Last week we were delighted and grateful to receive Mr. Paulo Azevedo Chairman of SONAE and Dr. Nuno Ferrand Almeida of CIBIO, at our Faia Brava Reserve. Paolo Azevedo is the chairman of Sonae, a multinational company managing a diversified portfolio of business, telecommunications and financial services. Sonae is one of 32 companies in the world to subscribe the "Business for Nature” platform manifesto, which demands swift collective action by governments and companies to promote restoration and preservation of nature.

It was a magnificent day for everyone and it is great to have the opportunity to show our work in the field of nature conservation, as well as explain about the projects we are carrying out. We were proud to share our 20 years discovery journey and we shared our dream for Faia Brava and the Coa Valley.  Paulo showed much interest into the long term perspective of ecosystem restoration, leading to very interesting in depth discussions. Thank you Paulo and Nuno for visiting us!

ATNatureza is accredited by the "Cooperation Organization for Vocational Education, Training and the Labor Market (SBB)"  to the list of Portuguese entities accredited to receive and accompany Dutch professional education trainees. The recognition results from several years of experience of the technical ATNatureza team to receive interns from different Dutch institutions providing challenging internship plans that contribute to professional and personal enrichment. Integration with the local community is also one of the strengths of this internship program resulting in long term relationship with ATNatureza. 

Dutch students at pigeon house Faia Brava, watching vultures

Watch this month at TV canal NatGeo Wild, the 6 episodes of the tv-series ‘Europe’s New Wild’ about Europa’s wild nature. In the second episode you will embark on a journey to the greater Coa Valley in North East Portugal, showing river gorges, oak forests, rocky heathlands and scattered fields which constitutes a spectacular mix of landscapes. You will see spectacular images of our Faia Brava park: the garrano horses, the vultures, ‘our’ maronesa cows. You will also see what it means to restore nature and to increase bio-diversity in the Coa Valley.

Click here for more information. 

TV-serie Europe’s New Wild
The beautiful documentary Europe’s New Wild will be broadcasted worldwide by NatGeo Wild. It is produced by Rewilding Europe and Off-the-Fence productions and Bonne Pioche, https://europesnewwild.com/  tells the inspiring story to restore nature in Europe. In six episodes the TV series show the spectacular results of breath taking landscapes of Europe. With its worldwide audience, Europe’s New Wild contributes to awareness and in this way, it supports the comeback of nature and enhance the bio-diversity. The series will be broadcasted in more than 45 languages and it will reach millions of people. (click here to find out when to watch in your country)

The six episodes are:

1. Return of the Titans, the reintroduction of European bison in Romania.
2. The Missing Lynx and the greater Coa Valley.
3. Saving Europe’s Bears across Italy, Croatia and Greece; bears and people find ways to live together.
4. Europe’s Amazon in the wetlands of the Danube Delta, with incredible numbers of fish, water birds, beavers and golden jackal.
5. The Scavengers Return, in the Rhodope mountains a battle is ongoing to revive a broken food chain.
6. Land of Snow and Ice; iconic wildlife in Lapland

We are proud as ATNatureza
ATNatureza is the founding organization and owner of the 1100 ha Faia Brava reserve, that plays a central role in the second episode. For 20 years ATNatureza has been restoring nature in the Coa Valley. Thanks to hundreds of volunteers, scientists, donors, NGO’s and governmental institutions we have been able to create Faia Brava, as a unique reserve. With reforestation, little ponds and large herbivores like the garrano horses and Maronesa bovines, we have created a rewilding landscape, a paradise for bio-diversity and a lovely journey for our visitors. In the coming years we aim to expand our nature reserve, so that roe deer will find an appropriate habitat and that the rabbit population will flourish. In this way we hope that predators like the Iberian wolf and the Iberian lynx will find enough space, food and peace in our park. Faia Brava harbors an extraordinary population of vultures and eagles and we aim that our big trees will be attractive for the return of the black vulture. But an ecosystem and bio-diversity is much more than the popular animal and bird eye-catchers; we see astonishing species of flora, insects and fauna coming back and we aim that the North-East Portuguese nature in all its variety will develop and flourish.  

Photo: Paulo Martinho (DianaFalco) in the Faia Brava Reserve 

Acknowledgement
We wish to thank all persons and organizations that have been working with us in the last 20 years, for making this possible. Rewilding in the Coa Valley is also your success! We promise you to continue working on this mission.

The Board of ATNatureza:
Henk Smit, Anna Berliner, Kas Burger, Carlos Sanchez, Cassiano Monteiro, Tina Perpetuo.
Contact:  Vanda Bras (director) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you  think that our private organization ATN is doing a fantastic job, would you please support us to expand the park (nature needs more space), to increase the bio-diversity and to be able to pay for the maintenance costs? 
If you want to know more about our work at Reserva da Faia Brava, you can request information or schedule a visit via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

This weekend we celebrate the International Day of the Vultures which emerged as part of the “Vulture Awareness Days” initiative. The aim of this day is to raise awareness among the international community about the conservation of vultures and their ecological importance. As these necrophagous birds, the Vultures contribute to the balance of the various ecosystems consuming dead animals, they quickly and effectively eliminate the carcasses of these animals in the field, thus preventing the spread of contagious diseases and ensuring the proper functioning of the trophic network in Nature.

In our Faia Brava Reserve there are 3 species of vultures: the griffin (Gyps fulvus), the black vulture (Aegypius monachus) and the britango (Neophron percnopterus). If you want to know more about the work done by us at Reserva da Faia Brava, you can request information or schedule a visit through the email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

It is with happiness that we reveal that the couple of Golden Eagles of the Faia Brava Reserve has successfully nested and the young is growing healthy. We hope that  they can be seen flying over the Reserve in the summer.

Within the scope of the monitoring program for threatened cliff breaders  birds, it was observed that the couple of Golden Eagles that nest exactly on the rocky escarpment that gives the name to the reserve “Faia Brava” is creating. Technicians of ATNatureza identify and monitor the evolution of the nests to ensure their successful reproduction.

This news fills us with happiness as it is the result of the work done over the years to manage a habitat that is favorable for the existence and reproduction of endangered species.

Let's learn more about the Golden Eagle:

To learn more about this and other species, book your visit to Reserva Da Faia Brava now!

Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Telephone contacts:

(+351) 271 311 202

(+351) 914 678 375

(+351) 960 408 190