firmm at the Festival de las Migraciones in Huerta Grande

Text: Carina Doll, photos: firmm

Huerta Grande is an oasis of pure nature, hidden between Algeciras and Tarifa. A little street turns off from the country road and paves its way through the forest. Everything is green, the herbs smell sweet and the birds sing their songs. Spring has definitely arrived in Tarifa.

The Huerta Grande is an affectionately managed Eco-Resort with loving attention to detail. There are different bungalows scattered between the trees and at the main square the reception house with a terrace is situated. If you follow the water course you will find another square where the lecture hall is located. However, this weekend is different in Huerta Grande. The “Festival de las Migraciones” is taking place, a festival for ornithologists and people interested in birds. On the square are a number of stands and amongst them you could also find our firmm stand.

  

Equipped with a lot of information-brochures, wooden dolphins, postcards and DVDs we set up our lovely stand. So we could inform the visitors of the festival about our foundation as well as about the whales and dolphins in the Strait of Gibraltar. Most of the visitors were interested in the migrating birds but we could also fill them with enthusiasm for marine mammals. On Friday we untied the ropes and went together with the visitors of the festival on our first whale watching trip of the season. The visitors were full of expectations and they didn’t have to wait long to see the first pilot whales and dolphins. On our first tour we observed between 80 and 100 bottlenose dolphins and about 5 pilot whales. What a beautiful start for the new season!

Back at the festival, Andreas Meissner from Berlin held his speech about the Ökowerk Project and showed the parallels between the Ökowerk and the Huerta Grande. He also pointed out the potential of the Resort and its surrounding. On Saturday it was time for Jörns speech. Jörn is firmm’s marine biologist and he made an interesting presentation with the title: Crossroad of migrations, birds, fishes and whales.

  

At the beginning of the festival the number of visitors wasn’t too big. The reason was probably the bad weather; however some faithful souls resisted the rain and the strong wind and made their way up to Huerta Grande. On the weekend, with increasing sunshine, more and more visitors joined the festival. At the final celebration of the event, live music was played, rice dishes were served and the visitors shared their experiences. In this way also the organizer of the first “Festival de las Migraciones” could enjoy the relaxed atmosphere.