Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Village des Tortues
About 20km north of Collobrières, this tortoise village ( 04 94 78 26 41;
www.villagetortues.com ; Gonfaron; adult/child €12/8; 9am-7pm Mar-Nov, to 6pm
Dec-Feb) protects one of France's most endangered species, the Hermann tortoise
(Testudo hermanni). Once common along the Mediterranean coast, it is today found only
in the Massif des Maures and Corsica.
The Station d'Observation et de Protection des Tortues des Maures (SOPTOM;
Maures Tortoise Observation and Protection Station) has a well-documented trail (cap-
tions in English) from the tortoise clinic, where wounded tortoises are treated and then re-
leased into the Maures, to the egg hatcheries and nurseries, where the young tortoises (a
delicacy for preying magpies, rats, foxes and wild boars) spend the first three of their 60
to 100 years.
A great palaeontology trail has vicious-looking models of the tortoise's ancestors lurk-
ing among the bushes.
In summer the best time to see the tortoises is in the morning and late afternoon. Watch
tortoises hatch from mid-May to the end of June; from November through early March
they hibernate.
Collobrières & Around
Hidden in the forest, the leafy village of Collobrières is the place to taste chestnuts.
Across the 11th-century bridge, the tourist office ( 04 94 48 08 00; www.collobrieres-
tourisme.com ; bd Charles Caminat; 10am-noon & 2-5pm Tue-Sun, closed Sun & Mon
Sep-Jun) can help you join in the October chestnut harvest, celebrated with the Fête de la
Châtaigne , or join a guided forest walk. They can also give hiking directions to the Châ-
taignier de Madame , the biggest chestnut tree in Provence, with a mighty 10.4m circum-
ference; and the two biggest menhirs (each over 3m) in the Var region, now heritage-lis-
ted monuments, which were raised between 3000 and 2000 BC. Three shorter walking
trails, including a 200m trail to a châtaigneraie (chestnut grove), are mapped on the no-
ticeboard outside.
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