Oria
At high tide, the sea advances along the sinuous meanders of Oria to the town of Usurbil.
The habitat is a mix of salt and fresh water generating a biodiversity of great interest that’s worth getting to know.
The observatory of the Saria Wetlands offers us the possibility of enjoying autochthonous and migratory flora and fauna in the protected Biotope on the Oria riverbank, on their way to Africa.
Descent of the Oria river in kayak
Make use of the tide and it’ll be easier to reach the sea via Orio, while enjoying rowing activities.
Trade – elvet fisherman
The Oria river also enables us to discover the elvet fisherman’s trade: Fishermen who fish elvets or ‘txitxardinak’. The majority of the riverbank farmers having doing this from autumn to winter and usually at night since the 19th century. In the past they used to wear clothes impregnated with linseed oil so the water would just roll off them, and they protected their heads with a beret and sackcloth. They used a lantern with 2 candles or carbide oil lamp for lighting. The typical Oria vessel is called an ‘ala’ and is 8 or 9m long, flat bottom with wide stern and pointed blunt prow in the form of a spoon to moor frontwards on the beaches and silts. Elvets were highly appreciated in the 1970s leading to contamination of the Gipuzkoa rivers and population depletion. Nowadays, a lot of effort is being put into recovering the elvet population in Oria river.
