Excursions

Rivers, Lagoons, and Reservoirs

The Guadalhorce is the main river in the province of Malaga and runs through the province from north to south collecting more than half of the lands waters. Its main tributaries are the Turon and Guadalteba rivers in the High Guadalhorce (these three form the most important reservoir complex in Andalusia in the Ardales, Teba, Campillos, and Antequera municipalities) and the Grande, Fahala and Campanillas tributaries in the Low Guadalhorce. They all practically cover the central part of the province.

The province’s waters are distributed around the western part between the bowls of the Guadiaro and Guadalete rivers which are both shared with the province of Cadiz. The Guadiaro river collects most of the area’s water, with more than a thousand square kilometres in the province of Malaga. Its most important tributaries are the Genal, Horgarganta, Gudalcobacin, and Guadalevin. The latter is the smallest but has the special feature of crossing the city of Ronda through the famous Tajo. The Guadalete collects the north-western area’s waters in the municipality of Ronda, through the Montecorto brook and the Setenil river.

In the eastern part of the province is the Velez river, which is the most important river in the Axarquia region and collects the waters from an area of more than 600 km² through its main tributaries, the Benamargosa and Guaro rivers. In the latter there is the Viñuela dam. In the extreme east of the province there are various small bowls which collect the waters from the lands which extend from the Almijara sierra to the sea. The most significant ones from west to east are from the Algarrobo, Sayalonga, Torrox, Higueron, and Chillar rivers. There are a series of brooks on the eastern part of the province which flow directly into the sea. Among them are the Totalan and the Jaboneros, the latter being in the eastern sector of the city of Malaga.

There are a large number of small bowls on the southern side of the coastal hills which extend from Torremolinos to Manilva. Among them are the Verde river where the Concepcion reservoir can be located, and the Ojen-Fuengirola river.

The lands which don’t pour into the Guadalhorce bowl on the north of the province, pour into the Guadalquivir through two sectors. One northern most who’s tributaries pour into the Genil through the Alameda, Cuevas Bajas, and Cuevas de San Marcos, and another north-western which through another tributary, the Carbones river, collects waters from part of the municipalities of Cañete la Real, Almargen, and Sierra de Yeguas.

The hidrographic map of the province of Malaga is finally completed with a series of bowls which don’t lead into the sea. Among them there is the Fuente de Piedra which has one of the most singular lagoons in Spain, not for its size but for its high ecological interest as it is a nesting ground for an important flamingo colony.