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Riding High

Travel+Leisure US

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October 2023

On a six-day sojourn in Andalusia, Catherine Buni immerses herself in one of Spain's most majesticand vulnerable-national parks.

Riding High

ANDALUSIA'S DOÑANA NATIONAL PARK-an almost 270,000acre expanse of wetlands, juniper-carpeted sand dunes, forest, and heath-is too diverse for a drive-by, too vast to explore on foot. That's why, on a bright spring morning, I was sitting on a young horse named Morito, who stood knee-deep in a rushing stream. Breathing in the park's sweet air, I reached under his mane and gave his neck a scratch as he drank the cool water. When he'd had his fill, I gathered my reins and Morito leaped up the bank, his coat glistening in the sun. One by one, our group of nine-hailing from France, Haiti, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.S.-let their horses pause for refreshment.

Back on dry ground, a grassland dotted with wildflowers stretched before us, and with our host María Elena Dendaluce in the lead, we broke into a run. When we reached a dappled patch of cork-oak trees, Morito cleared fallen branches with ease, keeping pace with a leaping red deer. Farther along, we spotted a wild boar family, the piglets snuffling for roots and nuts beneath a cluster of umbrella pines.

Soon after, we too stopped in the shade for sustenance. Under the trees, we savored creamy local goat cheese, thinly sliced jamón ibérico, and a cold sherry from Jerez, the wine region just south of the park. Raising our glasses, we toasted our generous horses and Dendaluce's guiding partner, Alfonso Gonzalo, who'd trained them.

It was the midpoint of our six-day immersion led by

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