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Nerja mountain range
The Nerja Mountain Range, as the Eastern part of the Almijara Mountain Range is locally known, with an area of some 7,000 hectares, is located at the far side of the Province of Málaga, whose boundary to the North and East is Granada.
The Almijara mountain is a sister of the Tejeda mountain, both of them forming a mountain range. The general landscape is steep and very rough, with high mountains close to the sea with deep gorges developed facing the coast.
Its highest point is the Navachica peak with 1,832 m reached in just 12 km. Other significant peaks in this mountain range are: Cuesta del Cielo peak (1,505 m), Tajo del Almendrón peak (1,514 m), Sol peak (583 m), Cerro Romero peak (616 m), Peñón de los Castillejos peak and Cerro Mangüelo peak.
Sierra Almijara
Generally speaking there are two types of materials in the mountain range: limestone, which gives it its peculiar white look and a sort of white marble, making large outcrops at the base of the mountain range. When the limestone mass rests on the impervious white marble layer, the rainfall over the mountain range accumulates on the white marble giving rise to the formation of many springs. The Arab name of Nerja, Narixa, comes from it, which means abundant spring. When the water dissolves the limestone this create spectacular formations such as the one known as Nerja Caves and many cavities scattered throughout the mountain range.
The only two rivers with permanent waters, river Chillar to the West and River de la Miel to the East are the boundaries of the Mountain range of Nerja. The typical gullies are created in the last kilometres of these rivers. The rest of the water flows are occasional ones.
Sierra de Nerja
The proximity to the sea and the screen effect to the North winds made by the mountain range make the climate in the area to be mild, warm and dry. The average annual temperature reaches almost 19º C (66.2 F). It rains in spring and autumn never exceeding 400 mm per year. Human presence can be seen as from the high paelaeolithic period from the remains found at the Nerja Caves. Roman and Arab civilizations also left there mark. Evidence of it are the remains of a road and two bridges of Roman time located behind the San Joaquín factory and at River de la Miel, as well as a fortress and several Arab hamlets in the river valley.
Traditionally the mountain range has been used as a place for hunting, both big and small game, its woods for timber and resin and its lower parts with impervious layers have been used for dry farming. Minerals such as lead, fluorine, wolfram, iron as well as amianthus have also been extracted from the mountains. There is also open cast marble extraction as in former times.
At present traditionally dry crops (almond, olive, vineyard…) and watering crops (sweet potatoes, molasses...) have been replaced in many places by subtropical produce (avocado, custard apple,...) and the mountains just have a hunting use as it is a Hunting National Reserve since 1973.