National Park of Mercantour

Creation of the park	1979
central zone	68 500 ha
Peripheral zone	146 00 ha
concerned townships	28
concerned departments	Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-provence
Zone of protection reinforced	Site des Merveilles avec 40 000 gravures de l'âge du bronze
Adjacent park	Parco Naturale delle Alpi Marittime (Italie)
the parki s twinned with	national Park of Banff (Canada), Natural Park of Alpi Marittime (Italy)
Permanent personnel	56 personnes
seasonal personnel	50 personnes environ
number of visitors	800 000 par an
Headquarters address	23, rue d'ItalieBoîte postale 316F 06006 Nice Cedex 1
Telephone	04/93/16/78/88
fax	04/93/88/79/05

the Alps under Mediterranean influence! Everywhere this light which becomes color, from the softness of the terraces shone upon until the roughness of the stripped summits: because the vegetation, rich of more than 1500 species, offers, here, a fictitious voyage from the Mediterranean to the Arctic, in a few kilometers!
As for fauna, ibexes, chamois, moufflons and marmots let themselves surprise without too much difficulty by the discrete walker; the same does not apply for the wolf which moves away systematically from the man. On the other hand with a little chance, it is possible to see a variable hare or a company of grouses and to assist, in the sky, the plays of the golden eagles and the chocards... Without forgetting the herds of sheep which "stubble" in the shade of the larches. Valley of Wonders, fortifications of the valleys of Roya and Ubaye, the collars of Bonette, of Lombarde or of Tends, barns, "casuns" and "painted vaults", form an original cultural inheritance and consolidate the attraction which the highlands of the county of niçois exert.