Recommended month to visit it: April.

The Sierra del Oreganal is witness to the chromatic fight between the copper of the chestnut trees and the silver of the limestone, Cartajima and Júzcar share los Riscos, a young karstic landscape that in its fight against the elements develops evocative and stimulating shapes for the traveller's imagination.

It is formed by three main passages with an infinity of small gorges, chasms, crevices and those peculiar shapes that could well be called sculptures. Among them, the most relevant is El Águila [the Eagle], a rock shaped like a bird of prey watching over the horizon that deserves all of our attention.

On the other hand, this mountain range contains numerous remains of human activity like the rustic dry stone constructions or the threshing floors where the cereal was hulled.

Coordinates

• Parking: 305420 / 4057198
• Starting trail of Las Eras: 305452 / 4057202
• El Águila de los Riscos (The Eagle of the Crags):  305805 / 4057672

More info

The Crags (Los Riscos) is a great mountainous region with a variety of bizarre and original forms, some of them looking like animals or humans, like in the case of The Eagle named after its resemblance to this raptor.

Between the districts of Júzcar and Cartajima, in the middle of the mountainous region Sierra del Oreganal, inside the Serranía de Ronda, on the Western slope of Malaga Province and over 1,400 metres above sea level, this enormous rock statue arises. In the north, it is marked out by the plateau of Ronda; in the east, by the Sierra de la Nieve mountains; in the south, by the mountains Sierra Bermeja and, in the west, by the Guadiaro Valley.

Among its different and peculiar fauna we can find finches, blackbirds, starlings, hoopoes and black wheatears, as well as some species of birds of prey such as Bonelli's eagles and Eurasian eagle owls. Sometimes we can even observe scavengers such as the griffon vulture. Therefore, there is a great seductive variety for bird lovers to watch.

Being one of the wettest areas in entire Andalusia, this zone has the benefit of superior rainfalls, and short but cold and icy winters opposite to its hot summers. The average of annual rainfall is high in this area of the Genal Valley. For that reason, this is the perfect habitat for falcons, badgers, wild boars, rabbits and foxes. In this ‘documentary’ casting, reptiles are not missing, and among them: geckos, lizards, small lizards, snakes or vipers.

The meagre and faceless territory includes brushwood gorse, brooms, esparto grass, destroyed holm oaks, thistle, cotton thistle or typical aromatic plants such as thyme, rosemary and laurel.

After the expulsion of Moorish in 1570, Júzcar was repopulated and today it renews and re-establishes its friendly and pleasant spirit, representing itself as the blue Smurf village. In Júzcar, the houses of these small blue creatures are recreated. This strategy was a valuable publicity not only in Spain, but also at international level.

This rock formation adorns the entire path and between its vast chestnut forests, visitors can enjoy a truly recommended and genuine route full of sensations. This peculiar landscape can boast to be cherished and protected by Los Riscos and its singular eagle.