One of the accusations thrown around during the electoral campaign between Benavides (Convergencia Andaluza) and Mayor Ruiz Joya, was the legality of Peña Escrita.
The Mayor said in an interview on regional TV that, “Peña Escrita era ilegal,” something that Juan Carlos Benavides took exception too.
According to his party, the CA, the Junta’s Environmental Department authorised the park’s opening on the 10th of September, 2007 under the name Parque de La Naturaleza de Peña Escrita.
“Hundreds of people visited the park every week, enjoying the spectacular landscape and living in a natural environment, observing many animals, staying overnight in cabins, eating at its restaurant, horse riding and swimming in its pool,” he reminded the Mayor.
He went on to explained, “When the Town Hall bought the land, it was barren and desolate as it had recently suffered two consecutive mountain fires. We planted over 100,000 trees of different types, built a large, pond for irrigation and as a source of water should there be another fire, and all began to flourish again.”
Having written all that, it has to be noted that Peña Escrita was not an illegal natural park; what it had become was an illegal zoo, as there were tigers, a hippo and camels up there. This is what the Mayor referred to although his wording was deliberately sweeping.
Juan Carlos Benavides considers that the PP went all out to destroy Peña Escrita because it was synonymous with his years in office and there could be a tiny bit of truth in that, although having interviewed Luis Aragón on at least two occasions, it was apparent that they wanted to get the park up and running again but with just Iberian fauna instead of exotic animals.
The park really does have fantastic views and it is such a pity that the restaurant and log wooden cabins have spent years closed down; the former because it wasn’t economically viable with people having to pay to enter the park, and the latter because this accommodation without the pool & restaurant etc, lost a lot of its appeal to people more accustomed to living in urban areas with all the amenities.
(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)