MARTA GONZÁLEZ-HONTORIA Madrid
Madrid
Updated Saturday, February 10, 2024-00:29
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At eight meters high, the cabin peeks out above the undergrowth in the middle of the forest. We could be in an African national park. But this is not the savanna, nor are the big five surrounding us. It is Madrid's
Lozoya Valley,
one hour from the capital, and the dense green blanket that surrounds us is oaks, thousands and thousands of
oaks
. In the last fifty years, since it was not grazed, the oak forest has grown uncontrollably. So much so that from this storybook family cabin at
Monte Holiday Ecoturismo
you can glimpse some brown spots. "They are 200 years old and they are drying out because it doesn't rain," explains Antonio Gonzalo Pérez, manager of this pioneering
glamping site
(you know, the most glamorous camping formula), located in Gargantilla del Lozoya.
"We live off the landscape," emphasizes Gonzalo, who has proposed adapting the forest to climate change and, in the process, protecting the campsite against forest fires and, incidentally, generating renewable energy. These are the axes of what has become the
first regenerative tourism project in the Community of Madrid
. "A tourism that invests money in the protection of forests and produces jobs," explains this forestry engineer.
Antonio Gonzalo during the explanation of the project.MGH
Monte Holiday Ecoturismo was born in 1980 and has not stopped transforming. First there were the
bungalows
, then the tree cabins and the
ecolodges,
Nordic style houses. It was on
a trip to Africa
when Gonzalo fell in love with the concept of little houses in the middle of nature. "I went through the western part of the continent and came back through the eastern part. Fourteen months of traveling in a 4x4. When I arrived in Kenya and Tanzania I stayed in national parks and game reserves and there were a lot of accommodations of this type. Beautiful: in cliffs, in floating cabins, in little lost houses... I thought that when I got back I had to do something like that." Although curiously, it was almost as difficult to design the first cabins as it was to sell them to the public as
glamping
. "Then there was no pull. We didn't know what it was. We had to wait for there to be more mass on the market."
One of the five Nordic style 'ecolodges' at the Gargantilla campsite.MGH
In Gargantilla, the cabins have privileged views of the iconic Taboada bridge over the Lozoya River and the rest of the Sierra de Guadarrama valley. The
ecolodges
, for their part, are at ground level, but they have pure windows, so the landscape is brought inside. Each accommodation is named after a bird that can be seen in the area. It is understandable that Gonzalo wants to take care of the forest. That's why these days, just a few meters away you can hear the sound of the chainsaw. They are already cutting down the trees that have previously been marked by
forestry agents
and the Environment Department of the Community of Madrid.
Two campsite workers clean the oaks of shoots that deplete the tree's resources.MGH
Gonzalo shows us the wood once splintered.MGH
The idea is to create a firebreak strip that protects the campsite from the danger of fires, returning to the environment
a pasture landscape
, where the oaks are more separated and do not have to compete for water and light. Thanks to a forest inventory on this 350-hectare farm, they know that they have a density of 60 to 80 tons of wood per hectare. This is
a huge amount of energy that is accumulating in the bush
. "To give you an idea: firefighters, with all the air resources in the world, are only capable of extinguishing 10 tons per hectare."
Once it is cut, all that biomass is chipped in the Monte Holiday facilities itself, left to dry and stored in a silo until, thanks to a state-of-the-art boiler, it is converted into renewable thermal energy that is distributed throughout the camping thanks to a two-kilometer underground pipe network.
The entire process can be seen
in situ
on the
guided tours
organized by Monte Holiday on weekends. Although the youngest members of the family may prefer the climbing wall, archery or the zip line circuit. They also have a tourist farm where there is no shortage of cows, pigs, donkeys, or an organic garden. Whatever it takes to spend a natural weekend.
OTHER EXPERIENCES
NATURE. In
Alameda del Valle:
The hiking route to the hermitage of Santa Ana from the town, just three kilometers next to the homonymous stream, is one of the most beautiful and secret in the valley.
GASTRO. In
Canencia: With a spectacular oven, the
Colorines
restaurant
(Tel. 918 68 74 71) serves traditional cuisine from the area. Essential, the roast goat with salad.
CRAFT. In
Lozoya del Valle
and
San Mamés
. In the first one you have to visit the
Amador bread factory
. In the second, the
Santo Mamés cheese factory
, at the foot of the highest mountain range in the region.
SLEEP. In
Choker of Lozoya
. Monte Holiday Ecoturismo (monteholiday.com) has cabins, bungalows and ecolodges. With adventure park, tourist farm and entertainers.
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