Grand Tour of the Vallée des Merveilles - In the heart of the Mercantour National Park

Club Alpin Français   Capacity: 75 in refuge – Possibility of eating and having a shower Warden: 15th June to 15th September: Hugo PUTELAT (Refuge telephone): 04.93.04.64.64 Winter: October to June (upon reservation): Mouloud CADDUR refugedesmerveilles@ffcam.fr   The refuge is therefore OPEN for self-catering and with a warden when a reservation is made for 8 people or more, 19 places available for hikers who have covers (2 per person) and pillow.   If you wish to have a warden at the refuge, contact: refugedesmerveilles@ffcam.fr Useful numbers:  Tende Tourism Office/Park House: 04 93 04 73 71

CAF Refuge Commune: Tende IGN Map: 3841 OT Departure: Castérino (entrance Park National du Mercantour) Elevation: 540 m Capacity: summer (54), winter (12) Possibility of eating and having a shower Warden: Mid-June – end September Information CAF: 04 93 62 59 99 Out of season upon reservation: 04 92 31 91 20 CAF website: refugedevalmasque.ffcam.fr/reservation.html   Useful numbers: Tende Tourism Office: 04 93 04 73 71 Park House: 04 93 04 67 00

From 1920 to 1930, 25 ibexes from Gran Paradiso were released in the royal reserve of Valdieri. Since 1987, reintroduction operations have been jointly undertaken by the Mercantour National Park and the Parco naturale Alpi Marittime. Today, the herds live around Col de Fenestre. The males do not live with the females. The latter remain with the kids and juveniles until they are two years old.

A species of light, the mountain ash attempts, along with the larch and laburnum, to conquer the high pastures which have been abandoned by the flocks. Birds, particularly thrushes, love eating its seeds, which means that this elegant tree has spread far and wide. Its leaves provide light shade while its clusters of fruit are amusingly capped by the first snows. While the wood can be carved, the berries are rich in vitamin C and are used to make jam and, most of all, brandy.

A companion of the fir and the spruce, assisting their reproduction, rosebay willowherb lights up the clearings with its purple flowers from June to August. Its flowers develop in bunches at the end of a long stalk which can reach 1.2m in length, giving rise to light seeds with silky hairs, allowing them to be easily carried off by the wind which distributes them onto the northern faces of mountains and beside mountain streams up to 2000m in altitude.