Laguna Honda

Laguna de Honda Nature Reserve is located in Alcaudete between the Baetic System and the Guadalquivir River Valley. It is one of the few lakes in Jaén province together with Chinche Lake. It is located in the southwest of the province, at a beauty spot known as Tumbalagraja, on the border with Cordoba province.

The lake floods with the first rainfall in autumn and keeps a small amount of water until spring, helped by a small stream coming from the Sierra de Orbes mountains. The basin of Laguna Honda is semicircular and it is a type of endorheic steppe lake, shallow and very salty.

The typical vegetation of such lakes is limited and with little variety. Next to the lake you find species adapted to high levels of salinity; beyond these, you find patches of tamarisks. There is not much vegetation around the lake, between the shores and the olive groves – just reed mace, giant reeds, rushes and, to a lesser degree, tamarisks.

The main species that live at Laguna Honda are water birds, mainly two types – those that make the place their usual home and those that only pass by or stop whilst migrating. Species such as the pink flamingo, moorhen, coot or white-headed duck can be seen around this beauty spot.

The surrounding area is also home to game animals such as rabbit and partridge.