La Réserve Naturelle du Val de Loire

Perceived as the last wild river in Europe, the Loire shapes the landscapes along its thousand kilometers of course. It is here, halfway between the source and the mouth, in the "middle" of the Loire, that it expresses all its character.
Sometimes it erodes the banks, sometimes it deposits sand, creating an island that it carries away elsewhere. It spreads out its many arms, embracing islands with luxuriant vegetation here, golden sandbanks there.
If it seems peaceful in summer, it can swell during impressive floods, reaching up to a hundred times its lowest flow. Since 1995, this section of the river has been classified to protect the many animal and plant species that inhabit the different environments: white water, channels and dead arms, sandbanks, island forests and dry meadows. There are more than twenty of them...