When we are out on our daily walks with the dog we usually see the odd deer footprint on the ground. More recently we saw what we thought were large deer prints in the mud and until we caught sight of our first sanglier we would have still been in the dark. The footprints made by sanglier can be similar to deer depending on weight or the speed of the animal but deer are usually more pointed at the front whereas the boars are rounded. Amusingly, the week following spotting the sanglier, the hunters were also confused with the very same prints. We did not let on.
On Saturday we decided to go to the Gorge du Tarn to take pictures of the Vultures as the weather looked good. After climbing to the top of the limestone plateau which is 900m above sea level, we set off along a wide farming track, the sky was clear and the sun was keeping us warm. There was sign of the previous day's rain on the ground, banks of mud and broken twigs the track enters into the woods and that was when we saw our first animal tracks, knowledgeably identified as belong to sanglier. It was quiet for a weekend and we continued along the track in peaceful solitude. Occasionally we saw more tracks and it was obvious that the sanglier had used the same route recently. After arriving at Cassagnes we turned right onto the GR6, which gives you a choice to walk down to Le Rozier or to return to Le Bougerie along the corniches, the latter of which was our route for today. The corniche route takes you along the edge of the gorge and alternates between shady paths surrounded by dense vegetation and unprotected vertiginous drops, where you can see the Tarn river far below or the occasional climber on the cliffs and soaring above your head the Griffon Vultures.
We wound in and out of the limestone cliffs and occasionally saw additional tracks of the sanglier. Lottie, our dog walked in front and weighing 42kg left no prints on the ground which gives an indication of how heavy the sanglier must be. Suddenly, over our head flew a Griffon Vulture, they are enormous with a wingspan of nearly 3 metres and you can hear the wind rushing through their feathers when they are that close. Further along the path we came across some moss and earth that had been torn up probably by deer looking for food. How wrong we were, Lottie had picked up a scent and was getting twitchy so rather than have her run off we put her on the lead. We then came across more tracks and ripped up earth. Then we heard a snuffling noise, quite close but as the vegetation was dense there was no visible sign of what is surely a sanglier. Then more snuffling and some grunting certainly getting closer, swiftly followed by another louder snort and breaking branches. We were getting a little anxious by now, but our options were limited by geography so we continued along the path. The snuffling, snorting and crashing from the yet unseen sanglier just kept following. We increased our pace but still the grunting and crashing followed, getting louder. This was not looking good.
TAGlines reads, "local couple and dog gored by rampaging sanglier and eaten by vultures" (you could not make this stuff up.)
Just ahead the path split and we took the right fork up the hill and waited, listening. We were now upwind so it could not smell us or the dog so we stood still, waiting for the sanglier to make its escape. We decided to have lunch to give ourselves time to recover, phew!
After lunch we continued our walk, retracing our steps to the junction where we left the path. Here we saw deep sanglier tracks, which indicated it was travelling at speed. The reality, of course, is that it was probably more scared of us.
We continued our meandering and came upon a large rocky outcrop with several Griffon Vultures perched on top, which is what we came here to see. We sat there for an hour or more watching them landing, preening, then once again leaping off to soar on the thermals.
Nev
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