Spain Part One: Yurts Tarifa and Animal Encounters

Our holiday in Spain started and ended in high drama but was mainly made up of high jinks.

Hearing your name being called on an airport tannoy almost always forecasts disaster but, although it was rather annoying that our bags had not been stowed safely in the same plane as we had boarded to Malaga, we took the slight setback in our stride and decided that turning up at a yurt farm with only the clothes we were standing up in was actually rather fitting. Goodbye materialistic woes and hello Yurts Tarifa!

Tarifa is a very windy coastal town on the Costa De La Luz (we thought we would give the overdeveloped Costa Del Sol a miss this time) with a fun mix of modern hotspots along the beach, where the avid windsurfers replenish their energy, and authentic tapas bars in the cobbled streets of the quiet old town.

The beach here is less of a sit-down-and-soak-up-the-sun and more an activity hub although we did find a sheltered little beach where we watched a very James Bond scene unfolding. A yacht moored up in the shallows and some time later a diver emerged from the water in full gear with half a dozen silver fish hanging from his waist!

As well as being windsurfing territory the waters of the Strait of Gibraltar are home to a number of whale and dolphin species (including bottlenose, common and striped dolphin and pilot whales. Killer whales, sperm whales and fin whales can also be spotted!).

I have wanted to see wild dolphins at sea for as long as I can remember and, to my utter delight, my wish came true when we went on a boat trip with Firmm. The company was recommended to us as it puts the animals’ welfare and safety first and is led by a team of research biologists. We were given a forty five minute talk before we set out which was very informative and the staff’s passion for maintaining the whale’s habitat was obvious and infectious.

It isn’t guaranteed that you will see anything on a trip but we were very lucky and not only saw dolphins but the funny snub-nosed pilot whales too. I was so excited and spent about an hour hanging over the bow squealing with two Dutch children who seemed quite amused by my manic outbursts!

This was our most active of days whilst in Tarifa as the lure of relaxing at the yurt farm, enjoying the beautiful garden there and making friends with the menagerie of friendly, wandering animals was just too strong! We ate in the wonderful Chilimosa (our hosts’ other business) which had some of the best home-made vegetarian food that I’ve ever had and spent many hours admiring the craftwork of the yurts and dreaming of our own projects.

Our hosts’ dedication to making their businesses as ecological and sustainable as possible was inspiring and their livelihood on the land was a real joy to be a part of, even for a few days. Their donkey, Pedro, was a welcome sight on the road every morning where he very obediently moves in for any cars!

Leaving the tranquillity and happy atmosphere of the farm was only made less sad by the promise of a swish apartment and festival in our next destination, Sevilla!