Sunny Walkers 16122: Sierra del Arca y Alcaidesa Estate y Cueva de las Palomas y Cueva Horadada

The Arca Mountains (Sierra del Arca), situated north of the Alcaidesa residential area and the A-7 dual carriageway, is one of the Gibraltar Area's most attractive geological formations. The mountain range covers a 200 hectare surface area of ​​Mediterranean scrubland, with cork oak and pine trees.
This area includes the old Andalusia Safari Park facilities , which closed in 1982. The old safari park animal enclosures can still be seen, as well as the ponds and palm trees. The mountain range also conceals important Palaeolithic cave paintings at the Horadada Cave and other nearby ones. There are also excellent panoramic views of Gibraltar, San Roque, the Bay of Gibraltar, Sotogrande and Torreguadiaro.

Starting from the Sierra del Arca, the route consists of going through the low mountains and forests of the Alcaidesa Estate a recent expansion of the Los Alcornocales Natural Park.
At the top of the Sierra del Arca, there are fabulous views of the coastal mountains with great views of the Rock of Gibraltar.
From the forest tower we extend the views towards Los Alcornocales. The route descends towards the Cañada Real Manilva — Los Barrios, and ascends via a clean firewall towards the Cerro del Guijo to make the route more interesting.

At Cerro del Guijo Alto we link up with another path. In reality, the entire route runs through a labyrinthine network of paths, trails and firebreaks, making a kind of interior ring road around the Alcaidesa Estate.
The Sierra del Arca looks like Gruyere cheese, with a multitude of taffonis carved in the sandstone rock which are commonly defined as small (less than 1 cm (0.39 in)) to large (greater than 1 meter (3.3 ft)) cavity features that develop either naturally or manmade.
This public estate is immense, and does not require authorization to travel through it on foot or by bicycle, having restricted access by vehicle through gates controlled by cameras, being patrolled by forest rangers.
It has several accesses in its well-fenced perimeter, the main ones being from the Sierra del Arca, Sotogrande, Majarambú, Safari, Chapatal and Pinar del Rey.
This estate is regional property, being surrounded by other public estates such as Majarambú and Romeral in Castellar de la Frontera, and Pinar del Rey in San Roque. All of them have been fully integrated into the recent expansion of Los Alcornocales Natural Park, along with the private estates of Chapatal, Borondo and Guadalquitón.

Throughout the route we will alternate well-preserved cork oak forests, with their associated fern, riparian forests of gall oaks, ash trees and alders, as well as slender stone pine forests which was planted by the Navy in 1800 for shipbuilding.

We enjoyed another beautiful spot in the shade of the riverside forest of the Arroyo de la Madrevieja.
We descend again to the Arroyo de la Madrevieja and further down the name will change to Arroyo de la Alhaja. To the right we leave the Tajo del Pajarraco, and to the left the Loma de la Caballería.
Above we is the sandstone slab where the Cueva de las Palomas is located.
In reality, it is about several successive covachas, being the largest one, the one that gives it its name. It is also popularly known as Cueva de los Monos, for being the refuge of the family of baboons that escaped from the Safari Park and lived freely in these parts until 1999, when the last specimen was captured.
After visiting the cave, we leave the forest towards more open countryside, in search of Puerto de las Palomas first and Puerto de la Burra later.
We connect with the main path of Monte La Alcaidesa. To the right we leave the access that comes from the Safari and Albarracín.
We immediately deviated towards a path that runs along the firewall that goes up to the Sierra del Arca. To one side we see a swamp, similar to others that we have seen in the distance on land belonging to the adjoining and ill-fated Auto Safari.
Leaving the pine forest, we take up again distant panoramic views towards the Alcornocal mountain ranges.
Now we only have to close the circle, following the firewall instead of the initial path, thus enjoying new views towards the Strait of Gibraltar, the Bay of Algeciras and the African coast.
We complete this hike with a visit to the beautiful Cueva Horadada with its huge stone piercing creating spectacular arch.
More by chance than good planning we arrived in what is called the golden hour in photography which made it even more spectacular.
A spectacular end to a beautiful hike and we’ll worth the effort even considering the extended distance.

As for the fauna, you can see the flight of eagles, griffon vultures, sparrowhawks and other birds of prey, as well as bee-eaters, hoopoes and woodpeckers. It is also common to see deer, roe deer, wild boar and mouflon. More difficult will be to see genets, badgers, mongooses and foxes.