local populations. A symbolic language that allowed them to establish communication with the divine. Some researchers even go so far as to think that Mont Bégo itself was considered a deity, both a source of benefits thanks to its waters, and a source of fear because of its violent storms.
To observe these engravings, take the GR52 which crosses the Valley of Wonders. Some are visible from this trail, but it is forbidden to leave it without a licensed guide. It is advisable to start at the Tende Museum and then join a guided tour.
A unique heritage
In the heart of the park, generations have shaped a unique landscape, combining mountains and the Mediterranean. In each valley (Var, Cians, Roya, Bévéra, Tinea, Ubaye, Verdon, Vésubie), there are terraces equipped with canals, witnesses of the occupation of the territory since Roman times. Perched at sometimes high altitudes, some villages in Mercantour evoke a rural mountain life, often harsh and isolated. But each valley has managed to preserve its identity, with its traditions, its village festivals and its own dialect, coming from Occitan, but tinged with various influences (Piedmontese, Provençal, Ligure). And to better understand the history of these villages, all you have to do is observe the landscapes: the casouns of the Roya Valley, the barns of Tinée or even the cow farms of Vésubie are all testimonies of an agricultural and pastoral past.
In the 19th century, sheep and wool farming and subsistence agriculture flourished. Sheep and cows provided fertilizer for the rye and potato fields. At the end of the 19th century, with the opening of borders to wool from emerging countries and the rural exodus, sheep farming reoriented itself towards the production of lambs. The landscapes of Mercantour have been largely shaped by agricultural and pastoral practices. And today? Pastoralism is still very present in Mercantour. Among all agricultural practices, animal husbandry is by far the most important, and there are also producers of honey, olive oil, vegetables, chestnuts, and fruits.
Today, transhumance, dating back 4,000 years, brings 145,000 sheep to the mountain pastures for the summer, testifying to the vitality of pastoralism. 1,600 cattle also transhumance each year from Italy to Roya and Vesubia, and a few dairy pastures remain. In the heart of the park, century-old refuges recall the human presence in this living nature.
Destination Mercantour
In the 20th century, Mercantour experienced a significant tourist boom. Mountaineering first developed around Saint-Martin-Vésubie, then summer vacations attracted many visitors. Finally, winter sports have taken off with the creation of renowned ski resorts, such as Valberg, Auron, Isola 2000, La Colmiane or Casterino, nicknamed the “white paradise of the Côte d'Azur”.
Other remarkable places deserve a visit, in particular Lake Allos, the largest natural high-altitude lake in Europe, the Lauzanier valley, populated by marmots and easily accessible, the Bonette pass, the highest road in France, but also the Authion and the gorges of Daluis and Cians, nicknamed the “Colorado of the Nice Alps”.
Whether you have a day or several days, the official site of the park offers a selection of hikes for all levels, through the 6 valleys. And for the more sporty, why not try the adventure of the Grande Traversée du Mercantour? This magnificent 220 km itinerary, in 17 stages, will take you from the highest peaks to the beaches of Menton, for an unforgettable experience!
For more information: www.mercantour-parcnational.fr
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