When we left the Lakes we drove north west towards Antequera. The drive was dramatic, following the narrow road as it wound its way through the mountains. We stopped at Garganta El Chorro, a gorge 180 metres deep and 3k long, spanned by an ancient iron bridge. We admired The King’s Way, a narrow catwalk that followed the length of the chasm high up on the sheer rock face. Thankfully, it was closed for renovation.
We passed through the town of Álora and stopped to do some shopping and have lunch. When we got back to our camper there was a Toyota RAV4 and two armed Guardia Civil were banging on the van door. They appeared very angry, saying we had parked in the wrong place. We had parked carefully, there were no ‘No Parking’ signs and we were not blocking the traffic. Fortunately they spoke no English so they got more and more frustrated trying to make us understand what we had done. We responded in English, shaking our heads and making it clear we understood nothing. Eventually they gave up and left us alone with a warning us that the next time they caught us we would be fined. We left that town promptly.
We arrived at the Lobo Park later that afternoon, an area of forty hectares where Daniel, the owner, kept several wolf packs, some of them had recently had cubs. Although the wolves were fed by humans and were not afraid of them, they were not tame and lived a natural life in their own family groups. Daniel had spent years studying wolf behaviour and that evening gave us a fascinating tour, explaining about wolves and why their reputation as being dangerous or evil was totally inaccurate. The highlight of the tour was when Daniel did a magnificent wolf howl and the wolves gave answering calls from all parts of the park.
