Nacimiento del Río Genal

The Nacimiento del Río Genal Natural Monument is a natural outcrop of the Sierra Blanca aquifer, where the crystalline water appears in torrents from the depths of a beautiful hollow. The start of the river, tributary of the Guadiaro, divides the street and the orchards of the town that sees it come into existence: Igualeja; a charming white village at the head of the river Genal under the Serrania de Ronda and very close to Sierra de las Nieves. A maze of steep streets and houses that may take hold of the rugged walls that erode the rock.

Located in the high part of the town, near a recreational area, water appears in a delightful place full of vegetation, waterfalls and flashes of light. During periods of rain, when the level of the river rises considerably, what the locals of Igualeja call 'bursting of the source' occurs: a loud, impressive explosion of water, because it is not in vain that the headwaters are what geologists called a siphon.

In these gorges with chestnut and olive trees, horizontality is almost impossible. All hills converge on the bed of the Genal, a trickle of water filled with wild lushness barely muted by some vegetable gardens that domesticate the landscape. The vegetation of its banks are formed by white poplars, elms, ash, willow, alder, which alongside oleanders, tools, tamarisks, rushes, agracejos and shade durillos the canal.

Waters of old-fashioned mill. In the 60s, several dams were built beside the river source that allowed it to be repopulated with trout. This is Igualeja, a land of legends, given that here, three well-known bandits: were born: “El Zamarra”, “El Zamarrilla” and “Flores Arrocha”.